(This article is adapted from one written by Anne Paye, Foothill/DeAnza FA Chief Negotiator.)

1. If I withdraw from committee work, will I hurt myself at the school?

No. The contract doesn't require committee work as part of your professional duties.  The contract provides a range of options for faculty to fulfill their professional duties. (Article 6.1)

2. If I refuse to add students to my class, will I be penalized in some way?

No. The contract doesn't require you to add students to your class.  Beginning the first day of class, only a faculty member at his or her discretion, may add students to the class.

3. I am a part-time faculty member and hope someday to get a full-time job in this District. Am I hurting my chances of continued employment by participating in the Work-to-Contract?

Faculty participating in a job action are protected from retaliation. As to securing a full-time position, members of search and hiring committees are predominantly faculty, colleagues who will be participating with you in the job action.

4. I am a probationary faculty member worried about gaining tenure. If I join the Work to-Contract, won't my committee use that against me?

Tenure Review Committees are primarily faculty members who will also be working to contract.

5. If my department chair or administrator asks me to add a few students who really need my class, aren't I damaging my relationship with him by refusing?

The FA has alerted all department chairs to the Work-to-Contract, advising them to recommend opening additional sections to accommodate students.  We trust that administrators will not apply any form of pressure or persuasion to encourage faculty to break ranks and subvert the job action.

6. What's going to happen to my program/committee/taskforce/special project/student club, if I don't attend meetings where decisions are being reached?

First, other faculty will also be withdrawing from these professional activities, so committees will not be able to function- that's the whole point: to make their voluntary efforts and contributions visible, faculty must stop performing all gratis work. And, hard as it is for some to believe, students will still get educated and the world will still turn on its axis-even when faculty stop working a 50- or 60-hour week.

7. What are students going to think? How will they understand what we're doing?

The FA will provide faculty with a half-sheet to distribute to students who cannot be added to a class. It will provide a brief rationale for the concerted action and include the following statement: "For Summer, 2006, as a result of the current Work-to-Contract job action, faculty will no longer accept students in excess of the established maximum for a class. If you have been unable to add a class or classes, please go directly to the Office of Academic Affairs and ask that the Vice President open additional sections of the class you hope to add. Turning students away from a class is one of the hardest things for a faculty member to do: our professional lives are devoted to educating students and supporting their progress toward transfer and career goals. Speaking for all faculty, we sincerely regret any inconvenience caused to students by this work protest."