Cerritos College faculty to protest lack of contract

NORWALK >> Cerritos College faculty union members will be marching in two rallies Wednesday to protest the fact that the guild has been working without a contract more than 10 months.

The guild’s last contact was valid from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015.

The guild and Cerritos Community College District have reached an impasse and began speaking with a mediator Monday, union members said.

In the last round of negotiations for a three-year contact, the union wanted a 14 percent salary raise for full-time faculty and 18 percent raise for part-time faculty. Both raises would be spread out for three over three years.

“Our part-time faculty are the lowest paid out of nine community colleges in the region,” said Solomon Namala, president of the Cerritos College Faculty Federation.

Those colleges include Long Beach City, El Camino, Rio Hondo and Glendale Community.

Apart from salary, Namala said the guild members want a contact that also includes language on faculty duties and responsibilities, seniority for part-time faculty and lower class size.

College’s offer

In its last, best and final offer, Cerritos College offered a 10.32 percent salary increase for full-time faculty and 16.62 percent for part-time faculty.

“The District values the faculty and their efforts to help students receive the best education possible,” the Cerritos Community College District said in an emailed statement. “The District will work with the Faculty Union to finalize a fair contract.”

The Cerritos College rally follows a protest from LBCC faculty and a near strike among faculty in the 23-campus Cal State University system.

Last week, LBCC faculty had an “informational picket and formal march” regarding salary negotiations.

In April, a scheduled five-day, system-wide strike at all 23 CSU campuses was averted when the Chancellor’s Office agreed to the union’s request for a 5 percent raise. The Chancellor’s Office had offered 2 percent.

An independent fact-finder in March determined that the CSU system should give professors the raise they had been demanding almost a year.

Cerritos faculty will rally from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at the coer of Studebaker Road and Alondra Boulevard, and again from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Administration Quad at Cerritos College, 11110 Alondra Blvd., Norwalk.

Advertisement