Some Bakersfield College full-time faculty members are working hard to secure higher salaries and benefits for adjunct or part-time BC faculty.
Andrea Garrison, full-time BC biology instructor and head BC chair and negotiator for the Community College Association, said that BC members of CCA are trying to raise the adjunct salary from $55 to $60 an hour.
Garrison also said BC CCA members are looking into the district’s adjunct rehiring policies. Tenure guarantees rehiring, which adjuncts usually do not have, Garrison said. Garrison said that the district has not approved the proposed adjunct pay raise. However, Garrison said that she is very hopeful that the adjunct salary and benefit problems can be resolved in a way that is most favorable to adjuncts.
According to Garrison, class loads for adjuncts cannot exceed 60 percent. If adjuncts wish to exceed the mandated 60 percent, then they have to go to other college districts to teach. Some adjuncts may go as far as the College of the Sequoias in Visalia to teach, or they may go as far as Los Angeles and Orange counties to teach more.
“It depends on where they live,” Garrison said. “This is very hard to do.”
John Gerhold, BC music professor, head chair for BC academic senate and active member of CCA, said that the Kern Community College District will not allow adjuncts to pay into their own benefits package, and Gerhold said that he does not know why.
He said that some college districts allow their adjuncts to pay into the benefits system, and he feels that KCCD should allow this pro-rated benefit system. Gerhold said that KCCD pays $600-$700 in benefits each month for each full-time faculty and classified employee including life insurance and mental health insurance, but adjuncts are not included in this.
“It would become very expensive to include adjuncts,” Gerhold said. “To include adjuncts into this is not currently a spending priority for the district.”
Gerhold said that Cal State Bakersfield has a better package for its part-time employees; Cal State Bakersfield part-timers are allowed to pay into their own benefits package.
James Bostick, BC adjunct communication professor noted that there are no real benefits for adjuncts other than salary. However, Bostick mentioned that there is some retirement money through the CalPERS fund. Bostick said that he appreciates that. He also said that he is satisfied with what adjuncts receive through KCCD, but he also employed at Santa Barbara Business College as well as at Chevron. At Chevron, Bostick works as a tutor for international employees and helps them to improve language and presentation skills. He also helps them work through cultural issues.
As an adjunct BC professor of communication, Glen Anderson is also not unhappy with his BC adjunct package. However, like Bostick, Anderson also works elsewhere; Anderson is a full-time librarian at Centennial High School. Anderson also taught English to high schoolers for 15 years, he said.