Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Episode Transcript

Transcript edited by Let’s Talk! Podcast Collective

Episode Disclaimers

Kylo: You are listening to Let’s Talk! Let’s Talk! is a digital space for students at PCC experiencing disabilities to share their perspectives, ideas, and worldviews in an inclusive and accessible environment. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Portland Community College, PCC Foundation, or our community partners. We broadcast on our home website, pcc.edu/dca, on XRAY, 91.1 FM and 107.1 FM, and KBOO Community Radio, 90.7 FM.

Episode Introduction

Miri: On Friday, February 20th, 2026, amid record high tensions between themselves and Portland Community College’s administration, the unions representing the classified and faculty employees at the school voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike. A couple of days ago, I got to talk to two members of PCCFFAP, the union that represents Portland Community College’s faculty and academic professionals. I asked them to share their insights on the background of the strike, what the workers are asking for, and how a potential strike could impact students if the college continues refusing to truly show up to bargaining. Thank you so much for meeting with me today and being willing to talk about this. I’d like to start by asking you both to introduce yourself with your names, pronouns, background, and how did you end up at PCC? 

Meet the Guests

Ben: Yeah. Thanks so much, Miri. My name is Ben Cushing. I’m the president of the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals, he/him, and I am a faculty member who teaches sociology at Cascade Campus. I’ve been at PCC since 2008. I started as a part-time faculty member right outta graduate school, and I worked as a part-time faculty member for five or six years, and then started as a full-time faculty in 2013. And I’ve been in the president role for about two years.

Jacob: Hi everybody. I’m Jacob Richman, he/him. I’m a part-time faculty member in Multimedia, and am the lead steward for the CTE programs at the faculty union, FFAP. CTE programs are the career training educational programs. They include everything from my program, Multimedia, Music and Sonic Arts, through nursing, welding, trades, sciences. It’s an incredibly broad area. So, I’ve been in PCC, I think, this is my third or fourth year? Yeah. Have a background in audio and video multimedia production, and art, and performance, and community art. And, I’m really glad being here. Thanks for the invite. 

An Outline of PCC’s Unions

Miri: So, what is PCCFFAP’s role, and how did you each get involved in that? 

Jacob: It’s the union that includes all faculty and APs, academic professionals. So, counselors, a lot of administrative staff that are student facing or that deal with student services or work with them. I got involved, I was heavily involved in the, um, part-time faculty union at Portland State before moving from there to here. And, before that was pretty active in unions a little bit before that. So, as soon as I got here, I was like; I knew already about the union. It’s a very strong one. A unique thing about – it’s what’s called a big tent union. So, it includes part-time faculty, full-time faculty, administrative professionals and that’s really exciting and there’s a lot of power in that. So, I was excited to take part and ran for this steward position, and here I am. 

Miri: Awesome! Thank you, and what about yourself? 

Ben: Yeah, so… Um, I– I came to the labor movement really from the social movement world. So, you know, I’ve been engaged in various kinds of, of social movement work all the way back to, you know, when I was a 18, 19-year-old. And, I began to be really- and of course I’ve been a– a rank and file member of the union here at PCCFFAP, um, since 2008 when I started working here. But, I wasn’t really participating in any union leadership, or I wasn’t very active for a long time. And, I started to see how unions were, in— in the last five years or so, becoming an increasingly important sort of force for good in the world. For one, like getting much more active, I was really inspired by the Starbucks workers who were organizing, by workers at Amazon, fulfillment centers that we’re organizing, and– and also just seeing a shift in the labor movement where people were sort of remembering, I think, that the labor movement is a social movement. Seeking not only, you know, better wages and working conditions in our workplaces, but also to shift the balance of power in society toward working people. And, I also, I think I began to understand that to address a lot of the other things that I care about, you know, the climate crisis, economic inequality more broadly, and lots of other things, maybe everybody having healthcare. Um, that those kinds of things can only be meaningfully accomplished if there’s a strong, well organized, participatory, and democratic labor movement. And, so, me and some of my colleagues formed, uh, Reform Caucus within our union and began to push our organization to just be more bold and to be more inclusive and democratic. And, so, that’s kind of what led me here. 

Miri: Yeah, that’s super interesting. The way that you’re framing that as everything being inextricably linked to each other for that, for anything else to progress is interesting, I think. And, for a long time the opinion on– on unions has been poor and on the climate has been poor, and healthcare has been poor. And, trying to get each of those things moving independently has not really led to a lot actually happening.

Ben: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think one of the things that social movements can do— and the labor movement is– is part of this— is to shift the political terrain, you know? So, one of the things I think that we need to accomplish here in terms of higher education is to shift the political terrain in Oregon such that higher education is broadly understood as a public good. Something that’s good for all people, and that as such, everybody should have access to it. It should be free or cheap, and should be open access and– and serving our communities. Instead, what we’ve seen over the years is kind of the shift in the opposite direction. In some respects, we had a version of that, like an imperfect version of that, maybe a generation or two back. And, over the past 40 to 50 years, there’s been a systematic gutting of public institutions and their funding. That basically boils down to tax cuts for the rich and, uh, decreasing funding for public institutions. Whether that be, you know, the social safety net or… Um, K-12 Education or Higher Ed. And one of the consequences for students is that tuition has just skyrocketed during that time. You know, when– when my parents went to college, um, you could go to a, uh, university in California and pay very, very little in tuition. So, you could basically work a summer job and pay for your tuition throughout the year. At a– at a– at a tier one University in– in the California University system. Right? Uh, that is not what students face today. And that’s a result of the shifting of power in society toward the wealthy who have been able to, um, basically gut public institutions and, uh, decrease their own taxes. And, so there’s this growing inequality within society between, between the rich and– and– and the working class. And, so really I think that our– our organization is on the one hand fighting to improve the working conditions and the wages of our coworkers. But, it’s also pushing back against an entire model of education, of higher education, which is bad for students. ‘Cause, tuition goes up and it’s bad for the workers within those institutions as more and more faculty are working as, um, adjunct faculty as part-time, precarious workers. Basically gig workers; and we’ve seen, you know, job security and wages and benefits decreasing over time. And, so we need to push back against that whole system. And, I think that– that workers in that system and the students within that system share a lot of common interests to push back against it. And, would be wise to su— you know, support one another. Like we really want to be in solidarity with students as they’re fighting for lower tuition, and the various causes that I know a lot of student organizations are pushing toward. 

Miri: Yeah. 

What They’re Fighting For

Ben: We have a platform, a bargaining platform. Um, and a series of proposals. Our– if you go to our website, pccffap.org, and click on bargaining, there’s a huge amount of information, um, including all the proposals that have been passed if you really wanna dive in deep. But, also some more zoomed out Q and A type information, both for our members and for students. So, there’s a lot of– lot of really good info there. 

Miri: Awesome. Thank you. 

Ben: So, the… At this point, the key things we’re fighting over. There’re actually many. But, they boil down to wages and benefits. So, we are in the middle of our full contract. Two years ago we settled on a four year contract, Um… But, we only bargained for wages and benefits for the first two years. And, then we agreed to reopen the parts of the contract that deal with wages and benefits to renegotiate them after two years, to basically come up with the wages and benefits for the second two years of the contract. So, that’s what we’re in right now is called an economic reopener. And, currently the college’s offer in terms of a cost of living adjustment is 0.35%. Which, a cost of living adjustment is intended to help wages keep up with inflation so that workers over time don’t lose ground. Um… So, inflation in the Western States, uh, in the last year was a little under 3,% and it was about 3% the year before. So, a COLA that keeps up with inflation would be about 3%, COLA being Cost Of Living Adjustment. The college’s current offer is 0.35%. So, that’s, um, basically zero. Uh, it’s 30, uh, 35 cents for every $100 you make. 

Miri: That– that was… I– I, you know, doing the research for this and then also for an episode, I did a couple weeks ago with, um, students from the Music Sonic Arts movement, that is an absolutely bizarre number. Like it– is there a way that they came up with that number? ‘Cause that seems like that– it seems like an accounting error that seems like they put the period in the wrong place. 

Ben: I was talking to a friend last night and I told them about the– the college’s COLA offer and he said, “You know, it’d be better if they just offered zero,” you know? 

Miri: Yeah. 

Ben: 0.35 feels like it’s an insult. Um, yeah. And… 

Miri: Like, because 3.5 seems like what you would be asking for. 

Ben: Yeah. 

Miri: And then zero seems like what they would be wanting to, what any administration would be wanting to offer. 

Ben: Yeah. 

Miri: So, then having that weird, almost non arbitrary number of like, “You know, it’ll be, it’ll be 10% of what you’re actually asking for.” Just — is — why?? 

Ben: Yeah. Their– their original offer was 0.25, and then a few months ago they raised it to 0.35. An additional 10 cents for every hundred dollars. So, you know. I mean, I think the college claims that they’re facing really difficult budget times. Um, they’re… we– we don’t want to deny that there’s– there’s some truth in that, you know. Like the budget’s not great. The budget is not in a crisis, you know? Um, but it is — it isn’t great. They’re setting aside a lot of additional money into their, um, reserves that they don’t need to do, but they’re choosing to do. Um, and that takes millions of dollars off the table that could be used to have our wages keep up with inflation. The college is choosing to spend money in ways that are– that– that don’t serve students, I would argue. We– we’ve seen the– the– um, the– the amount of managers at PCC increase by 29% since 2018. So, that’s not a very long period of time. And we’ve seen almost– almost a one third growth in the number of managers. Actually, what’s measured by FTE, so full-time equivalent. Um, so, we just think the college has its priorities out of place.

Miri: Let’s see. I’m trying to pull the, uh, president’s open letter up again as well, where some arguments had been made about those were going along with state regulations and what other colleges are doing; while not addressing the decreasing amount of full-time faculty and part-time faculty. What is in your, uh, negotiations to address that part? 

Ben: So, first of all, I think we should compare the college’s current offer to previous contract settlements over the past decade or so, to get a sense of like how different is what they’re offering now from what they’ve offered in the past. But, the short story is that over the past decade, you know, with inflation; the college’s like overall cost of our contract agreement, meaning the cost for everything from health insurance to wages to all the other things that are included in our contract settlements, have increased from about 17 million, at the lowest, about 10 years ago, to about 36. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I think it’s about 36 million. So, there’s been a kind of a slow increase and then there was a dip around COVID when the contract settlement went, the total cost of the contract settlement was again about the high teens, right? Um, the college’s current offer with us right now, and we are not in a global pandemic is 3.7%. I’m actually gonna take a second and pull up this document so I can give you concrete numbers. So… Okay! So, over the past 10 years or so, we can compare the total cost of the economic packages that PCC and PCCFFAP, our union and the college have agreed on. So, in 2015, the college agreed to a $21 million package. In 2017, it was of 24 million. In 2019, is 27 million. So, you can see that’s kind of the trend. There’s a slight, uh, growth with inflation, but then it dipped in 2021 ’cause of the pandemic. And, so that brought us down to $17 million. Um, but then we kind of caught up, we had what we called a catch up COLA last time where there had been so much inflation since the pandemic and we hadn’t actually had any cost of living adjustments significantly during that time. So, we got a bigger than normal COLA that we negotiated for in our last contract that didn’t quite catch us up to inflation, but almost did. So, in that– that total cost of that package that we agreed upon two years ago was $38 million. Um, the college’s current offer is $3.7 million. So, from a $38 million package to a $3.7 million package. So the college’s offer is just right now a total outlier in terms of the history of contract negotiations at PCC. So, the college I think would say, that the reason that it’s so low is that we are in unprecedented economic times, you know? That the– the funding is really bad for the college. That– that there’s even a chance that the, um, the Big Beautiful Bill passed in Washington DC will trickle down in to Oregon’s budget, and cause decreases in funding. We actually don’t know if that will happen yet. The Oregon legislature’s working on potentially disconnecting those our, our tax code from the federal tax code currently. So, we’ll find out about that in the next week. Hopefully that doesn’t happen. But, if it were true that we were in such dire economic times that any public institution’s just starved for resources, then we would see other unions at other public institutions in the Portland metro area settling on really low cost of living adjustments, right? 

Miri: That’s not happening?

Ben: And, it’s not happening. So, we’ve actually identified seven different public sector unions who have settled a contract in the Portland metro area in the last year, and they’ve all settled for COLAs between 3% and 5%. So Beaverton teachers settled for 4.75% in the first year, 5% in the second year. Salem Kaiser, 4% and 3.5%. Lake Oswego, 3.6, 3.2. So, I could go down this list. I don’t need to bore your listeners with the numbers. But, the point is that all of the numbers are between 3% and 5%. In fact, I’m in conversation with some of the workers at, um, Central Oregon Community College, the classified workers there. They’re also in bargaining right now, and they were just offered 4% by their management team. They didn’t accept it, but they were offered 4%. Um, Lane Community College classified workers were just– they just settled a contract with 3%. By contrast, PCC’s current offer is 0.35%. So, we just want to pose the question like, if PCC’s peer institutions, in the same economic climate with the same funding sources, can afford a cost of living adjustment for their workers that allows them to keep up with inflation or exceed it, why can’t PCC? 

How a Strike Would Effect PCC

Miri: Yeah, it’s a good question. That would be great if, uh, somebody answered. How would a strike affect students and employees at PCC? What are the– the things that they can expect? Starting with students; what are the things that they can expect in the next month? You know, while strike things are potentially getting set, versus afterwards when a strike is happening, like what resources will they not have access to? What, uh, will happen to grades and classes and trying to sign up for next term?

Ben: This is an excellent question. So, I’ll start with just some basic information. Um, so if we strike, we’ll probably strike on the Wednesday of Week 10, which is March 11th. From that point on. Classes will be canceled and probably the college will be closed. Buildings will probably be closed. We don’t know that for sure. We don’t control whether or not that happens. But, um, if we go on strike, it’s very– very likely that our union, FFAP, the Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals, will strike at the same time as the classified union, the Federation of Classified Employees. And, that union represents custodial workers, bus drivers, food service workers, administrative assistants, and a whole bunch of other workers. So, what that means is that the vast majority of people employed by PCC will all be on strike. Probably, 15, 16, 1700 workers, on strike at the same time. So, that means the college will be closed, classes will be canceled. If you have a class that isn’t on campus that’s just on D2L, that class will be canceled too. Different teachers are navigating this complicated thing in different ways, and we’re all trying to find ways to– to make this, you know, negatively impact students as little as possible. We understand that this is a major, at best, an inconvenience and at worst, like, it really sucks and is problematic for students, um. We don’t enter into that decision lightly. It’s much like, you know, I think about nurses sometimes who have to go on strike. We’ve had long nursing strikes in the Pacific Northwest recently and nurses don’t go on strike lightly either, ’cause they know that their strike might affect patients. But, we also know, I think nurses understand that to build a better healthcare system, like a healthcare system for example that has a– a better nurse to patient ratio, um, so patients get a better experience, sometimes we have to take, like, short-term sacrifices to push for long-term improvements. And, we hope that our strike at PCC, if we end up going on strike, will be like that. It’ll be a short term sacrifice for all of us, for workers and for students. Um, but we hope that it’ll help get PCC on the– on the right course. 

Miri: Yeah, absolutely. 

Ben: So, in terms of, like concrete impacts that it could have for students, if a strike is only a few days long, that will probably mean you miss a class or two, sort of like if the college was canceled for a weather outage, right? If the strike lasts longer than that, we start to get into finals week, and that disrupts final exams and potentially even disrupts the submission of grades. So, it’s possible that grades could be submitted late after the end of a strike. And, of course, that’s disruptive to students. We think that major negative consequences for students won’t happen until we got into, like, into the first part of April, um, where it starts to affect things like academic standing and financial aid and things like that. So, we… Expect, we hope that the administration, like us, will also be doing everything they can to make this as– as least problematic as possible for students. Um. We know that some of the services that PCC provides to students will also be disrupted. We– we intend to have, for example, free food to give away at picket lines to students and to our coworkers, and we’re currently trying to just communicate out as well as we can and build relationships of solidarity with students. This conversation is part of that. There’s gonna be a, um, a student facing town hall today at Cascade Campus, um, and another one later in the week. I think at Sylvania. So, we’re trying to do everything we can to reach out to students. PCCFFAP, our union employs two student organizing interns, which are PCC students who are developing organizing skills and, um, and are paid employees of our union to do that work. Um, trying to help establish, you know, relationships of solidarity with– with students. We’re really proud to have the support of ASPCC who signed onto our solidarity pledge, and tons of individual students who have also signed onto that pledge. But, we understand that this– that if we strike it will be disruptive. To all of our lives, including student lives, and we don’t take that lightly. 

Miri: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you very much for coming and taking time outta your morning to talk to me today.

Ben: Yeah. Thanks Miri. I’m sorry that I have to move on. Yeah, no worries to– to get to class. Um, but I– but– but you’re in good hands with Jacob. Jacob, thanks. Um, your patience while I talked a lot and, um, and, uh, good luck with the second half of the interview. 

Jacob: Of course. Thanks, Ben. See you soon! 

Miri: Yeah. And, I wish you the best of luck on your, uh, negotiations.

Ben: Thanks so much, Miri. Appreciate that! 

What Admin is Saying

Miri: So, one thing that Ben had mentioned was, one of the things that the union is trying to work toward is getting things more universally accessible for students of all needs. You know, not necessarily within just what the union is bargaining for, but it being part of a cultural shift, a societal shift in Oregon to get things free and cheap, secondary education, free and cheap for people who, who want it, who need it. So, based on that, what do you think of having funding and course decisions and stuff be so based off of graduation rates? 

Jacob: The Music and Sonic Arts, Save Music and Sonic Arts campaign, administration will really cherry pick and sometimes even fabricate its data for graduation rates. Since people, especially community college might take more time, they might be able to take, you know, one course a term, they might be able to take three courses a different term. They might have to take a term off depending on– on life situation. So I think it’s a poor metric, certainly a poor soul metric. I think we want our, you know. I absolutely want my students to finish the program, get great skills, and be able to succeed in creative careers. I teach in a creative program and I want to gear towards them, towards the lives of, you know, supporting themselves through their creative work. That’s the most exciting thing in the world. So… And, what that looks like isn’t necessarily just the graduation rate for one year or another. Those things are important. Um, and we all need to be paying attention to them as, uh, as faculty and administration as well. Um, but, yeah, not solely. 

Miri: Yeah, I think the graduation rate obsession comes from looking at it from the perspective of public primary schools, where you are enrolled just default all the way from first through 12th grade. Uh, and that’s your options. Like there is a dropping out, and there is a completing, and that’s it. Or, for more traditional four year university type things, where you go, you sign up for this program, you go there, you take these classes, and then you graduate or you drop out. Versus what a community college is useful for; where you can go and take a couple of classes, when you can afford it, and then take a term two, three off, and then take a couple more classes when you can afford it. And, I think having that– having that affect graduation rate measurements, in the same way that that would in a four year university, is inaccurate, at least. 

Jacob: I agree a hundred percent. I– I think the impetus is to– to encourage students, to support them in all those decisions. ‘Cause you know at– at a large expense four year university. You’re also like buying into that many years of– of loans or debt or whatever that– that locks you in there. So, there’s that added pressure as well, and you can’t leave or else you lose all that. And, so I think here at– at Portland Community College, we need to… We– we want our students to continue through the program, continue to build on those skills on top of each other. Um, but the pacing needs to be a little bit more realistic to people who have families, who have– or everybody’s working, uh, you know, all these sorts of things that they have to take care of as well. And, I think we need to be, uh, uh, flexible about that. Administration’s job. I think, um, right now where– where they see it is like they’re, they’re just sharpening knives. It feels like— and this is not just at Portland Community College or this particular administration, though this one is just a little bit more brazen. But, it’s the– the corporatization of higher education. Uh, really almost like the venture capital approach. What can we slice away for parts in this bloated corpse from a previous era that’s higher education in America? And, so you have these consultant class people who come in, who run administrations, who run boards, and they– they all– they wanna see is cost cutting. Except for in their own sense. Like Ben, uh, Ben mentioned the, you know, the 20 plus percent growth in– in administration in this college with a, you know, subsequent shrink of actually student facing. I like to call student facing versus administration. Um, uh, a very lopsided, so they don’t wanna cut themselves. Um, they just wanna squeeze everything else. They wanna cut programs, doesn’t matter what reasons. Um, that’s something I’ve come to learn over, uh, bargaining with this administration is that the reasons aren’t important. They just want to cut and pick apart. And so whether its graduation rates, whether it’s income to the college from a program, whether it’s hireability, all of these things, when you pick apart the reasoning for any of their processing, and when it’s starts to fall apart, they’ll just hop to another. And then when you get ’em in a corner, they’re just like, “we’re doing this ’cause we can.”. So, that’s– that’s sort of where I’m at here. So, I– yeah. This is a long-winded way of answering your question. I don’t think that graduation rates should be the sole metric of the success of a program. 

Miri: Yeah. Well, in– in all my talks with, uh, student organizers, the thing that they’re fundamentally most frustrated with from the administration is a lack of transparency and honesty. Um, you know, they– they go to the town halls, they ask the questions, they send the emails, and then are either stonewalled and, uh, lied to their face and told that they are not receiving the communications, the administration is not receiving the communications that the students are giving, or when they ask a question, when the student’s asking a question that the administration responds to, it is fabrications or a smokescreen. For example, in the Music and Sonic Arts having a low graduation rate being one of the reasons for that program to be shut down when that program has a 40% higher graduation rate than the college average. 

Jacob: Yep, that’s right. 

Miri: Um, so what kind of things are staff facing in that same kind of vein, of things that you’re asking about and then just being obfuscated from you when they answer.

Jacob: Sure. No, I appreciate that question. And, and it breaks my heart that that’s the, um, that the experience of students with this administration as well. And, as a quick background, so I’m– I’m a faculty member in Multimedia program. Music and Sonic Arts I would consider sort of our sister program. And, um, I have a lot, you know, you were one of them. Uh, I have a lot of Music Sonic Arts students in my classes. Um, and so I’ve been involved in the Save Music and Sonic Arts campaign for almost a year now. Starting with a kind of legit by-the-book, what’s called, Impact Bargaining. When, if something– something administration makes some change that affects the workers, even if it’s in between contract years, we get to bargain it as an individual item. So, that we– we did that all through last summer, went absolutely nowhere. Administration just ran their wheels. And, they did exactly what you mentioned. They lied about the reasoning, multiple times. So, they would say, it costs money. Can you tell us how much money? Or it’ll save us money to cancel this program. Can you tell us how much money it saved? No. Literally they said that, um, it doesn’t prepare our students for work in the industry. We had dozens of industry leaders come and, and provide evidence. Otherwise they said, okay, well we don’t care. Um, and then it is graduation rates. Graduation rates for our Music Sonic Arts is higher than the average. I, it’s– it just doesn’t make sense. It’s like they don’t, not even caring to properly lie about the reasoning for things. And it’s– it’s really heartbreaking, and to be honest, really scary at this moment we are at right now. 

Miri: Yeah. 

Jacob: ‘Cause it means like, well, what are they gonna do next if they don’t care to tell the truth to us or to students? And then to answer, sorry for the roundabout, but to answer your question, how does it affect faculty like us: This kind of process, what this administration’s doing? It’s not unique. It was the same way when I was at Portland State. Administrations in this kind of venture capital, picking over the corpse way. They’ll squirrel away money into these savings accounts, claim they need to do it for a rainy day, and then shrink the budget to a doom budget and then cut, cut, cut. That’s what they’re doing here. Ben alluded to it. They’re, they’re artificially deflating the budget and then squeezing all the programs. It’s Music and Sonic Arts, and there were– there were other programs that were cut. Russian language program. Uh, gerontology, in this era where like, that’s such like, like we’re getting, we’re aging as a country. Like we’re not gonna need people knowing, gerontology? It– it’s just madness. So they cut these programs arbitrarily, it seems like, and then squeeze the rest. And for folks that feel like, whether they’re in your faculty and listening or students, you think your program’s safe, you’re not, I lost a class, so how it effects staff, I lost a class that I was a full class, that I was slated to teach this term because of this part-time faculty budget, uh, squeezing they’re doing across the board. Um, and that’s money outta my pocket. And I, I think it’s important for students to know, um, it’s a real hard fact is, you know, when I was in college, if you got to be a college professor, it seems sweet. You know, like you get to do the thing you’re interested in and you— 

Miri: You’d made it.

Jacob: You made it. Yes. 

Miri: It was the end goal. 

Jacob: You’d get to put on your tweed. Yep. Exactly. You put, you get your higher degrees. You, you, you take on debt, you like, you know, burn through your twenties and maybe your thirties living like a grad student. And then you can get a professor job and you’re okay. You getting put on your tweed coat with the patches and, and like, and, and it’s chill. But, but that, that is a relic of, um, of the, of the, uh, 1900s, let’s just say. Um, the reality for the vast majority of faculty like myself is that we are, like Ben alluded to, basically academic gig workers. Folks will teach individual classes. They’re called adjuncts, and I’m an adjunct. It’s a sucks to be in the situation, but I’m a proud adjunct and I’m an organizing adjunct. But the way that it works is that we take classes, at a time. We have shorter contracts. We oftentimes don’t have access to benefits in healthcare. That’s different here for reasons I’ll get to in a while. The “too-long-didn’t-read” version of it is that because we have good organizing and, and organized for good contracts.

Miri: Because of people like you and Ben. 

Jacob: Well, yes, and the people really before us. I don’t wanna take too much, you know, of, of that, but it’s, it’s really important. So 70% of the faculty that teach at PCC are part-time adjuncts like me. I know my colleagues, some of the best teachers I know, uh, I’ve ever met, and I’ve been teaching for almost 15 years now at college and university level. Some of the best teachers I know at this institution are on food stamps. Many of us have to hop around between three, four institutions to make ends meet. Um, people drive Uber. It’s like you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t ima— college teachers in this country, and it’s not just PCC, but PCC is like right in the middle of the 70%, uh, adjunct faculty teaching classes. Um. The vast majority of folks that teach college and university courses are really on the edge, so things like this small insulting COLA in an era of high inflation is, like, existential for the vast majority of American and PCC teachers. So to have your meager paychecks that were already getting paid be worth less an actual value, um, is not just an insult it’s like an existential threat for our ability to make ends meet. 

Miri: And especially with, and these, with what you just just said about having, having one of your classes just, Nope! Taken away from you. 

Jacob: Yeah. 

Miri: You know, so something that you have no control over. 

Jacob: It was filled. My classes are— are, you know, are filled and have almost filled wait list, so like it’s, it’s it, yeah. It– it’s really —, it’s really frustrating and scary. 

Miri: Yeah, so then combining just nabbing classes with 0.35%, which again, that just seems like someone put the period in the wrong place on accident, like they were reaching for the zero and they hit period instead.

Jacob: Yeah, it would be awesome if they listen to that—that logic. But, um, they— they won’t. And that’s what we’re up against. The majority of the teachers at Portland Community College are really— it’s an existential threat for us to take such a low COLA right now. It affects our day-to-day, our ability to make ends meet. And so I want everybody to realize that. It is a really part of it being a big tent union where we have full-time faculty and academic professionals, so advisors and stuff, and this massive group of part-time faculty is that there’s— there are people on very different levels of security in our— what’s called “bargaining” that our union represents. 

Miri: Yeah. 

Jacob: The majority of us are really on the edge like this. And these— these, you know, non-existent COLAs really affect not only our, you know, ability to teach and do our work and keep up with students, but if we’re running between two, three, sometimes four schools to teach or, you know, taking on other part-time gigs during the teaching year, we don’t have that time to— to focus. We’re exhausted, we’re worried, and we’re not gonna be the best we can be in our classroom for our students. And that’s outrageous to me. Especially when you have a president who gave herself a 2.5% COLA, you know, and almost an or almost a power of 10 or whatever more than she’s offering us. Plus all the benefits. She gets a $25k retention bonus every year, all these sorts of things, it sounds like madness ’cause it is. Um, and that’s what we’re up against and that’s— that’s what’s pushed us to this— to this point. 

Miri: So how, um, h—how can a strike be avoided? What are the things that need to happen from the administration in order for things to progress in the way that everyone wants them to? 

Jacob: So they— the short of it is that they can come to us with a real contract or with a real possibility, a real COLA, something that we can pass. Cause we have to — we’re a democratic institution, so our members have to agree to any, um, any deal that we make out, even outside of the strikes. Uh, the members voted to strike, and the members have to vote on a contract if it comes through. Um, so they gotta do that and they gotta do that now. It’s really frustrating and I think a little, I’d say concerning that they haven’t, as, as of this point, done that this week. So this weekend, last week, we had our Strike Authorization Vote for our union, FFAP and FCE, our sister union, we’re really tied together. And we’re— we’re lockstep in terms of timing for how these things will happen to inflict the most pain on administration and get this over with quickly if it’s needed. Um, we both voted 94% to authorize the strike. And we had between, 86% for us and over 90% turnout for FCE. So high turnout. This is, you know: Our members, uh, of your teachers, everybody that works at the college, IT, janitors, everybody. They think this is ridiculous. And they— they want it to stop and they’re willing to withhold their labor. How do we avoid that? Is that they realize that and come up with a better offer. In lieu of that, we keep putting pressure on them, which is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna show up to every little— every little fringe, um, you know, back-patting thing that they have we’re gonna continue to do. Practice pickets and prepare for it as well as we can, um, within each other, as faculty and— and workers as well. 

Miri: Yeah, there was a demonstration at Cascade two Thursdays ago from when this is being recorded, um, which also coincided with the student walkout that had been going on. And I talked to the organizer of the student walkout and she said that she had been working closely with union, um, representatives to time things together and work together to keep pressure on the school to actually respond to student needs and, um, and— and staff needs, faculty needs. How— how did that go? What, is that something that’s going to be happening more and more before a strike happens? 

Jacob: Oh boy. I hope so. And I know you’re talking about Alena Slee. She’s a force of nature. Um, I do want to be clear though, that the student walkout was an entirely student organized, and run walkout. The walkout was to, um— to save Music and Sonic Arts. The communication we had together was, oh, we have, um— we as faculty and, um, the— the CTE folks as well, the classified staff wanted to do a rally that same day. We’ll just do it a little bit earlier than the students were planning their walkout. So both, yes. Yeah. Sorry. We could support— we could support them. They could support— No, don’t— don’t—don’t apologize. I— I, um, and then the way that student organizers have been working with, um, faculty organizers in the Save Music Sonic Arts campaign has been really closely, and that’s been really amazing. For, as a faculty member to work with students— again, it’s not my program, not the one I teach in, so but— but to have the students, uh, show up to us, show up to the same meetings, ’cause you know, to take, really take stock in the, program and want to take solace in it, take solidarity with the other students and with faculty, has been really, really, really powerful. The, um— the whole strike thing for us and for classified staff. And then the Save Music and Sonic Arts campaign, they’re separate, right? Um, you know, one’s entire college wide, one’s about a specific program, but they— they reflect, both similar frustrations with leadership and administration and failures of that leadership and administration, but also similar hopes and dreams for something better. 

Miri: Yeah. 

Jacob: I think two things is like two star, like a binary star system that are kind like— 

Miri: Yeah, absolutely. 

Jacob: They’re rotating, like they’re— they’re— they’re drawn to each other and they feed off of each other in a— in a good way. 

Miri: And they both come from a place of love for PCC, and what it does, and what it means to everyone who’s a part of it. 

Jacob: Absolutely. I’ve taught at at least half a dozen colleges and universities. Some, you know, really expensive private schools, state schools, and PCC is my favorite place. I wanna stay here. I want to, you know, work the rest of my career here, which is part of why I feel the pressure to do this organizing and to stand up for it. 

Miri: That’s something I hear a lot from a lot of people, like both from students who, even for myself at least, I was at a very expensive private school studying audio engineering and all that stuff. And then I wasn’t getting what I wanted from it, and then came back to PCC only because it had exactly the program that I had been looking for, which was the Music Sonic Arts program. Woohoo!

Jacob: That’s so fantastic. 

Miri: And I know a ton of other people that I’ve talked to, both— both in a professional capacity, like this in interviews, and just, classmates, coworkers, people at CoffeeHouse 5 across the street who also came back to PCC, because it has just a supportive environment where a lot of universities are losing that more and more rapidly. 

Jacob: Absolutely. 

Miri: Especially at Cascade, where, you know, we have a lot of creative-based programs here. Like we have art and we have film and multimedia. All that stuff is here and that just lends itself to being part of an external community. 

Jacob: Um, and I—I feel it too. It’s, it’s a really great energy at Cascade and, and it’s— and if anything, I, you know, when I first started it was, um, I mean, pandemic’s still ongoing, but it was sort of toward the tail end of the— of the worst of it. 

Miri: Yeah. 

Jacob: And— and to see the campus really come alive and then build through the— the— the student organizing towards saving the music tonic arts program, it’s— it’s— it’s such a great place to be. 

Miri: So, if the strike goes through, how do we support the people affected by it? How do we support students? And then how do we support the faculty and staff? 

Jacob: Sure. So, um, the way that it’ll look. So I guess like the way that I’m doing it for my— my courses, is I’ve been talking with my students about it for, you know, at least a month that this strike looks like it’s coming. Here’s what’s gonna happen. Um, so if, if this, our strike date is, uh— is tentatively planned for March 11th. We were really strategic about that day. Um, it helps out a lot of the workers in certain ways, but also it applies a lot of pressure on administration. And it’s. easier in some ways on students, I believe, than if it started in the beginning of the next term, where it would hit right around registration deadlines, and financial aid would be difficult, and all those sorts of things might get tied up. So what I— what I did with my courses, it is like— okay, I usually have kind of like three units. I’m kind of shortening the last unit. They’re based around creative projects, and I’m shortening that last one to a series of exercises and just kind of cutting things off a little bit so I will be done by before the strike hits. I’m advertising this also as like a— as a possible model. I’m not sure like it’s necessarily worthy of that, but like it’s something for other faculty to think about. And then I’m going to crank, crank, crank right before, like, uh— pull an all nighter before, if the strike goes through, on grading and get the students an email that has like what their final grade will be when the strike is over as like as close as I can estimate it as possible with what the— with the material I have. 

Miri: Just to alleviate some of their stress and worries?

Jacob: Yeah. It’s not like, yeah. So they’re not like, “Oh, I have no idea what’s going on.” And they, students won’t lose credit, they’ll just get the credit once the strike is over and the final grades go through, if final grades have to be postponed. And that’s if they have to be postponed. We’re hoping and not— we’re hope— we’re hoping administration comes to their senses, but they don’t seem to have a lot of senses, uh, with this group of bozos at the top here. So I don’t necessarily trust, but we have to keep applying pressure. So that’s— that’s what I’m doing. I’m basically like shaving off a little bit of the, the later work and what would be kind of like, goes through the finals period of time. I have some flexibility. Others— other faculty don’t. And we’ve had some really intense and I think productive conversations within our union and with faculty who have like, where— where the timetable is more difficult to adjust like that. And so what we’re saying to all hold together is that what we— things we can’t do while we’re on strike, but, uh, you know, we’re leaving like how faculty adjusts getting up until that point up to them. For instance, there’s might be some flexibility on if I’m gonna leave my D2L shells that have, you know, examples and have kind of how-to-guides, uh, live, even though I’m not gonna be adding or— or evaluating any new material on it. Um, other faculty are just are totally turning their off. So you’ll go there and it’ll be a blank— blank slate. Um, there’s some flexibility there. And so long as you’re not, you know, grading, not answering emails, not holding classes as the main point of work stoppage. But circling back to your question, how can, if students— if folks wanna help each other, how we’re helping each other in, uh, as faculty? We have, um, both an ongoing hardship fund, that I recommend faculty apply to for, um, the deadlines coming up. It’s the 20— February 24th. Right now, the deadline’s the 28th. That’s a sort of regular thing we have. We’ve also been building a strike fund over the years that we’ll distribute. Uh, what we need to figure out. Um, I don’t know the exactly parameters of how we’ll distribute that to our— to our faculty and AP workers. And then also AFT our sort of parent union, uh, American Federation of Teachers, has some strike funds as well. There’s also, Oregon has a wonderful new law that allows for workers on strike to get unemployment insurance for up to 10 weeks. Um, so I recommend any faculty listening to get that, uh— get that lined up for March 11th and apply right away. There’s some kinda like waiting periods, but it’d be good to kind of get in that system. For students. Um, like Ben mentioned earlier, um, we’re hoping that our picketing at all the campuses will not just be sort of a show of force administration. Will be a place of community aid as well. Um, where we’ll have food, we’ll have some other resources for folks or students who might not get that otherwise, if the, you know, dining halls are closed, et cetera, et cetera. Um, we have resources for broad— more broad community aid connections, in Portland.

Miri: I just think it’s interesting that this is so. That everything you’ve been talking about, and so much of the stuff that Ben was talking about as well, is focused on community aid and mutual aid and people working together to support each other and themselves. And not, I don’t know, not just crossing their fingers, closing their eyes and closing the door. Um, not just waiting it out with the— the rock rolled over the—the entrance. Um, having all the people work together to, and even to just continue to support students as a priority, which I think shows the dedication of everyone who’s gonna be involved in this. Their priority is students and to help students. They have to also take care of themselves, which is something that the administration is not— not seeming receptive to. 

Jacob: Yes. Our, I mean, faculty, our working conditions— our working conditions are students’ learning conditions. So, we have to look out for both. Um, and throughout all the conversations we’ve had within our union, um, all the concerns really, you know, we’re all concerned about ourselves, but so many people are concerned about how this affects our students and to minimize that impact. Um, and, uh, we’re working really hard to make— make that happen, but we can only go so far as administration is willing. Uh, if they’re willing to burn it down, then we’re gonna have, you know, problems. So I think that, uh— that students, if they wanna support, if they wanna make this quick show— show up at some of the picket lines, um, I would, to be honest, I’m not even sure that any of the communications that are being sent to the president’s office or even to the board of, uh, directors are going through at this point. Um, if they are, they’re certainly not paying attention to them. So I would really prioritize, uh, showing up in person. Um, we’re working hard. To make our pickets, um, uh, accessible, um, in a lot of different ways to make our actions going on forward, um, uh, accessible to, uh— to focus hard of hearing and all different ways. We’ve sort of failed in that way, I think, up until this point. Uh, but now what we’re really, uh, angling that way, but, and also providing, uh, food, providing, um, space, uh, for people to— to be there at the picket line, but to take part in a way that works for them and to be able to, um— to gain access to community aid and, um— and just sort of to be part of community as well if— if those things are missing, uh, when the school is shut down.

Miri: So what is the outlook at PCC right now? How are people feeling about leadership and about how that will? About what that will make the future?

Jacob: So, um, leadership is looking real bad right now if you ask me. Um, they’re not doing themselves any favors. And the reality of it is that this president and this board of directors from this point out, when you Google their names, they’ll have attached to them, uh, that they had the only student walkout in, uh, on their watch in— in PCC history, at least that I’ve heard of. And the only strike in PCC history that has ever happened as far as I can— as far as a quick Google search will tell you. And so that’s not a good look for any of these people if they’re looking to, um— to continue on and, um, uh, you know, use this as a lily pad, which unfortunately happens a lot with college administrations.

Miri: Is that a common feeling right now that a lot of the administration is using this as something on their resume? 

Jacob: Yes. Definitely, certainly in the—in the president’s administration, however, they— so that’s, that’s my pooh-pooh, for those folks to get their— get their act together and that’s the, unless they want that to be their legacy, which is really, it’s starting to solidify that that will be their legacy. However, um, and I wanna attribute this in particular to the student activists. Uh, for the Save MSA campaign, we’ve had some really great, uh, relationships built with individual members of the board of directors of PCC. So their, ostensibly, their job is, um. They’re publicly elected by— by region in the, in PCC’s area, uh, you know, publicly elected like any other, you know, like city council or any other official. And their job is to oversee the president and the, um, the administration they’re in. They’re in general failing in that— in that, um, in their job. However, we have, um, had some great conversations. We have a number of, I say really strong advocates on the board of directors whose relationships have been built through the faculty and in particular the student— um, students involved in the Save MSA campaign. And I think that those relationships are something to build from. I think a new PCC will be born from the good people on the board of directors who are working actually at the, um, who care about the students, who care about the institution. The other people will come or go as they, you know, as they will, but, and I— I don’t want to pay them too much. Mine, I don’t think they’re worth it. But, um, because I have done so for over a year with these various campaigns. Um, but the people that are worth, um, that— that really put the school first to put their constituents first and our students first, I think there’s some hope there and I’m excited about that to grow from it. And so that’s— that’s— that’s leadership. But then on the flip side of it. I, you know, I’ve never been in a working situation where there’s been so much unity with my other, my fellow workers as— as here. And then same with students, the student activism that’s been going on and students caring about their programs, caring about each other and looking out for each other. I see it every day in my classes. How— how much y’all care for each other, how much you’re excited for each other to succeed. It’s so inspiring. And I’ve never seen that at any other places I’ve taught. So that is, that’s like a— that’s a spirit that’s not, uh, going away no matter what this administration uh, tries to do. So that’s my hope. Um, I have very little hope for the few figureheads at the, um, at the top of the— of the whatever ladder. Uh, but I have— 

Miri: Inverted triangle? 

Jacob: Yeah, exactly. But I have a ton of hope for— for the rest of us. And I think that we should, you know, lean on each other, rely on each other, uh, help each other out and make a noise to really push, um, uh, push our future through here.

Miri: Me too. I said this at the end of, uh, the last MSA episode I did where PCC is a huge school and a hugely influential school. And I think if the changes that need to be made are made here, then it will make it 10,000 times easier for everyone else going through similar struggles down the line to have something to look at and know that they can do it too, and have a model with which that they can base their efforts off of.

Jacob: I think you’re a hundred percent right. I feel like I already see that happening. I see that happening with my, you know, my partner teaches at Portland State. They’re—they’re—everybody’s paying attention to what’s going on now. There’s a lot of eyes on us and a lot— a lot to be inspired by. I think, um, both with the solidarity shown with, um, workers and educators and— and students as well here.

Miri: Yeah. And, uh, you know, as if it was a perfect visual metaphor, which the poor listeners won’t be able to see, uh, as this conversation’s gone on, the rain has stopped and the sun is finally starting to peak through some of the clouds. 

Jacob: A new day is possible and we just need to make sure, um, uh, we’re, we’re all around and healthy and happy to see it. So I’m excited about that. As to, I— I, overall, I’m excited for the future of this institution. Um, I think we have to all stick together right now— um, to push it through. It’s like, um, uh, it’s not the darkness, uh, it’s not the darkness of the tomb. It’s a darkness of the womb, right? Way to be born. 

Miri: Yeah. And, uh, especially with people like, uh, Alena and like Max and like Drew, who are just. Invested in not just completing their own education time here, but making sure that the people who are coming next and the people who come after that, and people who come after that can have even better opportunities than they themselves have had is inspiring and, uh, powerful. And they’re actually doing something to make that happen. Which, you know, I’ve been— I’ve been kicking around PCC for 10 years now. Uh, so seeing something like this is not something I’ve seen before and it’s— it’s incredibly inspiring. 

Jacob: Same here. I agree. 

Miri: So, um, again, thank you so much for taking time out of your morning to talk to us about this, and I wish you just the absolute best of luck in your negotiations and your, uh, if it comes to it in your strike and everyone getting through easily. Um, are there other resources that people should know about to learn more or keep updates or, you know, find other ways to support? 

Jacob: Yeah, so, um, pccfap.org is our union’s website. There’s lots of information there both geared towards, uh, faculty, general, public, and students as well. Um, and we have two informational, uh, uh, sessions for students happening this week. One is today four to five at Cascade Campus, Terrell Hall. And it’s also on Zoom. Um, maybe we can leave the link somewhere if it can go up. And then there’s one tomorrow, four 30 to five 30. It’s at Southeast actually. Um, and then also on Zoom, where students can go ask questions and get more specific answers. And then in terms of the, um, save music, Sonic Arts, savemsa.com, as a wonderful website with updates and information. And in particular, it has information I think is really useful for everybody in the Portland area, about who your PCC board of director is for your region. Um— and if you have any questions about who are the goodies or the bad easy, anyone can send me a note. I’m happy to answer that question. But just to be involved to realize that the board of directors of the PCC are elected officials, they serve the public. So if they’re not doing their job, they should get the step in and out the door. Um— so those are two resources and I appreciate you, Miri, and all the other workers on this podcast. All students and faculty, uh, and everybody in the public. Your support means a bunch, so thank you. And yeah. Solidarity forever.

Miri: Yes. All right. Thank you very much.

Jacob: Thank you, Miri.

Miri: With the administration, at the time of recording, refusing to budge, and the end of Winter Term approaching, how things are to go down appears uncertain. However, both PCCFFAP and the Associated Students of Portland Community College have resources available for students to help ease some of those feelings. One of the most important steps for students is to get registered for spring term as soon as possible. Even if you don’t yet have prerequisites or aren’t sure what classes you’re supposed to be taking, signing up preemptively will make the transition into term as easy as possible. Additionally, faculty are working hard to try and make sure that student grades, degree planning and financial aid will continue seamlessly, and that community support will be available both in person and digitally. We’re going into something new here and treading into a realm that in the history of PCC has yet to be explored. What is clear though, is that the success and safety of their students is these teachers’ number one priority, and it’s now on the administration to prove the same.

Kylo: Thank you for listening to Let’s Talk! Portland Community College’s broadcast about disability culture. Find more information and resources concerning this episode and others at pcc.edu/dca. This episode was produced by the Let’s Talk! Podcast Collective as a collaborative effort between students, the accessible education and disability resources department, and the PCC multimedia department. We air new episodes on our home website, XRAY, 91.1 FM and 107.1 FM, and KBOO Community Radio, 90.7 FM.