AFT NEGOTIATING ON PART-TIMERS.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

VALENCIA - College of the Canyons is negotiating a possible settlement with a teachers union that could finally allow part-time instructors to organize and resolve close to two years of legal wrangling.

College Executive Vice President Phil Hartley began meeting with the American Federation of Teachers on Monday, school spokeswoman Sue Bozman said. Negotiations went late into the afternoon.

The Santa Clarita Community College District, which oversees College of the Canyons, came to the negotiating table after a state appellate court refused last month to hear its petition against a decision that could allow some 380 part-time instructors - or adjuncts - to unionize under the AFT.

That union is competing for that right with the California Teachers Association, which already represents some 160 full-timers through the College of the Canyons Faculty Association.

In 2001, the state Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees unions, allowed CTA to organize the part-timers under guidelines that group like work under the same union. It's a view also backed by the college.

But the AFT argued that it was up to the adjuncts to decide which union to organize under, and claimed the CTA had sidestepped that process when it failed to collect signatures of support. PERB reversed its decision in January after two separate appeals.

The college district challenged the reversal in state appellate court in February. But the petition was denied last month.

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com