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March 2004, Volume 18, Issue 3 - PT Summit in Santa Ana |
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By Martin M. Goldstein
The unprecedented happened in rather routine fashion recently, a sign of the times we suspect. It was an unprecedented event for PTers in this case, and we as the Advocate, as well as an officer of CPFA, attended this event as both participant and observer, and we were impressed.
The house of the part-time movement has many rooms in it, and not everyone is wired into every other one, to strain the metaphor a bit. But one really good way to help get everyone interconnected better is to have everyone sitting around the same table for a while, which is what happened at the PT Summit in Santa Ana on February 7, 2004. For over three hours the official representatives of virtually the entire alphabet soup of unions and lobbying groups involved in the part-time issue in California were there: CCA/CTA, CCC/CFT, CCCI, CFA, COCAL-CA, CPFA, CWA, FACCC, UC-AFT, and others just there to observe history in the making. It had never happened before that all these different groups had gotten together at one time, much less with such a unanimity of opinion as indicated as the evening progressed.
That they were there together at all was a miracle created mostly by one person, David Milroy, the recently elected interim head of CPFA, who worked tirelessly for weeks to bring it together. It went off virtually without a hitch, it’s seeming ease belying the enormous amount of imagination and hard work behind it. Kudos to David and to all involved.
The meeting was chaired by the irreplaceable Margaret Quan, a recently retired
veteran of the PT wars, and first recipient of FACCC’s Advocate of the Year Award, which is now named after her. The amount of parliamentary by-play was minimal; working down a long but specific agenda, items were discussed and motions made in an effort to unite all the PT constituencies on each issues, and with virtual completeness, they succeeded. Again, astonishing.
The first order of business was discussion of the four California Ballot Propositions, 55-58. Since the essence of each is covered well in other sources, suffice to say here that all the organizations overwhelmingly supported all four Propositions, and further promised to work actively for their passage. Next it was moved that all three systems of higher education, the CC’s, the CSU’s and the UC’s, coordinate activities to advocate for and protect the higher education budget this spring. The meeting had opened with discussion of a “unified vision statement,” and it was clear they weren’t kidding.
In the next series of motions, again all approved with near unanimity, it was first moved that the Summit work to stop the folding of the categoricals into the base, an act that almost certainly would result in the diminishment or loss entirely of the very hard-won PT Equity Funds. It was then moved that the Summit support the 10.93 share of Proposition 98 funds, a percentage that the CCC’s have rarely if ever reached. Further it was moved to continue the fight for PT equity pay, the continuation and expansion of the Office Hour programs, and for continuation and increase of funding for PT health care.
Finally, in what can only be termed a very significant show of support, the Summit approved a motion to suspend the “60%Law”
for a trial period of two years, pending its elimination entirely. Given that several unions dominated by full-time faculty have voiced opposition to the 60% Law's elimination, the support or at least acquiescence to the Summit's position by PTers from those same unions clearly shows where the opposition lies. Why they oppose it's elimination, however, given that no substantive argument exists to our knowledge to actually show a benefit from limitation, while the losses are as clear as the wear-and-tear on the souls of Freeway Flyers -- why they oppose doing away with it remains unclear, and uncomfortable.
But such cogitations aside, the mood of the moment and still weeks beyond is that of clarity and confidence. Nobody is going to win in the short term, not the CC's and not the PTers, not while money is so tight. But as sure as we were there at the table to participate in it, the PTers are going to come out of this crisis strong and united, with a clear vision of what must happen in all three systems of higher education in the state of California. No one asked us to do that, but that's what's needed, so that's what we're doing.
For the complete list of attendees and specifics of each vote, we refer you to the CPFA website http://www.cpfa.org
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