Faculty Assembly

 

In the spring of 2014 a vote of the full time faculty established the Faculty Assembly  (FA) as the employee organization responsible for full time faculty working conditions at MiraCosta College. This change launched a new era in faculty working conditions at MiraCosta as the FA replaced the collective bargaining duties of the Academic Senate, which had worked to protect and promote the working conditions of full-time faculty for several decades.

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In part, the creation of the FA was brought about as a byproduct of the rapid growth experienced by the college in recent years. Both the number of students and the number of full time faculty increased dramatically after the start of the new millennium. This growth made the job of the Academic Senate President—who effectively played both the role of AS leader and “union” leader—extraordinarily difficult.

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Along with other challenges related to negotiations calls began to mount for a new approach to the handling of full time faculty working conditions. In late 2012 a group of faculty took on the task of evaluating our options. In doing so, a variety of possibilities were explored, including various types of unions.  Ultimately, the decision was made to develop the Faculty Assembly model and bring that model before the full time faculty for consideration.

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Beginning in the fall of 2013, with the decision made to pursue the FA model, an Academic Senate ad hoc committee wrote the FA Constitution and Bylaws. After a near unanimous vote of the full membership of the AS, the responsibility for working conditions was passed to the Faculty Assembly and the Constitution and Bylaws of the FA were adopted. Soon after, elections were held in which a five-member Executive Committee was selected, and after consultation among the members of the Executive Committee, an additional 17 full time faculty members were appointed to the Faculty Assembly Council.

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Over the past ten years, the FA has engaged in a number of negotiations resulting in a strong Collective Bargaining Agreement which contains many more protections than we had previously had, including a strong Grievance Procedure, Parental Leave Pay, Due Process Rights, and Uniform Workload Measures. The FA retains the services of an attorney who specializes in representing a number of Independent California Community College Unions as well as a Certified Public Accountant to assist with our accounting and filing requirements.

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