CANYONS PROFESSORS OK UNION ADJUNCTS VOTE TO SPLIT FROM TENURED STAFF.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Part-time instructors at College of the Canyons voted Monday in a landslide election to form a separate union from tenured professors, capping nearly two years of legal wrangling.

The college's part-time faculty - or adjuncts - voted 208-41 to align their fledgling Part-Time Faculty United group with the American Federation of Teachers, which would act as their exclusive bargaining agent in contract negotiations next year. About 452 part-timers were eligible to vote.

``It's a vote that demands change,'' Part-Time Faculty United-AFT President Michael Ward said. ``I would say we have a mandate. I hope the district recognizes the significance of these percentages, that the part-time faculty are in want of significant change.''

The union will be a separate organization from the College of the Canyons Faculty Association, which represents some 160 full-time teachers under the auspices of the California Teachers Association.

``The board and the administration is looking forward to building a cooperative and productive relationship with the adjunct faculty the same way we have with the full-time faculty,'' said Phil Hartley, the college's executive vice president.

The election marks an end to a drawn-out struggle by part-timers to form their own union, which they believe could better tackle issues specific to them, including medical benefits, equal pay for equal work and rehire rights, said Ward, also an adjunct history teacher.

``We are just looking forward to moving into a good working relationship with the district, to work toward some positive changes that have been long deserved for the part-time faculty,'' he said.

While the adjuncts insisted they were entitled to their own organization, the Santa Clarita Community College District, which governs College of the Canyons, believed they could be represented by the full-timers' union, citing state regulations that group similar jobs under the same union.

``The issues really have to do with whether an existing union in the college can (acquire) a part-time faculty to their unit,'' Hartley said. ``The district has never had any opposition to collective bargaining per se.

In fact, the state Public Employment Relations Board initially sided with the college and overruled the adjuncts' attempt to organize. But the AFT argued it was the part-timers' choice to decide which union to organize under. PERB reversed its decision after two separate appeals.

``We were at the mercy of PERB's wrangling over the issue,'' Hartley said. ``It's tough when you get conflicted readings from the agency set up to make those decisions.''

The college district challenged the reversal in state appellate court in February, but the 2nd District Court of Appeal declined further hearings in June, paving the way for the election.

``I certainly hope that they would end that kind of behavior and approach the bargaining table with the same sense of positive, constructive spirit that we'll bring,'' Ward said of the two years of legal tit for tat. ``I hope the unfairness they expressed in their past was just an anomaly and not part of their nature''

Hartley said the college is ready to move forward.

``As of today, it's all water under the bridge,'' he said. ``The college has not objected to the election as conducted, and accepts the ballots as counted.''

Ward said the part-timers will elect a union board next semester in time for contract negotiations with the college.

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com