Adjunct professors and supporters held a peaceful demonstration outside Pasadena City College Thursday to protest what they describe as poor working conditions for part-time educators at the school.
“We’re out here to educate the public as well as faculty and students, and staff, about the situation for adjuncts here at PCC,” said Adjunct Professor Shannon Maraghy.
According to Maraghy, most adjunct faculty members have no health insurance and are paid “thirty percent less for the same amount of work as full-time faculty are.”
Maraghy also said that adjunct professors have no voting rights, and were not allowed to vote in a recent “no confidence” vote against current PCC President Erika Endrijonas. Maraghy also bemoaned the lack of job security for adjunct professors.
Full time professor Melissa Michelson, who helped organize the demonstration in support of the part-time professors, said “part time professors at Pasadena City College are not treated equally.”
Michelson also agreed that job security was an important issue, as it was when she was a part-time professor for more than ten years.
“I never knew when I was going to get another job,” she said. “We could be hired and fired at will, and every semester if my class had enough students, I would teach for a couple of months. After that, I never knew what was going to happen.”
Pasadena City College spokesperson Alexander Boekelhide said he could offer no specific comments about the demonstration since the college had been given no details beyond the fact the demonstration would occur.
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2 thoughts on “Adjunct Professors at Pasadena City College Protest Working Conditions”
A great effort on behalf of the organizers for this rally. Sadly, the rally was poorly attended which brings up a glaring problem for ALL faculty and students at PCC.
When an effort to bring to light the poor working conditions of the largest employee group at Pasadena City College—the adjunct faculty— (we number almost 2:1 compared to full-time faculty) some might be wondering:
**why such a poor turnout ?
**where’s ALL the faculty ?
** where’s the PCC Faculty Union (PCCFA)?
In a union whose job it is to “collectively bargain” ALL faculty working conditions, equally and democratically—why weren’t Union Leaders and the rest of the faculty (the full-timers) out en-mass to support Adjuncts ?
Well, the answer is….the union HAS negotiated our working conditions– albeit regressively— and without much input from adjuncts. We still have no health insurance and worse job security and our pay is far behind other CCC’s.
It is strategic that Adjuncts are kept out of union leadership at PCC. The union, the only group who can legally negotiate our working conditions, including our job security, have worked it out where the majority of negotiators are all full-time, in fact only one (1) adjunct is “allowed” to negotiate. This is exactly why we have poor working conditions.
The union leadership is seven (7) full-timers to one (1) part-timer who is new and told to keep his mouth shut, I’m thinking?
These labor issues at PCC could easily improve with
democratic union leadership.
Clearly, the current union structure works against the majority of faculty at PCC. Major changes are required to correct the past and improve things for everyone at PCC.
Faculty Working Conditions are Student Learning Conditions
Contingent Faculty for Equality
New union leadership is needed, Vote for Dr. Z !
How dare they treat our educators like this? Not earning any kind of medical benefits after years of service is beyond abusive. Shame on Pasadena City College, what message are they sending the students? Education will get you nowhere, look at your professors they can’t even earn a living wage or medical benefits. All while the administrators laugh all the way to the bank.