Important Update about YOUR working conditions

Following the Provost’s announcement that all fall classes will begin remotely, many of us are beginning to realize that this new precarious situation could adversely affect adjuncts and potentially threaten our contractual rights with regard to seniority, availability and course assignments. 
 
We want you to know that AAFMCC is very aware of the many issues that our members may encounter in the coming months. Therefore, we are taking action to ensure that our contractual rights are upheld and that new, equitable measures are put into place to safeguard us from the adverse effects of these unforeseen circumstances.  
 
On Wednesday, April 22, AAFMCC contacted Provost Don Ritzenhein and Vice President of Human Resources Denise Williams in order to call attention to our change in working conditions, outline the issues surrounding the new training requirements and request that The College work with us to come to a mutual agreement. 
 
Below you will find a condensed version of the email that we sent to The College on April 22. We also requested that The College schedule a meeting with AAFMCC next week in order to resolve these matters. 
 
We will follow up with an update next week even if it’s just to let you know that we’ve scheduled a meeting with The College.
 
In the meantime, please know that we are fighting to protect you and your rights.
 
Wishing you safety, health and peace!
 
In Solidarity,
 
The AAFMCC Executive Board
 

Condensed version of the email that AAFMCC sent to The College on April 22, 2020
 
AFFMCC absolutely believes in the importance of quality instruction and part of that is preparing teachers to be most effective in the online environment. However, to ask instructors who have already been teaching at your college to undertake this extensive training before they can teach online, which effectively means before they cannot teach in the foreseeable future, is a change in working conditions. Also, any qualification modifications must be mutually agreed upon by both parties in 5.7 of the contract.
 
We believe we can come to a mutual agreement on the issues surrounding training.  Here is a list of what we need to resolve:
 
1. Access to training.  Supervisors are still not allowing access to training for instructors asking for it at this very moment. You need instructors for several sections for the coming semester. We know you were going to work on this issue, but we are being flooded with issues about training access. This is likely to continue into the fall without a clear process that honors the contract. 
 
2. A process to get training based on honoring the contractual process for assigning classes. 
 
3. Accepting training that has already happened. We discussed how many adjuncts have been trained for Canvas at Macomb and at other institutions. According to some correspondence that we are getting from members, the fact that people have experience teaching online is not being considered. An agreed-upon process for assessing what training and experienced instructors have already will help the college streamline getting people slotted into sections and preparing their classes. 
 
4. For those instructors that need training and have no experience, then they should be paid for the time it takes to complete the course since this will have to be done outside of the semester where the instructor is working. This is mandated training outside of the period of work a member is hired for. Therefore, it needs to be compensated training.