Dale Martin
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| From 5:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. each day, striking faculty kept up their vigil at the eight entrances to Hartnell College. Among those on the lines were teachers Cheryl O’Donnell (top, center), and Lawrence Yee and Pimol Moth (right). Left: CTA’s State Council of Education took a unanimous vote of support for the strikers after hearing a presentation by (from right) Community College Association President Carolyn Inmon, CTA Board member Dián Hasson who represents higher education, the local CTA Service Center Council Chair Richard Ringler and Board member Cynthia Peña. |
Hartnell College instructors, unable to obtain a fair contract through extensive bargaining, set up picket lines around the Salinas campus in mid-October and became the first community college faculty to go out on strike in more than 25 years.
Four days later, they had a tentative agreement that provides a 23 percent increase in salary and benefits covering 2003 to 2007, the first raise in three years.
While Hartnell College Faculty Association President Christine Svendsen is not satisfied with all aspects of the agreement, she praises the faculty. “They worked hard for three years and should be proud of what they achieved.”
Under the contract, salaries will go up by 3 percent for 2004-05, 3 percent for 2005-06 and 5 percent for 2006-07. A cost-of-living adjustment will be added to the salary schedule in 2007-08. Benefits will increase by $1,000 plus an additional $100 for each of the three contract years.
The contract includes a salary increase for part-time instructors.
Each day of the strike, which ended Oct. 24, Hartnell instructors and community supporters picketed at the eight college entrances from 5:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. They were joined by many of their students, as well as active and retired faculty members from other campuses, CTA and NEA board members, educators at area schools, and members of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. Local teamsters stopped their deliveries to the college to honor the picket line, and community organizations held a unity barbecue to support the instructors.
“CCA/CTA went all out to help our colleagues at Hartnell, from providing staff to coordinate the strike to sending a resolution of support and a check for more than $4,000 from State Council members who dug into their own pockets,” says CCA President Carolyn Inmon. “The effort demonstrated CTA’s commitment and solidarity from the beginning.”
Hartnell instructors had become increasingly disenchanted with the college administration after more than 20 bargaining sessions with district negotiators failed to produce an acceptable agreement. Salaries at Hartnell languished at or near the bottom when compared to colleges statewide. Faculty were further angered when the college president was granted yet another salary increase at the Oct. 3 meeting of the board of trustees.
In late August, an independent factfinder issued a report agreeing with the faculty’s position and recommending that the district award the faculty a substantial increase in wages and benefits. Instead of using the report as a way to bring the two sides together, the administration chose to ignore it.
In the weeks that followed, the faculty mobilized, holding vigils outside the trustees’ meetings, addressing students at a college forum, and picketing the homes and offices of trustees to call attention to the lack of progress in contract negotiations.
Students held rallies and staged a walkout from classes in the days leading up to the strike. They even took on the college president during spirited discussions. Athletes stood up at a board meeting and told the trustees that Hartnell’s reputation would be damaged if they couldn’t find a way to settle the contract. Other students carried picket signs or delivered food and water to teachers on the picket lines.
Although the Hartnell faculty continues to debate aspects of the contract and the success of the strike, many in the association feel they have a stronger voice because of it. Chapter leaders are not only preparing ahead for the next round of negotiations, but they are mobilizing to shift the power on the board of trustees and the college administration.
“This action tells the administration that we aren’t going to take it anymore,” says biology instructor Ann Wright, who headed up the strike organizing team. “We now expect to effect some changes at the top.”