Ten Years After: First Contract Celebration Set for May 10
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Help us build a strong AFO and a Better College HFC-AFO News HFC-AFO News January, 2019 Ten Years After: First Contract Celebration Set for May 10 talked about how much Inside This Issue: it was going to cost to repair the parking lots. Scholarship 3 We asked our mem- Board Thanked bers to help. We circulated peti- tions both within the Two Ways to Get 4 College and the wider Involved Dearborn community. We met with student Calling Senior 4 organizations and talked Adjuncts: New to the local press—Mary Beck, the AFO’s first Hire Mentor president, was a guest Training on a WDET program. And, most effectively, we Forecast for the 5 packed Board meetings. Next Ten Years: A dozen of us were at Cloudy Charter members of the AFO met during the fall of the December, 2008 2008 to discuss their top issues: pay and job security Board meeting. Twenty We Need You! 6 of us showed up for the Winter General By Sherry Morgan and fied as the top bargaining January meeting. By Bill Norris priorities during our first March, the adjoining Membership room was opened and This spring the AFO general membership meet- Meeting March additional chairs were will observe the tenth ing that August. 22 needed to accommodate anniversary of our first At the time, there were some 60+ adjuncts and contract. Our plans are 28 Michigan community 10-Year Old Con- 7 supporters. not yet final, but we’re colleges and HFC adjuncts stitution Needs were the lowest paid of all. The combination of asking that you keep the Updating afternoon free on Satur- Instructors with years of the pressure brought by day May 10. We want experience were assigned our membership and you and your family to classes at the whim of ad- friends and our win-win Membership, 7 help us celebrate! ministrators—many of bargaining strategy fi- nally brought us close to “Fair Share” An overwhelming ma- whom were well- an agreement on a Fri- Fees, and Free jority of eligible adjuncts intentioned which isn’t the day afternoon in April. voted to recognize the same as saying they were Riders Explained We were hoping the AFO as our legal bar- always fair. management team gaining agent in an elec- Tom Anderson—our lead And Last but not 8 would budge on the few tion supervised by the negotiator—argued that remaining issues when Least: Michigan Employment there was a correlation Beth Davis, the then HR President’s Relations Commission in between our working con- Director, and Marge May, 2008. Salary and ditions and our students’ Message job security were identi- learning conditions. The College’s bargaining team (See “Tragedy” on Page 3) The Adjunct Faculty Organization News is the official newsletter of the HFC-AFO Adjunct Faculty Organization; American Federation of Teach- ers Local 337. AFL-CIO AFO Executive Board • Lynn Boza, President • William (Bill) Norris, Vice President • Edgar Johns, Grievance Officer • Lorena Bencsik, Treasurer • Sherry Morgan, Financial Records Secretary • Margaret Green, Recording Secretary HFC-AFO, Local 337 Henry Ford College 5101 Evergreen Road, N-006 Dearborn, MI 48128 313.845.9707 www.hfcc-afo.org You can contact any Executive Board member by office telephone (313.845-9707), email ([email protected]), or by sending a letter through either interoffice or U.S. mail. AFO Office Hours The AFO Office is located in Room-N006, on the lower level of Building N, the Cam- pus Safety Building. Monday: 9:00 to 10:00, 12:00 to 2:00, 3:30 to 6:00 (W. Norris) Tuesday: 10:00 to 3:00 (L. Boza) Wednesday: 9:00 to 10:00, 12:00 to 2:00 (W. Norris) Thursday: Office Closed Friday: 9:00 to 10:00 (W. Norris) Also by appointment. We may be out of the office for a scheduled, or unscheduled, meeting during posted hours. In such instances or in case of an emergency, you can call or text Bill Norris on his cell phone: 248-977-8897 Page 2 HFC-AFO News Tragedy Interrupted First Contract Talks (Continued from front page) A packed audience lis- tens as Glenn O’Kray, Swan, then the CFO—were the AFO’s first vice pres- suddenly called out of the ident, addresses the room. The next thing we HFCC Board of Trustees knew, we were in lock- in February, 2009. Pres- down. sure brought by adjuncts That was April 10, and our supporters, in- 2009, the day of a murder- cluding our full-time col- suicide in the Fine Arts leagues, combined with Building. A distraught the AFO’s win-win bar- male student had taken his gaining strategy, led to own life and that of anoth- our first contract in er student who had May, 2009. spurned his advances. As tense as the situation was for those of us on the bar- gaining team, it was much Scholarship Board Thanked more intense for those ad- juncts who were among the tary. Other scholarship board mem- only staff at work in the The Executive Board has approved a motion to dissolve the Founders bers include Bill Breger (Business), Fine Arts building on that Tim Egan (Business) Bill Norris Friday afternoon. Scholarship Fund and thanks the scholarship fund board members for (Sociology), Greg Osowski (Criminal The tragedy necessitated their service. Justice) Donna Palmer, (Psychology), a two-week pause in our and Maria Sepulveda (Psychology). contract talks as the Col- The scholarship fund was estab- lished to honor the memory of found- In recent years, a number of Board lege mourned the loss and ing member Joe Sorokac, a psycholo- members have retired and fund- began a review of security gy adjunct, who passed away soon raising has been less successful. Last procedures and vulnerabil- after the AFO was recognized. A year winter, the Board decided to award all ity. When we sat down later, another founding member, remaining funds and recommended again, it wasn’t long before trades and apprentice adjunct Pete that the AFO Executive Board pass we reached an agreement. Grant, passed away and after that the motion to dissolve. On April 27, 2009, we scholarships were awarded in his During its nine years of operation reached across the table to memory as well. the Scholarship Board awarded a total shake hands with the Throughout its existence, the schol- of $31,000 to 25 scholarship winners. Board’s bargaining team arship board was chaired by Joe’s While the AFO donated some funds, and posed for pictures. widow, Dottie Pelton, another found- most of the funding came from volun- Our first contract made ing member who teaches political sci- tary individual contributions. Dottie substantial headway to- ence. Mary Beck, the AFO’s first presi- and Mary and other contributors de- ward securing pay equity dent, was an enthusiastic supporter serve praise because the work they did and job security for our and scholarship board member secre- made a difference in the lives of so members. many adjuncts and their dependents. We knew at the time that we had a lot more work to do and we know now that Dottie Pelton, Chair of the Found- today’s challenges threaten er’s Scholarship Board, selling our future as an organiza- tickets at the 2012 Joe Sorokac tion. We believe that the Chili Bowl Cookoff. The Cookoff AFO’s future is worth boosted morale and raised funds fighting for and that our for the HFCC-AFO Founders Schol- past is worth celebrating. arship fund. We hope you will join us to do so on the second Satur- day in May. HFC-AFO News Page 3 Two Ways to Get Involved! By Bill Norris, AFO VP activities that Henry Ford extends to get adjunct voices recognized was adjuncts. long and hard. Adjuncts are heterogeneous—we Adjunct representatives to the Fac- The reasons the college constitu- have different needs, different priori- ulty Senate, the various councils, tion was changed were many and ties, and different stories. Not every and some standing committees are complex, but the biggest reason it adjunct is able and willing to “get elected at-large or by specific constit- was changed to give adjuncts a voice involved,” but there are good reasons uencies. However, some standing was because Mary Beck, Tom Ander- for doing so if you are able. committees welcome walk-on mem- son, and the rest of us in the AFO If you’re at the beginning of your bers and professional development refused to take no for an answer. career and especially if you are hop- opportunities are likewise open to all And the only reason we’re paid for ing to escape the adjunct army by faculty. our voices and professional develop- landing a full-time position, getting Thanks to the AFO, adjuncts are ment activities is because of the per- involved might equate to a couple of compensated for participation in sistence of several AFO bargaining lines on your C.V. Describing your governance and professional devel- committees. experience and service on, say, the opment activities. The compensation We weren’t just looking for a few Scholastics Policy Committee will isn’t enough and varies depending extra dollars in our paychecks. What look impressive and might spell the on the assignment and is subject to we were looking for was spelled out difference between a job offer and a certain limits. in Aretha Franklin’s great song: R-E- rejection letter especially if you can S-P-E-C-T. talk about the process intelligently Few colleges give adjuncts the voice during an interview.