Wednesday, December 28, 2011
NEA article about Jennifer's leadership training
Read about yours truly and her cohort at a hands-on union training experience in California that I went to in November (or was it October). We had a great time and learned a lot. Jennifer. click here for the article. I hope you enjoy it: http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/2011/11/29/higher-ed-members-learn-organizing-skills-at-emerging-leaders-academy/
Watch out for Bill Sizemore's petition
According to DefendOregon, Bill Sizemore is up to his old tricks. "Sizemore is back with another attack on public employees and charities. He’s circulating an initiative that would revoke the right of public employees to contribute to their union’s political activities and many charities. His Initiative Petition 3 is nearly identical to Measure 64, which was defeated in 2008." I think old Bill is in jail for tax evasion, but he is always a threat.
"Sizemore’s Initiative Petition 3 is currently on the streets gathering signatures. His organizations have used fraud, forgery, and racketeering in order to get on the ballot in the past. That’s why we need your eyes and ears on the street to help us gather information about Sizemore’s signature-gathering operation."
Click here to find out how to inform DefendOregon if you happen to see his petitioners on the streets. http://www.defendoregon.org/. This way DefendOregon can set the record straight. Let's keep him honest!
"Sizemore’s Initiative Petition 3 is currently on the streets gathering signatures. His organizations have used fraud, forgery, and racketeering in order to get on the ballot in the past. That’s why we need your eyes and ears on the street to help us gather information about Sizemore’s signature-gathering operation."
Click here to find out how to inform DefendOregon if you happen to see his petitioners on the streets. http://www.defendoregon.org/. This way DefendOregon can set the record straight. Let's keep him honest!
Leadership Conference in San Diego!!!
The Pacific Regional Leadership Conference (PRLC) is designed to further enhance the knowledge of K-12 educators, education support professionals, higher education, student, and retired members.
Please click here for more info: http://www.nea.org/grants/41161.htm. This would be a good conference for those who need to see some sun (:-), as the conference is in San Diego.
If you want to go, please contact Jennifer at PTFA@clackamas.edu. There is some expectation that you will report back what you learned and be prepared to help out the PTFA from time to time in some capacity.
Please click here for more info: http://www.nea.org/grants/41161.htm. This would be a good conference for those who need to see some sun (:-), as the conference is in San Diego.
If you want to go, please contact Jennifer at PTFA@clackamas.edu. There is some expectation that you will report back what you learned and be prepared to help out the PTFA from time to time in some capacity.
Labor/Management Conference
This looks like a great conference especially if we don't want a repeat of the last 18 months of "positional" bargaining. It would be great if someone could go. Your costs would be largely covered by the PTFA and/or Prof Dev Fund. In exchange, the PTFA would need some kind of report. We would be verrrry interested in what you learn at the conference as we will be bargaining again in about 9 months. Contact Jennifer if you want to go at ptfa@clackamas.edu.
Click here for info: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ncscbhep
Click here for info: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ncscbhep
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Here's Your Tool Kit to Make OEA's Day of Action a Success!
By now, you've likely begun the process of developing a logistics and recruitment plan for OEA's Day of Action on President's Day, February 20, 2012. We need thousands of members storming the Capitol and making our voice heard! Here are the tools you'll need to make your local plan a success. In this tool kit you'll find:
- Sample plans and a planning template to assist you in building your own plan
- A draft agenda of the day's activities
- Transportation logistics and reimbursement information
- Day of Action messages and themes, to encourage member participation
Don't forget, you and your members can go online NOW to register! If you're interested in getting a list of your members who have already registered, contact us.
Help Inform Education Policy in Oregon
Your expertise is needed on a critial survey from Oregon's Quality Education Commission (QEC). Educators need to weigh in and share their thoughts on professional collaboration & formative assessment. Please take a moment to take the survey now. Be sure to share it far and wide with your members - put a link on your website, and send it out through social media and your emial listservs. Results from this survey will be shared with Gov. Kitzhaber, the Oregon Legislature, and the Oregon Education Investment Board (OEIB) and used to help set the direction of public education in Oregon.
Mark Your Calendars for the 2012 OEA PIE Convention
The 2012 OEA-PIE Convention is right around the corner! It will take place on March 9 & 10 at the DoubleTree Hotel Portland. Go here to find the NEW OEA-PIE Convention pre-delegate information packet, complete with registration forms, proxy information, hotel details, reimbursement guidelines, and more! Registration is now LIVE.
NEW this year - delegates have multiple registration options:
NEW this year - delegates have multiple registration options:
- Go Online! Members can complete an online form that’s automatically submitted; or download and print out a PDF that can then be faxed, mailed, or scanned and emailed,
- Members can also ask UniServ offices for the forms and then submit them by mail, fax, scan or email.
- The forms included in the packet can also be used by members and sent in via fax, mail, or scanned and emailed.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
OEIB: new funding for community colleges
I’m sending this message to let you know about some upcoming, big changes to the way the state of Oregon funds education. This will eventually affect all of us.
Oregon Education Investment Board (OEIB)
· Senate Bill 909 created OEIB
· 8 year phase-in (~2012 to 2021 or 2025)
· Proficiency-based standards (we ask ourselves “What does this mean?”)
Goals:
· Teens are ready for college-level work
· Oregonians able to compete globally
· 40% of Oregonians get B.A. or higher, 40% get post-secondary credential, 100% get high school diploma
· Indicators will be, among others, increased voter turnout and decreased crime and jail sentences
Issues for CCC
· Funding no longer driven by FTE
· Funding now driven by results (certificates, degrees, etcetera)
· Things are moving fast
CCC (and other community colleges) must fundamentally change their philosophy and methodology. Funding will be based on student sustainability and performance. We are shifting from “education activity” to “learner proficiency”. This requires shifting the basis for funding from time-based activities to proficiency-based outcomes.
For CCC (and all public educational institutions), there is not yet a full understanding of how funding will be allotted to the community colleges. One way will be through “Achievement Compacts”*. If the educational institution does not meet its own goals, and so loses funding, the compact can be amended to get funding flowing again.
CCC’s problem: how to measure “proficiency-based outcomes”. The new “outcomes” model will probably be more intrusive (meaning community colleges will have less discretion) and more of a “prescription” by the state than the FTE model.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
PTFA Quarterly eNews, Fall 2011
Bargaining Update, by PTFA President Jennifer Rueda: It’s been a tough 18 months. There is nothing I’d like more than to settle the contract. However, we can’t do that if it means losing our seniority rights. We are not asking for new rights . . . read more.
Road Scholar Print to e-Newsletter Conversion: Thank you for taking the time to read our first PTFA e-Newsletter! As of fall of 2011, the PTFA does not currently have the resources to provide the labor needed to support our print newsletter. Here is some basic information about our new newsletter format. . . . read more.
Imagine Clackamas, by President Emeritus Tim Pantages: This year’s “theme” for the College, chosen by the Administration, is to remember what Clackamas used to be, and imagine what it can become now and in the future. Remember what it used to be? Remember the “Clackamas Way”? . . . read more.
Arbitration Update, by PTFA President Jennifer Rueda: The math arbitration held on Tuesday, October 19 was my first arbitration hearing outside of testifying for Farmers Insurance years ago. In my previous life, I was a PIP (Personal Injury Protection) adjuster, and twice, I think, I testified about the behavior of a lying, angry and/or crazy claimant who wanted more benefits they he or she was entitled. This time was different. . . . read more.
From Dr. Hoot's Perch: Advice from Dr. Ivan Mancinelli-Franconi on beating the fall and winter blues, October 2011. As we enter fall and winter seasons, and the days get shorter, our spirit, or mood also change. Many people experience mood and behavioral changes accompanied by feelings of exhaustion. Some people are deeply affected by the lack of sunlight, experiencing “Winter Blues.” Winter Blues is most often associated with not being able to be outside as much, unpleasant memories of past holiday events, and not being able to be with one’s loved ones. . . . read more.From Dr. Hoot's Perch: Advice from Dr. Ivan Mancinelli-Franconi on how to use Kahuna breathing techniques for healing and relaxation, November 2011. Some of the best healing techniques come from nature. They are so simple that we need very little training to practice and implement them. The Hawaiians have a very ancient tradition of healing, a mixture of psychology, religion and philosophy known as “Huna.” This traditional Polynesian belief system and healing tradition was first encountered by Captain James Cook in 1778. . . . read more.
NEA LEA Field Training, by PTFA President, Jennifer Rueda: Yours truly was nominated for some wonderful NEA leadership training last December. I had no idea what to expect, not having had much union experience, but found a very exceptionally professional organization in the NEA. The training is called ELA (Emerging Leaders Academy) and it takes one year to complete. . . . read more.
Combating Larger Class Sizes: Resources from the OEA, passed on by our OEA consultant Brett Nair. Large class size weighing you down? Looking for ways to work smarter and not just harder and longer? Go to the OEA Website to explore practical and specific tips for teaching large class sizes . . . read more.
Road Scholar Print to e-Newsletter Conversion
Thank you for taking the time to read our first PTFA e-Newsletter! As of fall of 2011, the PTFA does not currently have the resources to provide the labor needed to support our print newsletter. Here is some basic information about our new newsletter format.
Q: How can I make sure I get the latest PTFA news at cccroadscholar.blogspot.com?
A: Become a follower!
First, visit the blog homepage: http://cccroadscholar.blogspot.com/
If you’re not already a follower, you should see a link on the far left of the navigation bar at the top of the page that says “Follow.”
Once you click on it, select how you'd like to follow the blog (either publicly or anonymously), then click the "Follow this blog" button.
“If you elected to follow the blog publicly, your profile picture will be displayed on the blog with a link to your Blogger profile. When you become a follower of a blog, the blog will also be added to your Reading List on your Blogger dashboard. Additionally, you can become a follower of any blog or URL (even if the blog doesn't have the Followers widget) by adding the blog to your Reading List on the dashboard.” (copied from Blogger help files)
Q: How can I contribute to Road Scholar?
A: Email the PTFA, and they will set you up as a Road Scholar author.
Email the PTFA and let them know that you want to be added to our Road Scholar blog as an author. To keep it simple, put something like “Please make me a Road Scholar author” in the title. Thank you!
Q: Why should I consider following or contributing to Road Scholar?
A: Next to email, the blog will now be our best means for communicating with PTFA.
The PTFA currently does not have the means to continue to support a newsletter in print form. The print version of Road Scholar that we have all become accustomed to seeing in our mailboxes near the end of each term is a thing of the past. Of course, the Association will continue to communicate with PTF via email, but any general news that the Association has to share each term (such as the president’s report, advocacy report, or conference updates) will now be shared via the blog.
Following the blog will help keep you updated as news is posted. Becoming a contributor will allow you to write your own articles to be shared with the entire PTFA. We welcome all contributors!
Finally, if you would like to help revive a print newsletter, please let us know. We currently have the financial resources to support the print newsletter, but we don’t have enough people to work on it to keep it going. If this is of interest to you, please contact Jennifer Rueda (jrueda@clackamas.edu). The PTFA has plenty to share about how editing the newsletter for three years was of significant professional advantage. So please, let us know if you’re interested. Until then, we’ll see you on the blog!
Q: How can I make sure I get the latest PTFA news at cccroadscholar.blogspot.com?
A: Become a follower!
First, visit the blog homepage: http://cccroadscholar.blogspot.com/
If you’re not already a follower, you should see a link on the far left of the navigation bar at the top of the page that says “Follow.”
Once you click on it, select how you'd like to follow the blog (either publicly or anonymously), then click the "Follow this blog" button.
“If you elected to follow the blog publicly, your profile picture will be displayed on the blog with a link to your Blogger profile. When you become a follower of a blog, the blog will also be added to your Reading List on your Blogger dashboard. Additionally, you can become a follower of any blog or URL (even if the blog doesn't have the Followers widget) by adding the blog to your Reading List on the dashboard.” (copied from Blogger help files)
Q: How can I contribute to Road Scholar?
A: Email the PTFA, and they will set you up as a Road Scholar author.
Email the PTFA and let them know that you want to be added to our Road Scholar blog as an author. To keep it simple, put something like “Please make me a Road Scholar author” in the title. Thank you!
Q: Why should I consider following or contributing to Road Scholar?
A: Next to email, the blog will now be our best means for communicating with PTFA.
The PTFA currently does not have the means to continue to support a newsletter in print form. The print version of Road Scholar that we have all become accustomed to seeing in our mailboxes near the end of each term is a thing of the past. Of course, the Association will continue to communicate with PTF via email, but any general news that the Association has to share each term (such as the president’s report, advocacy report, or conference updates) will now be shared via the blog.
Following the blog will help keep you updated as news is posted. Becoming a contributor will allow you to write your own articles to be shared with the entire PTFA. We welcome all contributors!
Finally, if you would like to help revive a print newsletter, please let us know. We currently have the financial resources to support the print newsletter, but we don’t have enough people to work on it to keep it going. If this is of interest to you, please contact Jennifer Rueda (jrueda@clackamas.edu). The PTFA has plenty to share about how editing the newsletter for three years was of significant professional advantage. So please, let us know if you’re interested. Until then, we’ll see you on the blog!
Imagine Clackamas
by PTFA President Emeritus Tim Pantages
This year’s “theme” for the College, chosen by the Administration, is to remember what Clackamas used to be, and imagine what it can become now and in the future.
Remember what it used to be? Remember the “Clackamas Way”? It was a time when every constituency at Clackamas was respected and treated with respect: the community, the students, the classified staff, the Administration, full-time faculty, and part-time faculty.
Now imagine Clackamas the way it currently is:
Is that the Clackamas YOU want?
This year’s “theme” for the College, chosen by the Administration, is to remember what Clackamas used to be, and imagine what it can become now and in the future.
Remember what it used to be? Remember the “Clackamas Way”? It was a time when every constituency at Clackamas was respected and treated with respect: the community, the students, the classified staff, the Administration, full-time faculty, and part-time faculty.
Now imagine Clackamas the way it currently is:
- All other staff have an established process of evaluations and progressive discipline. Administration insists it can conduct “drive by” evaluations on part-time faculty whenever it wants and can fire us based on informal, unsigned student evaluations whenever it wants!
- Classified and full-time faculty remain recognized for continued service to the College. Administration wants to strip away current seniority rights for part-time faculty.
- Classified, full-time faculty, and Administrators have sick leave benefits that do not require a note from their doctor for illnesses lasting more than three working days. Administration apparently believes that part-time faculty cannot be trusted on this issue and want to institute doctor’s notes---to the one group at the College to whom health benefits are not given.
- Classified staff and full-time faculty have an established process for lay-offs. Administration insists it must add to our contract that we are hired and fired every term – even those of us who have been here for more the 10, more than 20 years!
- Classified and full-time work can’t be sub-contracted out to save the College money. Administration insists it can sub-contract out part-time faculty work and insists on adding language that says we can’t demand to bargain over it!
Is that the Clackamas YOU want?
NEA ELA Field Training
by PTFA President Jennifer Rueda
Yours truly was nominated for some wonderful NEA leadership training last December. I had no idea what to expect, not having had much union experience, but found a very exceptionally professional organization in the NEA. The training is called ELA (Emerging Leaders Academy) and it takes one year to complete. I’ve previously written about the interview process and the initial training, which were held in Washington DC.
My ELA training cadre is a group of 22 full-timers, part-timers, classified and para-professionals from all over the country. On the last day of our training in Washington DC last June, we choose 5 people for our “front team”. These five folks (with help and support from our NEA training cadre) took on the additional responsibility to fly to California, where they interviewed members of the California Teachers’ Association and the Chaffey (Community) College local association in order to help the local organize a membership drive.
I’m pleased to be able to do this because I’ve wanted to meet face-to-face with many of our membership, following up with an online survey. With this information, I think the PTFA board and I could better represent the association and begin preparations for the next round of bargaining (in a mere two short years).
Be ready! Our at-large board member Ivan Mancinelli-Franconi has designed a survey. Once I return from my “field experience”, the board and I will begin reaching out to all of you. We will want to introduce ourselves, explain how the PTFA works and how it benefits everyone, invite those of you who haven’t joined the OEA to do so, and we’d like to pick your brain. We are very interested in finding out how many of our members work only for CCC, work for multiple institutions, want to work only for CCC, want to work full-time with benefits, or are very happy with the way their lives are structured (e.g. part-time teaching, kids at home, secondary job, full-time job elsewhere).
I’m not sure what our “reaching” out to you will look like. We’ll probably send some emails, make some calls, and come meet you in your office or place of your choosing. Additionally, we can always schedule a coffee/tea party for your whole building.
Yours truly was nominated for some wonderful NEA leadership training last December. I had no idea what to expect, not having had much union experience, but found a very exceptionally professional organization in the NEA. The training is called ELA (Emerging Leaders Academy) and it takes one year to complete. I’ve previously written about the interview process and the initial training, which were held in Washington DC.
My ELA training cadre is a group of 22 full-timers, part-timers, classified and para-professionals from all over the country. On the last day of our training in Washington DC last June, we choose 5 people for our “front team”. These five folks (with help and support from our NEA training cadre) took on the additional responsibility to fly to California, where they interviewed members of the California Teachers’ Association and the Chaffey (Community) College local association in order to help the local organize a membership drive.
I’m pleased to be able to do this because I’ve wanted to meet face-to-face with many of our membership, following up with an online survey. With this information, I think the PTFA board and I could better represent the association and begin preparations for the next round of bargaining (in a mere two short years).
Be ready! Our at-large board member Ivan Mancinelli-Franconi has designed a survey. Once I return from my “field experience”, the board and I will begin reaching out to all of you. We will want to introduce ourselves, explain how the PTFA works and how it benefits everyone, invite those of you who haven’t joined the OEA to do so, and we’d like to pick your brain. We are very interested in finding out how many of our members work only for CCC, work for multiple institutions, want to work only for CCC, want to work full-time with benefits, or are very happy with the way their lives are structured (e.g. part-time teaching, kids at home, secondary job, full-time job elsewhere).
I’m not sure what our “reaching” out to you will look like. We’ll probably send some emails, make some calls, and come meet you in your office or place of your choosing. Additionally, we can always schedule a coffee/tea party for your whole building.
Arbitration Udate
by PTFA President Jennifer Rueda
The math arbitration held on Tuesday, October 19 was my first arbitration hearing outside of testifying for Farmers Insurance years ago. In my previous life, I was a PIP (Personal Injury Protection) adjuster, and twice, I think, I testified about the behavior of a lying, angry and/or crazy claimant who wanted more benefits they he or she was entitled. This time was different. This time I was testifying and observing something I believe in. Anyhow, it felt good to be fighting the good fight for three of our brothers in the math department. Everyone should be entitled to due process before they lose their job. The scary thing is…if these guys can lose their jobs so easily, what about the rest of us?
However, the wonderful attorney for the OEA prepared well, and she prepared her witnesses well too. There were numerous witnesses for the defense and for the PTFA. I testified for two hours about the way my department (ESL) prepares and carries out term assignments. Others testified about their own department’s adherence to article 16 assignment procedures, and this testimony was compared to what happened to the three part-timers in the math dept.
I was so glad to have had the opportunity to arbitrate this issue with the administration. It would be nice to have “due process” fully articulated and used by every department before a part-timer is “let go”. On another note, Elizabeth mentioned at the President’s Council meeting yesterday that the college wants to start using the part-time evaluation system they developed a few years ago. If part-timers were to have regular peer/chair/student evaluations, then part-timers would have evidence to fight an accusation of sub-par teaching.
We won’t know about the outcome of the arbitration until around mid-December. After opening arguments and all the testimony (across two days), each attorney prepares closing arguments, which she mails to the arbitrator within 30 days. The arbitrator then has 30 days in which to render a decision. I feel good about what I saw at the October 19th arbitration, but I need to be wise and not have any expectations or I may be disappointed.
Bargaining Update
by PTFA President Jennifer Rueda
It’s been a tough 18 months. There is nothing I’d like more than to settle the contract. However, we can’t do that if it means losing our seniority rights. We are not asking for new rights; we are just asking that the rights we have now are not eroded. We are not asking too much. However, according to the college, its needs conflict with these particular rights (article 16 of the contract).
We have listened with respect and an open mind to the colleges issues with article 16. We then added some language that would give the college a little more flexibility when assigning classes. The college continued to inject language that erodes our rights. So… we proposed various ways in which we could have some protection from an errant department chair or dean.
The college has not accepted our creative solutions. We have even met with a professional arbitrator four times. We believe the college is going to declare an “impasse”. If that happens, (and I’m sure it will) each side will present one final proposal. If an agreement is not reached, the college will “impose” its last and best offer. There will be a cooling off period, then we return to bargaining.
We need to come together. This is your contract, and it reflects your needs, wants and values. Your union is very strong. I mean it! It’s got your back and mine. When we decide to come together in a job action (e.g. picketing, addressing the board of education, letters to the editor), we are POWERFUL.
There are, of course, other issues in the contract, in addition to Article 16. These will be addressed in a future bargaining update. Please continue to watch for bargaining updates.
It’s been a tough 18 months. There is nothing I’d like more than to settle the contract. However, we can’t do that if it means losing our seniority rights. We are not asking for new rights; we are just asking that the rights we have now are not eroded. We are not asking too much. However, according to the college, its needs conflict with these particular rights (article 16 of the contract).
We have listened with respect and an open mind to the colleges issues with article 16. We then added some language that would give the college a little more flexibility when assigning classes. The college continued to inject language that erodes our rights. So… we proposed various ways in which we could have some protection from an errant department chair or dean.
The college has not accepted our creative solutions. We have even met with a professional arbitrator four times. We believe the college is going to declare an “impasse”. If that happens, (and I’m sure it will) each side will present one final proposal. If an agreement is not reached, the college will “impose” its last and best offer. There will be a cooling off period, then we return to bargaining.
We need to come together. This is your contract, and it reflects your needs, wants and values. Your union is very strong. I mean it! It’s got your back and mine. When we decide to come together in a job action (e.g. picketing, addressing the board of education, letters to the editor), we are POWERFUL.
There are, of course, other issues in the contract, in addition to Article 16. These will be addressed in a future bargaining update. Please continue to watch for bargaining updates.
Kahuna Breathing
Ivan Mancinelli-Franconi, Ph.D
Some of the best healing techniques come from nature. They are so simple that we need very little training to practice and implement them. The Hawaiians have a very ancient tradition of healing, a mixture of psychology, religion and philosophy known as “Huna.” This traditional Polynesian belief system and healing tradition was first encountered by Captain James Cook in 1778, when he discovered the Hawaiian Islands. But the “Huna” tradition was already about 3000 years old. The Kahunas were the experts in religion, health, crafts, science, psychology and what today we would call magic. The term "Kahuna” means “keeper of that which is concealed” but was a title, much like our Ph.D., so descriptive words were added to express the field of expertise. “Kahuna,” by itself, today, generally refers to a priest or healer. In ancient times they were selected as children and studied for 20 years before being considered adept. The ancient prayer of the Kahunas was "Let that which is unknown become known."
The American missionaries who came after Captain Cook, in 1819, to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity, quickly grasped the value of the Kahunas knowledge and used them to translate the New Testa¬ment into Hawaiian. The Kahunas, were appalled at how missionaries prayed without proper breathing. The Hawaiians called white missionaries “Haole,” which translates as "with¬out breath, a term applied today to all non-Hawaiians. The dislike of the Missionaries toward the Kahunas, who were seen as sorcerers and adversaries, forced the Kahunas to keep their knowledge hidden to avoid political or legal repercussions.
In the early 20th century, William Tufts Brigham, curator of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, studied for years the miraculous healings of the Kahunas, but did not find the secret of how it was done. Years later, US-born Max Freedom Long (1890-1971) who in 1917 after graduating from UCLA had gone to Hawaii to teach, met Brigham. Long became Brigham’s student until the latter died in 1926. Long spent his lifetime studying the Kahuna healing arts and found the secret of Kahuna healing encoded in the Hawaiian language. It is through his writings that we became aware of this fascinating healing philosophy.
Conscious and Subconscious Minds
Modern psychology recognizes a conscious and a subconscious part of the mind. In “Huna,” when we refer to the mind, we speak of three selves or three consciousnesses. This is similar to Freud’s theory of personality. The three selves consist of the “Lower-Self” or sub-conscious self, known in “Huna” as “Unihipili,” the “Middle-Self” or conscious self, called “Uhane, ” and the “Higher-Self,” known as “Aumakua,” similar to what Freud called the super-conscious.
The “Middle” and “Lower” selves are attached to the physical body by an ethereal body called the “Aka.” All three selves are connected by an “Aka” cord – a sort of umbilical cord, also known in other esoteric disciplines as the “Silver Cord.”
The “Unihipili,” or “Lower-Self” is the subconscious mind or basic self, and is primarily concerned with survival and the continuity of life. It is the “Id” in Freudian terms. It does not concern itself with others. It only seeks its own reward, survival or gain. The “Unihipili,” only expresses the beliefs it has taken on. It seeks our desires, self gratifications and sensory delights.
The “Uhane” or “Middle-Self” is the “Ego,” or conscious self, the mental or emotional self, the reasoning self. It is the adult self that is conscious of its own existence and has the ability to reason, rationalize and look at patterns of behavior. The “Uhane” holds and creates our belief systems, identities, judgments and values. This is the part of the self that learns, creates solutions and balances the actions of the lower self. Although the vibration of the “Middle-Self” is higher than the “Lower- Self,” it does not experience feelings or emotions unless it works in combinations with the “Lower-Self.”
The “Aumakua” is the “Higher- Self” or "Superconscious." The “Higher Self” is the parental, older, and responsible self. It may be called a sort of fiscal agent or guardian angel who helps us when requested to do so, but does not necessarily interfere unless asked to help. The “Higher-Self,” using whatever higher resources which may be required, brings all desired conditions into reality. Since the “Higher-Self” is the dwelling of the “spirit” or soul, it has a higher vibration than the “Middle” or “Lower” selves, and includes their vibrations within it. It is the “Higher-Self” that our prayers pass through to connect to the “godhead” or “creator.” When all three selves are connected and work together, our life's experiences are easily created and integrated in perfect synchronicity. When the selves are disconnected, our life becomes fragmented, confused and enters into dis-ease.
Prayer and Mana
In the “Huna” tradition, prayer is formal, has a purpose, and it is planned. It must be executed as a ritual to be effective. Through prayer we visualize thought forms. These thought forms are sent to God the Creator, through the “Aumakua” who is connected to God. The prayers are sent along the “Aka cord” (the cord that connects the physical to the spiritual self) through the three selves. The prayers are sent through an accumulation of “Mana,” the life force energy created by the breath. “Mana” is also known in other traditions as “Prana,” “Chi” or “Ki.”
“Huna” practitioners learn to concentrate the “Mana,” the vital essence by means of breath control. The ancient Kahunas emphasized proper breathing to channel the Mana to God the Creator to manifest change. This life force that permeates the universe and is highly concentrated in all living things, contains several constituents found in electricity, magnetism, and gravity.
“Mana” can be increased through visualization during the specialized breathing exercises, special foods, and chants, but in particular by consciously building up the “Mana” in the body and accompanying it by a specific thought.
In “Huna,” breathing exercises are used to send “mana” to any organ or thought-form to energize it and strengthen ourselves and others. When we control our breathing we are able to heal diseases, as well as remove our fears, worries and “Lower-Self” emotions.
“Huna” breathing is done naturally and automatically, but there is a proper way of breathing for energizing the body --the "Kahuna Breath"
The Kahuna Breathing Technique – Complete Breathing
The “Huna” breathing technique is natural , not forced breathing that is done through the nose. With regular practice this breathing will become a habit.
1. Sit or stand erect inhaling gradually through the nose and filling the lower section of the lungs applying pressure on the lower abdomen.
Fill the middle part of the lungs by expanding the chest.
Fill the upper part of the lungs pushing out the upper part of the chest.
Although this breathing technique entails three different actions, the breathing should be a continuous flowing motion filling the whole chest in one uniform movement. .
2. Hold the breath for a few seconds.
3. Exhale slowly through the mouth drawing the abdomen in and slowly lift it up while exhaling. After exhaling completely, relax the chest and abdomen.
Once you mastered the “Complete Breathing,” begin rhythmic breathing or the “Ha” breath. “Ha” means breath or “four” and is the sound you make when you exhale during the “Mana- generating” stage of the “Ha Rite.”
The “Ha” or “Four” breaths entails a 4 part breathing process: First you inhale for a count of one (1). Hold the breath for a count of one (1). Exhale for a count of two (2). Hold the breath to oxygenate the blood and activate the lymphatic system. You may use your heartbeat as a natural rhythm. Also, you can inhale for a count of four beats, hold for four, and then exhale for eight.
Now you have learned a new but ancient technique to help you release that which causes imbalance in your life.
Mahalo and Aloha!
Note: As with anything, always consult with your physician before undertaking any new discipline. This article is for educational purposes only and any use other than its intended purpose is undertaken at reader’s own risk. Author does not assume any responsibility for misuse of this information.
References
Barrere, D.B. (1971) The Kumuhonua Legends: A story of late 19th century Hawaiian Stories of Creation and Origins, Honolulu, Bernice O, Bishop Museum
Beckwith, M W (1972) The Kumulipo, A Hawaiian Creation Chant, Honolulu , The University Press of Hawaii.
Freedom Long, M. (1948) The Secret Science Behind Miracles
McBride, L.R. The Kahuna
Smith, SD (1987) Kahuna: Keeper of the Secret . Sunrise Magazine, February/March 1987;Theosophical University Press
James, T, Naope G, and Shutte, R. (1997) Lost Secrets Of Ancient Hawaiian Huna. ISBN: 0-9623272-6-3
Some of the best healing techniques come from nature. They are so simple that we need very little training to practice and implement them. The Hawaiians have a very ancient tradition of healing, a mixture of psychology, religion and philosophy known as “Huna.” This traditional Polynesian belief system and healing tradition was first encountered by Captain James Cook in 1778, when he discovered the Hawaiian Islands. But the “Huna” tradition was already about 3000 years old. The Kahunas were the experts in religion, health, crafts, science, psychology and what today we would call magic. The term "Kahuna” means “keeper of that which is concealed” but was a title, much like our Ph.D., so descriptive words were added to express the field of expertise. “Kahuna,” by itself, today, generally refers to a priest or healer. In ancient times they were selected as children and studied for 20 years before being considered adept. The ancient prayer of the Kahunas was "Let that which is unknown become known."
The American missionaries who came after Captain Cook, in 1819, to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity, quickly grasped the value of the Kahunas knowledge and used them to translate the New Testa¬ment into Hawaiian. The Kahunas, were appalled at how missionaries prayed without proper breathing. The Hawaiians called white missionaries “Haole,” which translates as "with¬out breath, a term applied today to all non-Hawaiians. The dislike of the Missionaries toward the Kahunas, who were seen as sorcerers and adversaries, forced the Kahunas to keep their knowledge hidden to avoid political or legal repercussions.
In the early 20th century, William Tufts Brigham, curator of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, studied for years the miraculous healings of the Kahunas, but did not find the secret of how it was done. Years later, US-born Max Freedom Long (1890-1971) who in 1917 after graduating from UCLA had gone to Hawaii to teach, met Brigham. Long became Brigham’s student until the latter died in 1926. Long spent his lifetime studying the Kahuna healing arts and found the secret of Kahuna healing encoded in the Hawaiian language. It is through his writings that we became aware of this fascinating healing philosophy.
Conscious and Subconscious Minds
Modern psychology recognizes a conscious and a subconscious part of the mind. In “Huna,” when we refer to the mind, we speak of three selves or three consciousnesses. This is similar to Freud’s theory of personality. The three selves consist of the “Lower-Self” or sub-conscious self, known in “Huna” as “Unihipili,” the “Middle-Self” or conscious self, called “Uhane, ” and the “Higher-Self,” known as “Aumakua,” similar to what Freud called the super-conscious.
The “Middle” and “Lower” selves are attached to the physical body by an ethereal body called the “Aka.” All three selves are connected by an “Aka” cord – a sort of umbilical cord, also known in other esoteric disciplines as the “Silver Cord.”
The “Unihipili,” or “Lower-Self” is the subconscious mind or basic self, and is primarily concerned with survival and the continuity of life. It is the “Id” in Freudian terms. It does not concern itself with others. It only seeks its own reward, survival or gain. The “Unihipili,” only expresses the beliefs it has taken on. It seeks our desires, self gratifications and sensory delights.
The “Uhane” or “Middle-Self” is the “Ego,” or conscious self, the mental or emotional self, the reasoning self. It is the adult self that is conscious of its own existence and has the ability to reason, rationalize and look at patterns of behavior. The “Uhane” holds and creates our belief systems, identities, judgments and values. This is the part of the self that learns, creates solutions and balances the actions of the lower self. Although the vibration of the “Middle-Self” is higher than the “Lower- Self,” it does not experience feelings or emotions unless it works in combinations with the “Lower-Self.”
The “Aumakua” is the “Higher- Self” or "Superconscious." The “Higher Self” is the parental, older, and responsible self. It may be called a sort of fiscal agent or guardian angel who helps us when requested to do so, but does not necessarily interfere unless asked to help. The “Higher-Self,” using whatever higher resources which may be required, brings all desired conditions into reality. Since the “Higher-Self” is the dwelling of the “spirit” or soul, it has a higher vibration than the “Middle” or “Lower” selves, and includes their vibrations within it. It is the “Higher-Self” that our prayers pass through to connect to the “godhead” or “creator.” When all three selves are connected and work together, our life's experiences are easily created and integrated in perfect synchronicity. When the selves are disconnected, our life becomes fragmented, confused and enters into dis-ease.
Prayer and Mana
In the “Huna” tradition, prayer is formal, has a purpose, and it is planned. It must be executed as a ritual to be effective. Through prayer we visualize thought forms. These thought forms are sent to God the Creator, through the “Aumakua” who is connected to God. The prayers are sent along the “Aka cord” (the cord that connects the physical to the spiritual self) through the three selves. The prayers are sent through an accumulation of “Mana,” the life force energy created by the breath. “Mana” is also known in other traditions as “Prana,” “Chi” or “Ki.”
“Huna” practitioners learn to concentrate the “Mana,” the vital essence by means of breath control. The ancient Kahunas emphasized proper breathing to channel the Mana to God the Creator to manifest change. This life force that permeates the universe and is highly concentrated in all living things, contains several constituents found in electricity, magnetism, and gravity.
“Mana” can be increased through visualization during the specialized breathing exercises, special foods, and chants, but in particular by consciously building up the “Mana” in the body and accompanying it by a specific thought.
In “Huna,” breathing exercises are used to send “mana” to any organ or thought-form to energize it and strengthen ourselves and others. When we control our breathing we are able to heal diseases, as well as remove our fears, worries and “Lower-Self” emotions.
“Huna” breathing is done naturally and automatically, but there is a proper way of breathing for energizing the body --the "Kahuna Breath"
The Kahuna Breathing Technique – Complete Breathing
The “Huna” breathing technique is natural , not forced breathing that is done through the nose. With regular practice this breathing will become a habit.
1. Sit or stand erect inhaling gradually through the nose and filling the lower section of the lungs applying pressure on the lower abdomen.
Fill the middle part of the lungs by expanding the chest.
Fill the upper part of the lungs pushing out the upper part of the chest.
Although this breathing technique entails three different actions, the breathing should be a continuous flowing motion filling the whole chest in one uniform movement. .
2. Hold the breath for a few seconds.
3. Exhale slowly through the mouth drawing the abdomen in and slowly lift it up while exhaling. After exhaling completely, relax the chest and abdomen.
Once you mastered the “Complete Breathing,” begin rhythmic breathing or the “Ha” breath. “Ha” means breath or “four” and is the sound you make when you exhale during the “Mana- generating” stage of the “Ha Rite.”
The “Ha” or “Four” breaths entails a 4 part breathing process: First you inhale for a count of one (1). Hold the breath for a count of one (1). Exhale for a count of two (2). Hold the breath to oxygenate the blood and activate the lymphatic system. You may use your heartbeat as a natural rhythm. Also, you can inhale for a count of four beats, hold for four, and then exhale for eight.
Now you have learned a new but ancient technique to help you release that which causes imbalance in your life.
Mahalo and Aloha!
Note: As with anything, always consult with your physician before undertaking any new discipline. This article is for educational purposes only and any use other than its intended purpose is undertaken at reader’s own risk. Author does not assume any responsibility for misuse of this information.
References
Barrere, D.B. (1971) The Kumuhonua Legends: A story of late 19th century Hawaiian Stories of Creation and Origins, Honolulu, Bernice O, Bishop Museum
Beckwith, M W (1972) The Kumulipo, A Hawaiian Creation Chant, Honolulu , The University Press of Hawaii.
Freedom Long, M. (1948) The Secret Science Behind Miracles
McBride, L.R. The Kahuna
Smith, SD (1987) Kahuna: Keeper of the Secret . Sunrise Magazine, February/March 1987;Theosophical University Press
James, T, Naope G, and Shutte, R. (1997) Lost Secrets Of Ancient Hawaiian Huna. ISBN: 0-9623272-6-3
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Unions Confront the Fault Lines Between Adjuncts and Full-Timers
From the Chronicle of Higher Education Blog: FACULTY
November 20, 2011
Unions Confront the Fault Lines Between Adjuncts and Full-Timers
Some look beyond the big unions for real improvement in working conditions
David Vitoff, Illinois Education Association—NEA
At Southern Illinois U. at Carbondale, adjuncts and full-time faculty march together, even though they have separate unions. They've joined a coalition with other employees, including graduate assistants.
By Peter Schmidt
The largest organizers of college faculty unions—the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association—have made big strides in recruiting adjunct instructors and helping them gain representation through collective bargaining.
But the three groups have a long way to go before their membership and their leadership reflect the dominant role that adjunct instructors play in the higher-education work force, a Chronicle survey of the organizations reveals. Such instructors now account for about two-thirds of all faculty members employed by public and private colleges.
Moreover, leading advocates for adjunct faculty members say recent disputes between their representatives and those of tenure-track faculty members betray fault lines in the academic-labor movement, and leave them questioning how much they can count on the AAUP, AFT, and NEA to promote adjuncts' interests.
Despite making serious efforts to solicit input from adjunct instructors, the three groups have alienated such members in their approach to some issues, mainly related to colleges' apportionment of teaching work, in which adjunct and tenured faculty often see themselves as competitors rather than allies.
Judy A. Olson, chair of the National Education Association's Contingent Faculty Caucus, says schoolteachers "imagine everything is cushier in higher ed" until they learn about adjuncts' working conditions.
David Zentz for The Chronicle
Judy A. Olson, chair of the National Education Association's Contingent Faculty Caucus, says schoolteachers "imagine everything is cushier in higher ed" until they learn about adjuncts' working conditions.
Adjunct faculty continue to confront "a whole bunch of questions" dealing with how best to organize, says Richard J. Boris, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. Among the decisions facing those who wish to have collective-bargaining rights, he says, are whether to form unions solely for adjuncts or to join the same unions as tenure-track faculty, and how to ensure they have a sufficient voice in unions that represent both.
Complicating such decisions, Mr. Boris says, is the realization that "there is no template that works everywhere" in higher education because circumstances differ so much from one campus to the next. Even aggressive, successful advocacy for adjuncts can sometimes do little to satisfy them, he says, because their working conditions are so poor to begin with that major gains on their behalf often do little to close the gaps between them and their tenure-track peers. Adjuncts typically earn about $2,700 per course and work without benefits or job protections, according to AAUP data.
At least some activists on behalf of adjunct instructors believe that they need to look beyond the AAUP, AFT, and NEA if they want to bring about real improvement in their working conditions. Keith Hoeller, a Seattle-based adjunct instructor of philosophy who in 1997 helped establish the Washington Part-Time Faculty Association out of frustration with his efforts to get the AFT and NEA more focused on adjuncts' needs, argues: "All three of the major unions are run by, and for, the benefit of tenure-track faculty."
Catching Up
In an effort to gauge how well the three unions are serving college instructors who are off the tenure track, The Chronicle surveyed the organizations about their efforts to enlist and represent adjuncts; graduate teaching or research assistants; and postdoctoral researchers and fellows. Three other labor unions that have made significant efforts to organize non-tenure-track faculty—the Communications Workers of America, the Service Employees International Union, and the United Auto Workers—were also asked to provide data on their unionization efforts.
Although none of the education associations systematically track how many of their members are adjunct instructors, all offered estimates showing that they had made progress in their efforts to reach out to that population. About 30 to 40 percent of the college instructors in NEA bargaining units, and more than 40 percent of those in AFT bargaining units, are employed on a contingent basis, with solid majorities of the adjuncts in both unions on contracts to work part time. Although AAUP membership statistics do not distinguish between tenure-track and non-tenure-track members, the association has made some effort to track the number of part-time faculty members in its ranks, and estimates that they account for well over a tenth of both its overall membership and the total membership of its collective-bargaining units.
Adjuncts continue to be underrepresented in the three organizations in comparison with their prevalence in the higher-education work force. But unions can have difficulty recruiting the significant share of adjunct instructors who have other careers and do not rely heavily on their income from teaching. Often, tenure-track and adjunct faculty members with heavy teaching loads do not wish to extend union representation to that population anyway, a reality reflected in many bargaining units' requirements that adjuncts teach a specified minimum number of courses to qualify for membership.
All things considered, the statistics from the AAUP, AFT, and NEA suggest that all three have made substantial progress in recent years in recruiting that share of the contingent work force with serious bread-and-butter concerns.
"Contingent faculty have been a substantial percentage of the faculty for decades, and it is only in the last 10 years—and in many ways less—that unions have actually come up with national strategies for dealing with this," says Joe T. Berry, an independent labor educator and the author of Reclaiming the Ivory Tower, a 2005 organizing handbook for adjuncts.
"It is to their credit that this has finally happened," Mr. Berry says. But, he adds, "They are late to the game."
Divide or Conquer?
Advocates for adjunct faculty point to several recent union disputes as evidence that the concerns of tenured and tenure-track faculty continue to trump those of people employed on a contingent basis. Especially disconcerting for many was the national NEA leadership's refusal last spring to intervene to keep its affiliate at Olympic College, in Washington state, from ousting Jack Longmate from its secretary position.
Mr. Longmate is an adjunct instructor at the college who has complained that tenured faculty are being allowed to earn overtime pay by teaching excessive courseloads, cutting into the classes available for adjuncts. He angered officials of his union last winter by speaking out against state legislation that would have given pay increases to full-time, but not part-time, community-college instructors. Union officials accused him of undercutting their efforts to improve the lives of faculty members.
"Every place where I have seen adjunct faculty rise up and ask for equality, the union leaders have retaliated against them," says Mr. Hoeller, of the Washington Part-Time Faculty Association.
Similar tensions over adjunct instructors' loss of work to tenured faculty who taught extra courses for additional pay flared up last year at Madison Area Technical College, in Wisconsin, where restrictions on public employees' collective-bargaining rights adopted by state lawmakers this year appear to have rendered the debate moot.
Some advocates for adjunct faculty members argue that a central goal of the education unions—pressuring colleges to convert more adjunct positions into tenure-track jobs—actually poses a threat to adjunct instructors, because, they predict, at least one or two will lose work for every full-time position created.
Many union leaders argue, however, that their fight to push colleges to create tenure-track jobs greatly helps adjuncts, and not just because it offers them the prospect of full-time employment. Unions leaders say one of their key strategies for pressuring colleges to hire more tenure-track faculty is improving the pay and benefits of adjuncts enough that hiring them is no longer a cheap option.
The AAUP generally discourages adjunct faculty from forming separate bargaining units, but the AFT and NEA let local organizers decide whether any bargaining units they form will be separate or will include both contingent and tenure-track faculty members. In some states, the organizers of unions have gone both ways. In Illinois, for example, the organizers of a new union at the University of Illinois at Chicago are fighting the administration in court over the right to organize a mixed unit, based on the organizers' belief that both categories of faculty do much of the same work.
At Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, however, the leaders of separate unions for adjunct and tenure-track faculty believe they have been able to present a united front to the administration by joining an advocacy coalition with other employee unions, including the one representing graduate assistants.
Some advocates for adjunct faculty are impatient enough with the unions to contemplate forming a national union solely for adjuncts. But doing so would be a mistake, argues Marc Bousquet, an associate professor of English at Santa Clara University and a Chronicle blogger who has served as co-chairman of the AAUP's committee on contingent faculty. "They are radically underestimating the amount of work involved," he says. And, he adds, "they are missing the biggest opportunity, which is hijacking the leadership of the existing unions," a task he describes as "incredibly easy for a determined group of faculty activists."
Outside Pressure
In recent years, the AAUP, AFT, and NEA have issued statements advocating better conditions for adjuncts and the creation of additional tenure-track jobs. They have also adopted plans for advocating on behalf of adjuncts and recruiting more into their ranks. Both the AFT and NEA let their collective-bargaining units charge adjuncts lower dues than tenured and tenure-track faculty members.
"Our whole goal is to change the numbers," says Sandra Schroeder, head of the AFT's council in charge of higher-education policy.
The other labor unions that have reached out to adjuncts have helped swell the ranks of those represented in collective bargaining. Among them, the Service Employees International Union has brought well over 14,000 adjuncts into collective-bargaining units, mainly in California, Maryland, North Carolina, and several New England states. The United Auto Workers has unionized more than 3,000 adjuncts in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. And the Communications Workers of America has unionized more than 350 adjuncts, mainly at community colleges in Northern California.
Mr. Bousquet says the adjunct-organizing efforts of unions from other industries have "had a tremendously positive impact on the big three," by forcing them to undergo "a real wake up" to the concerns of contingent instructors to compete for their membership.
Some nonunion advocacy groups for adjuncts, such as the New Faculty Majority, a national organization established in 2009, and the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, an international organization formed in the late 1990s, have similarly been credited with putting the education unions under pressure to better tend to the needs of non-tenure-track college faculty.
Some of the obstacles to organizing adjuncts and assimilating them into unions' leadership are logistical. As one AFT document notes, adjuncts often have such a temporary and tenuous connection with their colleges that they can be difficult to contact and spur to union involvement.
Maria C. Maisto, president of the New Faculty Majority, says many adjuncts worry about losing teaching contracts in retaliation for activism. "Many would like to be involved in their unions," she says, "but they are afraid to."
Partly as a result of such obstacles to their union activism, contingent faculty remain seriously underrepresented in state and national leadership positions in the AAUP, AFT, and NEA, and in the top posts of bargaining units that represent a mix of faculty types.
Of the three, only the NEA has a policy calling for adjuncts to be proportionally represented in leadership positions. But its annual state and national assemblies are so dominated by elementary- and secondary-school educators that its members from higher education can feel their voices are drowned out. Frustrated with the trouble they have had in getting the NEA's national representative assembly to act on their top priorities, such as lobbying for changes in federal law to make it easier for adjuncts to collect unemployment during the summer, several adjuncts two years ago formed a Contingent Faculty Caucus of the NEA's representative assembly. The caucus now has about 50 members—a drop in the bucket in an assembly with roughly 9,000 delegates, but enough, its leaders hope, to attract others, and eventually steer the association to more aggressively advocate on their behalf.
The caucus's chair, Judy A. Olson, a lecturer in English at California State University at Los Angeles, says many of the schoolteachers in the NEA "imagine everything is cushier in higher ed," until they are made aware of the conditions under which adjunct faculty members work.
Both the AAUP and AFT have set up special committees on adjuncts, generally with high levels of representation among adjunct instructors, to advise their leadership. Mayra Besosa, a lecturer at California State University at San Marcos and the chairwoman of the AAUP's Committee on Contingency and the Profession, says she prefers that the association not set aside some share of national or state leadership positions for adjuncts because it would be counter to the principle of treating all members equally.
Adjuncts will have trouble electing their own to leadership positions if the election process is stacked against them, however. And, although all three unions' national offices say such elections should be guided by the principle of "one person, one vote," some state and local affiliates have behaved as if they never got the memo.
Until this year, for example, the Massachusetts Community College Council, an NEA affiliate that represents instructors at 15 two-year colleges and has a membership in which part-time faculty outnumber full-timers by more than two to one, gave part-timers only one-fourth of a vote in union elections. After years of debate, its members finally voted in April to abandon that practice and give part-timers a full vote in future elections.
HOW THE CHIEF UNIONS FOR COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS SERVE THOSE OFF THE TENURE TRACK
Non-tenure-track instructors are a growing constituency within the three major education organizations that unionize college faculties. The three groups differ significantly in how they organize and accommodate adjunct faculty members, graduate research and teaching assistants, and postdoctoral fellows:
These statistics are easier to read in the original article where they are in table form.
http://chronicle.com/article/Unions-Confront-Fault-Lines/129836/?sid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en
American Association of University Professors American Federation of Teachers National Education Association
Total membership* About 46,800 About 1.5 million About 3.2 million
Members in collective-bargaining units at colleges About 34,000 About 195,000 About 209,000
Adjunct membership The AAUP lacks data for the share of its membership consisting of full-time adjuncts. It estimates that part-time adjunct instructors account for well over a tenth of its overall membership and of its membership in collective-bargaining units. Just over 40 percent of college instructors in AFT collective-bargaining units work are adjuncts, with roughly one-fourth contracted to work full time and three-fourths part time. Of college instructors in NEA collective-bargaining units, 30 to 40 percent are adjuncts. More than a third of adjunct faculty in the units are on contracts calling for them to work full time.
Graduate students and postdocs Graduate assistants account for about 3 percent of overall membership and about 4 percent of AAUP members in unions. About 13 percent of members of collective-bargaining units at colleges are graduate assistants or postdoctoral employees. About 5 percent of members of collective-bargaining units at colleges are graduate assistants. The union’s national office was unable to provide a count of its membership among postdoctoral employees.
Adjunct representation in assemblies Any active member, regardless of employment status, is eligible to serve as a delegate at national meetings of the association or its Collective Bargaining Congress. The AFT does not set aside delegate seats at its biennial convention based on employment status. Many local affiliates represent only college instructors who are off the tenure track, and they elect delegates to seats apportioned based on the affiliates’ size. The NEA’s bylaws call for state and local affiliates that include different types of college instructors—both on and off the tenure track—to provide for proportionate representation, by employment status, in selecting national delegates.
Special committees on adjuncts Two standing committees, appointed by the group’s president, focus on college instructors who are off the tenure track. The Committee on Contingency and the Profession was established to improve the work conditions of contingent faculty members and reverse the trend toward part-time and non-tenure-track appointments to faculty positions. The Committee on Graduate and Professional Students deals with such students broadly, tackling issues such as protecting the collective-bargaining rights of those employed by their institutions. Two advisory committees offer input to group leaders from college instructors who are off the tenure track. Its Part time/Adjunct Faculty Advisory Committee is made up of 10 part-time faculty members who are officers of unions representing those in their position. Its Full time Nontenure Track Advisory Committee is made up of seven full time, contingent faculty members who are officers of local unions that count such instructors among their members. The AFT also sponsors an Alliance of Graduate Employee Locals, which represents all AFT affiliates representing graduate and postdoctoral employees of higher-education institutions. Has not established any committees devoted to college instructors off the tenure track. The bylaws of its National Council for Higher Education, which represents members who work at colleges and sets its higher-education agenda, call for an adjunct faculty member to occupy at least one of the seats on its executive committee if none are elected to any of the council’s executive offices.
*Because many individual faculty members and collective-bargaining units are affiliated with more than one union, membership figures overlap to some degree.
Sources: American Association of University Professors, American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association
November 20, 2011
Unions Confront the Fault Lines Between Adjuncts and Full-Timers
Some look beyond the big unions for real improvement in working conditions
David Vitoff, Illinois Education Association—NEA
By Peter Schmidt
The largest organizers of college faculty unions—the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association—have made big strides in recruiting adjunct instructors and helping them gain representation through collective bargaining.
But the three groups have a long way to go before their membership and their leadership reflect the dominant role that adjunct instructors play in the higher-education work force, a Chronicle survey of the organizations reveals. Such instructors now account for about two-thirds of all faculty members employed by public and private colleges.
Moreover, leading advocates for adjunct faculty members say recent disputes between their representatives and those of tenure-track faculty members betray fault lines in the academic-labor movement, and leave them questioning how much they can count on the AAUP, AFT, and NEA to promote adjuncts' interests.
Despite making serious efforts to solicit input from adjunct instructors, the three groups have alienated such members in their approach to some issues, mainly related to colleges' apportionment of teaching work, in which adjunct and tenured faculty often see themselves as competitors rather than allies.
Judy A. Olson, chair of the National Education Association's Contingent Faculty Caucus, says schoolteachers "imagine everything is cushier in higher ed" until they learn about adjuncts' working conditions.
David Zentz for The Chronicle
Judy A. Olson, chair of the National Education Association's Contingent Faculty Caucus, says schoolteachers "imagine everything is cushier in higher ed" until they learn about adjuncts' working conditions.
Adjunct faculty continue to confront "a whole bunch of questions" dealing with how best to organize, says Richard J. Boris, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. Among the decisions facing those who wish to have collective-bargaining rights, he says, are whether to form unions solely for adjuncts or to join the same unions as tenure-track faculty, and how to ensure they have a sufficient voice in unions that represent both.
Complicating such decisions, Mr. Boris says, is the realization that "there is no template that works everywhere" in higher education because circumstances differ so much from one campus to the next. Even aggressive, successful advocacy for adjuncts can sometimes do little to satisfy them, he says, because their working conditions are so poor to begin with that major gains on their behalf often do little to close the gaps between them and their tenure-track peers. Adjuncts typically earn about $2,700 per course and work without benefits or job protections, according to AAUP data.
At least some activists on behalf of adjunct instructors believe that they need to look beyond the AAUP, AFT, and NEA if they want to bring about real improvement in their working conditions. Keith Hoeller, a Seattle-based adjunct instructor of philosophy who in 1997 helped establish the Washington Part-Time Faculty Association out of frustration with his efforts to get the AFT and NEA more focused on adjuncts' needs, argues: "All three of the major unions are run by, and for, the benefit of tenure-track faculty."
Catching Up
In an effort to gauge how well the three unions are serving college instructors who are off the tenure track, The Chronicle surveyed the organizations about their efforts to enlist and represent adjuncts; graduate teaching or research assistants; and postdoctoral researchers and fellows. Three other labor unions that have made significant efforts to organize non-tenure-track faculty—the Communications Workers of America, the Service Employees International Union, and the United Auto Workers—were also asked to provide data on their unionization efforts.
Although none of the education associations systematically track how many of their members are adjunct instructors, all offered estimates showing that they had made progress in their efforts to reach out to that population. About 30 to 40 percent of the college instructors in NEA bargaining units, and more than 40 percent of those in AFT bargaining units, are employed on a contingent basis, with solid majorities of the adjuncts in both unions on contracts to work part time. Although AAUP membership statistics do not distinguish between tenure-track and non-tenure-track members, the association has made some effort to track the number of part-time faculty members in its ranks, and estimates that they account for well over a tenth of both its overall membership and the total membership of its collective-bargaining units.
Adjuncts continue to be underrepresented in the three organizations in comparison with their prevalence in the higher-education work force. But unions can have difficulty recruiting the significant share of adjunct instructors who have other careers and do not rely heavily on their income from teaching. Often, tenure-track and adjunct faculty members with heavy teaching loads do not wish to extend union representation to that population anyway, a reality reflected in many bargaining units' requirements that adjuncts teach a specified minimum number of courses to qualify for membership.
All things considered, the statistics from the AAUP, AFT, and NEA suggest that all three have made substantial progress in recent years in recruiting that share of the contingent work force with serious bread-and-butter concerns.
"Contingent faculty have been a substantial percentage of the faculty for decades, and it is only in the last 10 years—and in many ways less—that unions have actually come up with national strategies for dealing with this," says Joe T. Berry, an independent labor educator and the author of Reclaiming the Ivory Tower, a 2005 organizing handbook for adjuncts.
"It is to their credit that this has finally happened," Mr. Berry says. But, he adds, "They are late to the game."
Divide or Conquer?
Advocates for adjunct faculty point to several recent union disputes as evidence that the concerns of tenured and tenure-track faculty continue to trump those of people employed on a contingent basis. Especially disconcerting for many was the national NEA leadership's refusal last spring to intervene to keep its affiliate at Olympic College, in Washington state, from ousting Jack Longmate from its secretary position.
Mr. Longmate is an adjunct instructor at the college who has complained that tenured faculty are being allowed to earn overtime pay by teaching excessive courseloads, cutting into the classes available for adjuncts. He angered officials of his union last winter by speaking out against state legislation that would have given pay increases to full-time, but not part-time, community-college instructors. Union officials accused him of undercutting their efforts to improve the lives of faculty members.
"Every place where I have seen adjunct faculty rise up and ask for equality, the union leaders have retaliated against them," says Mr. Hoeller, of the Washington Part-Time Faculty Association.
Similar tensions over adjunct instructors' loss of work to tenured faculty who taught extra courses for additional pay flared up last year at Madison Area Technical College, in Wisconsin, where restrictions on public employees' collective-bargaining rights adopted by state lawmakers this year appear to have rendered the debate moot.
Some advocates for adjunct faculty members argue that a central goal of the education unions—pressuring colleges to convert more adjunct positions into tenure-track jobs—actually poses a threat to adjunct instructors, because, they predict, at least one or two will lose work for every full-time position created.
Many union leaders argue, however, that their fight to push colleges to create tenure-track jobs greatly helps adjuncts, and not just because it offers them the prospect of full-time employment. Unions leaders say one of their key strategies for pressuring colleges to hire more tenure-track faculty is improving the pay and benefits of adjuncts enough that hiring them is no longer a cheap option.
The AAUP generally discourages adjunct faculty from forming separate bargaining units, but the AFT and NEA let local organizers decide whether any bargaining units they form will be separate or will include both contingent and tenure-track faculty members. In some states, the organizers of unions have gone both ways. In Illinois, for example, the organizers of a new union at the University of Illinois at Chicago are fighting the administration in court over the right to organize a mixed unit, based on the organizers' belief that both categories of faculty do much of the same work.
At Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, however, the leaders of separate unions for adjunct and tenure-track faculty believe they have been able to present a united front to the administration by joining an advocacy coalition with other employee unions, including the one representing graduate assistants.
Some advocates for adjunct faculty are impatient enough with the unions to contemplate forming a national union solely for adjuncts. But doing so would be a mistake, argues Marc Bousquet, an associate professor of English at Santa Clara University and a Chronicle blogger who has served as co-chairman of the AAUP's committee on contingent faculty. "They are radically underestimating the amount of work involved," he says. And, he adds, "they are missing the biggest opportunity, which is hijacking the leadership of the existing unions," a task he describes as "incredibly easy for a determined group of faculty activists."
Outside Pressure
In recent years, the AAUP, AFT, and NEA have issued statements advocating better conditions for adjuncts and the creation of additional tenure-track jobs. They have also adopted plans for advocating on behalf of adjuncts and recruiting more into their ranks. Both the AFT and NEA let their collective-bargaining units charge adjuncts lower dues than tenured and tenure-track faculty members.
"Our whole goal is to change the numbers," says Sandra Schroeder, head of the AFT's council in charge of higher-education policy.
The other labor unions that have reached out to adjuncts have helped swell the ranks of those represented in collective bargaining. Among them, the Service Employees International Union has brought well over 14,000 adjuncts into collective-bargaining units, mainly in California, Maryland, North Carolina, and several New England states. The United Auto Workers has unionized more than 3,000 adjuncts in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. And the Communications Workers of America has unionized more than 350 adjuncts, mainly at community colleges in Northern California.
Mr. Bousquet says the adjunct-organizing efforts of unions from other industries have "had a tremendously positive impact on the big three," by forcing them to undergo "a real wake up" to the concerns of contingent instructors to compete for their membership.
Some nonunion advocacy groups for adjuncts, such as the New Faculty Majority, a national organization established in 2009, and the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, an international organization formed in the late 1990s, have similarly been credited with putting the education unions under pressure to better tend to the needs of non-tenure-track college faculty.
Some of the obstacles to organizing adjuncts and assimilating them into unions' leadership are logistical. As one AFT document notes, adjuncts often have such a temporary and tenuous connection with their colleges that they can be difficult to contact and spur to union involvement.
Maria C. Maisto, president of the New Faculty Majority, says many adjuncts worry about losing teaching contracts in retaliation for activism. "Many would like to be involved in their unions," she says, "but they are afraid to."
Partly as a result of such obstacles to their union activism, contingent faculty remain seriously underrepresented in state and national leadership positions in the AAUP, AFT, and NEA, and in the top posts of bargaining units that represent a mix of faculty types.
Of the three, only the NEA has a policy calling for adjuncts to be proportionally represented in leadership positions. But its annual state and national assemblies are so dominated by elementary- and secondary-school educators that its members from higher education can feel their voices are drowned out. Frustrated with the trouble they have had in getting the NEA's national representative assembly to act on their top priorities, such as lobbying for changes in federal law to make it easier for adjuncts to collect unemployment during the summer, several adjuncts two years ago formed a Contingent Faculty Caucus of the NEA's representative assembly. The caucus now has about 50 members—a drop in the bucket in an assembly with roughly 9,000 delegates, but enough, its leaders hope, to attract others, and eventually steer the association to more aggressively advocate on their behalf.
The caucus's chair, Judy A. Olson, a lecturer in English at California State University at Los Angeles, says many of the schoolteachers in the NEA "imagine everything is cushier in higher ed," until they are made aware of the conditions under which adjunct faculty members work.
Both the AAUP and AFT have set up special committees on adjuncts, generally with high levels of representation among adjunct instructors, to advise their leadership. Mayra Besosa, a lecturer at California State University at San Marcos and the chairwoman of the AAUP's Committee on Contingency and the Profession, says she prefers that the association not set aside some share of national or state leadership positions for adjuncts because it would be counter to the principle of treating all members equally.
Adjuncts will have trouble electing their own to leadership positions if the election process is stacked against them, however. And, although all three unions' national offices say such elections should be guided by the principle of "one person, one vote," some state and local affiliates have behaved as if they never got the memo.
Until this year, for example, the Massachusetts Community College Council, an NEA affiliate that represents instructors at 15 two-year colleges and has a membership in which part-time faculty outnumber full-timers by more than two to one, gave part-timers only one-fourth of a vote in union elections. After years of debate, its members finally voted in April to abandon that practice and give part-timers a full vote in future elections.
HOW THE CHIEF UNIONS FOR COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS SERVE THOSE OFF THE TENURE TRACK
Non-tenure-track instructors are a growing constituency within the three major education organizations that unionize college faculties. The three groups differ significantly in how they organize and accommodate adjunct faculty members, graduate research and teaching assistants, and postdoctoral fellows:
These statistics are easier to read in the original article where they are in table form.
http://chronicle.com/article/Unions-Confront-Fault-Lines/129836/?sid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en
American Association of University Professors American Federation of Teachers National Education Association
Total membership* About 46,800 About 1.5 million About 3.2 million
Members in collective-bargaining units at colleges About 34,000 About 195,000 About 209,000
Adjunct membership The AAUP lacks data for the share of its membership consisting of full-time adjuncts. It estimates that part-time adjunct instructors account for well over a tenth of its overall membership and of its membership in collective-bargaining units. Just over 40 percent of college instructors in AFT collective-bargaining units work are adjuncts, with roughly one-fourth contracted to work full time and three-fourths part time. Of college instructors in NEA collective-bargaining units, 30 to 40 percent are adjuncts. More than a third of adjunct faculty in the units are on contracts calling for them to work full time.
Graduate students and postdocs Graduate assistants account for about 3 percent of overall membership and about 4 percent of AAUP members in unions. About 13 percent of members of collective-bargaining units at colleges are graduate assistants or postdoctoral employees. About 5 percent of members of collective-bargaining units at colleges are graduate assistants. The union’s national office was unable to provide a count of its membership among postdoctoral employees.
Adjunct representation in assemblies Any active member, regardless of employment status, is eligible to serve as a delegate at national meetings of the association or its Collective Bargaining Congress. The AFT does not set aside delegate seats at its biennial convention based on employment status. Many local affiliates represent only college instructors who are off the tenure track, and they elect delegates to seats apportioned based on the affiliates’ size. The NEA’s bylaws call for state and local affiliates that include different types of college instructors—both on and off the tenure track—to provide for proportionate representation, by employment status, in selecting national delegates.
Special committees on adjuncts Two standing committees, appointed by the group’s president, focus on college instructors who are off the tenure track. The Committee on Contingency and the Profession was established to improve the work conditions of contingent faculty members and reverse the trend toward part-time and non-tenure-track appointments to faculty positions. The Committee on Graduate and Professional Students deals with such students broadly, tackling issues such as protecting the collective-bargaining rights of those employed by their institutions. Two advisory committees offer input to group leaders from college instructors who are off the tenure track. Its Part time/Adjunct Faculty Advisory Committee is made up of 10 part-time faculty members who are officers of unions representing those in their position. Its Full time Nontenure Track Advisory Committee is made up of seven full time, contingent faculty members who are officers of local unions that count such instructors among their members. The AFT also sponsors an Alliance of Graduate Employee Locals, which represents all AFT affiliates representing graduate and postdoctoral employees of higher-education institutions. Has not established any committees devoted to college instructors off the tenure track. The bylaws of its National Council for Higher Education, which represents members who work at colleges and sets its higher-education agenda, call for an adjunct faculty member to occupy at least one of the seats on its executive committee if none are elected to any of the council’s executive offices.
*Because many individual faculty members and collective-bargaining units are affiliated with more than one union, membership figures overlap to some degree.
Sources: American Association of University Professors, American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association
Monday, November 21, 2011
GLBT Newsletter (fall 2011)
Please click on the link above to access the OEA GLBT Caucus newsletter.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
statistics and stories from big win in Ohio
Cheers to all for fighting the good fight. I look forward to next year's ELA class being involved in the 2012 elections. It feels good to be a union activist......Below are some stats we just from one of the NEA Directors. Below that is an excerpt of one of my most memorable door knocks this past weekend.
Ohio Stats:
One more thing . . . .analysis out of We are Ohio below (so far):
61.3% final vote. Won 82 of 88 counties with 100% of precincts reporting.
Total turnout is 3,497,408. Odd-year record is about 2,000 votes more and that will certainly come when late VBM ballots and provisional ballots get added. Highest turnout in decades for off year!
2,145,042 No votes. More than the 1,889,180 won by Kasich in 2010 election for Governor.
Athens at 80.4% was the best county. 68.9% in Cuyahoga, 63.9% in Franklin, 58.2% in Hamilton.
More on demographics later when the ISSI data comes back but WOW!
Phadra's journal entry:
GOTV in East Cleveland....encouraging voters to vote "no" on Issue 2. So many stories that make your heart swell. One young man about 9 came to the door yesterday evening. His mom wasn't home so I gave him the brochure and told him to be sure to tell her to vote "NO" on Tuesday. He replied "vote no for Barack Obama". He looked devastated. I said no young man, not Barack Obama...I went on to explain to him what a union was and why it was so important for his mom to vote no on this issue. He smiled and told me he would be sure to explain it to his mom....You have to love union work! East Cleveland rocks
One of many stories while canvassing in East Cleveland.....
Phadra L. Williams Tuitt, Ed.D.
Organizational Specialist
Constituent Relations Department
UniServ Program /Higher Education Program
1201 16th Street N.W. Suite 410
Washington, D.C. 20036
(205) 249-4229 (cell)
Ohio Stats:
One more thing . . . .analysis out of We are Ohio below (so far):
61.3% final vote. Won 82 of 88 counties with 100% of precincts reporting.
Total turnout is 3,497,408. Odd-year record is about 2,000 votes more and that will certainly come when late VBM ballots and provisional ballots get added. Highest turnout in decades for off year!
2,145,042 No votes. More than the 1,889,180 won by Kasich in 2010 election for Governor.
Athens at 80.4% was the best county. 68.9% in Cuyahoga, 63.9% in Franklin, 58.2% in Hamilton.
More on demographics later when the ISSI data comes back but WOW!
Phadra's journal entry:
GOTV in East Cleveland....encouraging voters to vote "no" on Issue 2. So many stories that make your heart swell. One young man about 9 came to the door yesterday evening. His mom wasn't home so I gave him the brochure and told him to be sure to tell her to vote "NO" on Tuesday. He replied "vote no for Barack Obama". He looked devastated. I said no young man, not Barack Obama...I went on to explain to him what a union was and why it was so important for his mom to vote no on this issue. He smiled and told me he would be sure to explain it to his mom....You have to love union work! East Cleveland rocks
One of many stories while canvassing in East Cleveland.....
Phadra L. Williams Tuitt, Ed.D.
Organizational Specialist
Constituent Relations Department
UniServ Program /Higher Education Program
1201 16th Street N.W. Suite 410
Washington, D.C. 20036
(205) 249-4229 (cell)
Ohio voters reject law limiting collective bargaining
Voters in Ohio rejected the Republican-backed law Tuesday that would have limited union's collective bargaining rights.
Catherine LyonsNovember 8, 2011 22:22
Ohio voters rejected the state's new collective bargaining law at the polls on Tuesday, handing a win to the unions and public workers including firefighters and teachers, reported the Boston Herald.
Preliminary results from Ohio's secretary of state were 63 to 37 in favor of repealing the law, according to the New York Times. A similar law was passed in Wisconsin earlier this year.
The law, which passed in March, limited the collective bargaining abilities of more than 350,000 unionized public workers across the state, reported the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Tuesday's rejection of the law marks a defeat for Republican Governor John Kasich, who strongly supported the party-backed bill.
The measure on this election's ballot was a referedum on Senate Bill 5, which passed the state's legislature in March, according to CNN. The law prohibited strikes and promotions based only on seniority, and required employees to contribute 10 percent to their pensions and 15 percent to their healthcare costs.
Politico reported that SEIU District 1199 President Becky Williams said in Columbus that the election result was a "victory for the nation" and allegedly called Gov. Kasich a "radical thug."
Photographer: Mark Lyons
Copyright/Source:
Getty Images
Sheri Dever, with the Service Employees International Union, protests on the street while House Speaker John Boehner visits West Chester, Ohio on Sept. 2, 2011. Ohio voters rejected the law passed earlier this year that limited collective bargaining rights for more than 350,000 unionized public workers.
Catherine LyonsNovember 8, 2011 22:22
Ohio voters rejected the state's new collective bargaining law at the polls on Tuesday, handing a win to the unions and public workers including firefighters and teachers, reported the Boston Herald.
Preliminary results from Ohio's secretary of state were 63 to 37 in favor of repealing the law, according to the New York Times. A similar law was passed in Wisconsin earlier this year.
The law, which passed in March, limited the collective bargaining abilities of more than 350,000 unionized public workers across the state, reported the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Tuesday's rejection of the law marks a defeat for Republican Governor John Kasich, who strongly supported the party-backed bill.
The measure on this election's ballot was a referedum on Senate Bill 5, which passed the state's legislature in March, according to CNN. The law prohibited strikes and promotions based only on seniority, and required employees to contribute 10 percent to their pensions and 15 percent to their healthcare costs.
Politico reported that SEIU District 1199 President Becky Williams said in Columbus that the election result was a "victory for the nation" and allegedly called Gov. Kasich a "radical thug."
Copyright/Source:
Getty Images
Sheri Dever, with the Service Employees International Union, protests on the street while House Speaker John Boehner visits West Chester, Ohio on Sept. 2, 2011. Ohio voters rejected the law passed earlier this year that limited collective bargaining rights for more than 350,000 unionized public workers.
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