CHAPARRAL

All the Right Moves?

The Guild—how it fits into
the Big Picture
by Mona Field, Social Science Division

A future column (written by someone who has been here since it was formed nearly 30 years ago) will share the history of our Guild, Local 2276 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

This brief article will try to explain to our many newer employees how the Guild fits into your life here at GCC, and what it means to be in the AFT, Local 2276. Most people know we are in a union, but they often don't know the state and national organizations the Guild connects with. We pay dues here at GCC, and a portion goes to our state affiliate, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), and our national organization, the AFT.

The CFT, in addition to representing about one third of the community college faculty in the state, also includes K-12 teachers, pre-school teachers, UC librarians, private school teachers (such as those at Westridge School in Pasadena), and classified employees at some K-12 and CC districts (such as El Camino CC and LACCD).

CFT has three offices to house its staff: Burbank, Oakland and Sacramento. The two dozen staff members work on everything from lobbying to member services to publications (such as Perspective and CalTeacher). The staff is given direction by the Executive Council, made up of President Mary Bergan, First V.P. Marty Hittelman, and Secretary-Treasurer Mike Nye, plus 22 vice presidents (I am one of them). CFT staff members are often former local union leaders who retire or resign their academic jobs and then become union staffers.

In order to serve the specialized concerns of community college faculty, the CFT has a Community College Council (CCC), chaired by Marty Hittelman, a longtime math instructor and union leader from the LA district. Our representatives to CCC (usually our local president and/or other officers) attend quarterly meetings to compare notes with their counterparts around the state.

In addition, the Guild, because it is affiliated with the CFT/AFT, is part of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, usually referred to as the AFL-CIO. This national umbrella includes almost every union in the nation. As AFL-CIO, the Guild also participates in the County Federation of Labor. The LA County Fed is run by labor leader Miguel Contreras, as well as an Executive Committee and a delegates assembly (Mike Allen and I are the delegates from AFT 2276; we attend County Fed meetings once a month to vote on political endorsements and labor support actions, as well as to bring back information about labor issues in our region). One recent offshoot of our participation at the County Fed was the Guild vote at a recent membership meeting to support the County Fed's request that every union local adopt a strike team at a nearby grocery store, to show our solidarity with other working people in their time of need.

The national AFT, which may seem quite remote for most of us, is housed in Washington, DC. The most visible signs of it are the American Educator magazine (mostly geared to K-12 issues) and the On Campus publication for college and university members. Despite its apparent remoteness, it makes us part of national legislative efforts and even international issues relating to education. Recently, the AFT hosted teacher union leaders from Colombia whose organizing for better working conditions meant they were under death threats by right-wing, anti-union paramilitary groups (we really don't know how lucky we are!).

As members of the Guild/CFT/AFT, we enjoy the right to improve our working conditions through collective bargaining. We are part of one of the largest unions in the nation. The only larger education union is the National Education Association (NEA), affiliated here in California with the California Teachers Association (CTA). Some of the community college faculties belong to CTA, such as Pasadena CC, and Long Beach CC.

The biggest difference between CTA/NEA and CFT/AFT is that NEA has always said it is an organization of professionals and not a union. It is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO, nor with County Fed, nor with labor as a movement.

Why did the GCC faculty choose AFT over NEA when the Guild was formed? And why are we not one of the CC districts with faculty who chose an independent organization (a local example is the Santa Monica College Faculty Association, which is not linked to either of the two major groups)? The details of those decisions, made by our most senior colleagues nearly 30 years ago, will be revealed in a future column. &