Show Your Support for Staff & Adjunct Faculty at California College of the Arts in Their Struggle for Job Security, Fair Pay, and a Voice in the Workplace.
Adjunct faculty and staff at California College of the Arts organized their union with SEIU Local 1021 to achieve the basic workplace dignity they deserve: job security; salaries that keep pace with the cost of living in the Bay Area; and a voice in important decisions affecting their students and programs.
Staff at CCA voted to form their union in April of 2019; despite over two years of negotiations and eight months of mediation, they still do not have a first contract. Currently, adjunct faculty there have been without a union contract since their first one expired in June of 2020. The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a complaint against CCA for violations of federal law in its treatment of the staff.
CCA administration, supported by union-busting lawyer Mike Vartain, have dragged out negotiations and refusing to discuss over a dozen union proposals most important to the workers. The administration has refused to speak with the union’s bargaining teams directly. CCA paid Vartain $275,000 in 2020, during a time when they were laying off and furloughing large numbers of workers.
Today CCA is following in the footsteps of the San Francisco Art Institute, Notre Dame de Namur University, and Mills College, which came to the brink of closure and continue to limp along now, two of which are also represented by Vartain. CCA is taking on huge amounts of debt to fund expensive real estate development, has some of the highest paid private college administrators in the Bay Area, and is committing wage theft that results in six and seven figure lawsuits. To survive, CCA diverts tuition revenue to cut corners on students, faculty, and staff to pay back banks and lawyers.
Elected Leaders Who Support CCA Staff & Adjuncts:
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with staff and adjunct faculty at CCA to win a fair union contract that that includes real job security, living wages, and health benefits. We call on CCA President Stephen Beal and Provost Tammy Rae Carland to negotiate in good faith—including coming to the collective bargaining table themselves—to put students and workers first and settle equitable contracts without further delay.
Shamann Walton, President of San Francisco Board of Supervisors (District 10)
Dean Preston, San Francisco Supervisor (District 5)
Rafael Mandelman, San Francisco Supervisor (District 8)
Connie Chan, San Francisco Supervisor (District 1)
Matt Haney, San Francisco Supervisor (District 6)
Aaron Peskin, San Francisco Supervisor (District 3)
Gordon Mar, San Francisco Supervisor (District 4)
Myrna Melgar, San Francisco Supervisor (District 7)
Ahsha Safai, San Francisco Supervisor (District 11)
Nikki Fortunato Bas, Oakland City Council President (District 2)
Sheng Thao, Oakland City Council President Pro Tem (District 4)
Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Councilmember at Large and Vice Mayor
Nate Miley, Vice President of Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Mia Bonta, California State Assembly (District 18)
Dave Brown, Alameda County Board of Supervisors (District 3)
“I stand in solidarity with the staff at CCA, who authorized a strike in an effort to secure living wages and job security, especially with CCA’s intended plans to close its Oakland campus, raising questions of access for its students commuting from the East Bay. As a longtime advocate for students and a former school board member, I know that the path to better student outcomes includes a high quality and experienced workforce.”
— Assemblymember Mia Bonta
“We stand with the staff and faculty at California College of the Arts!”
— Shamann Walton, President, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
“I stand in solidarity with California College of the Arts faculty and staff.”
- Connie Chan, San Francisco Supervisor (District 1)
“I stand with the SEIU 1021 higher ed workers!”
- Aaron Peskin, San Francisco Supervisor (District 3)