I was hired part-time in 1979 and hired as the first full-time professor of Radio-TV in 1985. I have been a Cerritos College Faculty Federation (CCFF) member from the start. I served as CCFF communications director starting in 2017, following Professor Jack Swanson from the English Department. Sadly, Jack is no longer with us, but he was a storyteller – in a way that awed me constantly. When I took over for him, I always asked myself, “WWJD (What Would Jack Do?)” His writing, of course, was the standard to which all of us are compared.

I do remember some faculty resisting the union at the start. We had such wonderful faculty negotiators in Wendall Hanks (a Communication Studies professor whose memorial I attended over the summer), Bernie Negrete (a Business professor whom I sat next to at the Hanks memorial), and Wes Nance (a current CIS instructor). They were strong negotiators and, as I remember, little paperwork was needed and negotiations basically were made on a handshake. Yet, there was a sense that Cerritos needed a more official and legal negotiation organization.

After Dr. Wilford Michael, the longest serving president at Cerritos, had left, there were many changes in administration, and faculty summer assignments were at risk of being cut. Because of these and other transpiring events, enough faculty seemed to be ready to unionize – me included!

I know I am personally thankful we had CCFF to help prevent cuts being made to future summer programming and other ways the union has worked to support the rights of faculty at our college.

"Watch short video about how Professor Breit has inspired students at Cerritos College: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA2IPA_PoTw/  

I remember wondering for years why Cerritos didn’t have a faculty union when friends of mine at other community colleges did. When I first started teaching at Cerritos in 1988, there were only two faculty that I knew – Mike Coppenger, who had been a classmate of mine at South Gate High School, and Susanna Clemans, who was married to a fellow faculty member from my old Fine Arts department at Golden West College. As I recall, it was Mike who was among the first to make a concerted effort to organize our faculty, and he recruited me to form what we called “The Steering Committee.” It was an uphill battle because most of the old guard at Cerritos were anti-union – that Cerritos was the last hold-out among the community colleges was a point of pride with them!

After a lot of leg work and organizational meetings, we eventually tallied what appeared to be a majority of faculty who were in favor of moving forward. After considering proposals from both the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), it was decided to go with the latter. A formal election was held, and we won the right to organize our bargaining unit within the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). I was elected our first secretary, and we began writing a first proposed contract and presented it to management. Bargaining was tough because management still had not really accepted that, after all those years of “collective begging,” the faculty actually had the right to strike – to shut the place down – if what was being offered was unacceptable. Eventually, a contract was agreed upon and the faculty ratified it. It was a proud day for those of us who were true believers in the right of workers to bargain collectively.

One of the things I most enjoyed about being an officer of the Cerritos College Faculty Federation (CCFF) was getting to know faculty from other divisions and departments much better. The other was attending AFT conventions all over the U.S., where we shared our experiences with other locals and learned from their experiences. The most memorable one for me was in 2005 in New Orleans, where we were taken on tours of schools damaged or destroyed by hurricane Katrina while the ground was literally still wet. I was inspired by teachers’ resilience and dedication to keeping learning going, no matter what. I count my experiences with CCFF and my twenty-one years at Cerritos as the most satisfying of my teaching career and am both proud and grateful to have had the opportunity to leave behind something of value to those Cerritos College teachers who have followed me.

I began working at Cerritos College in December of 1994. Sometime in the early 2000s, I met with an adjunct counselor, Maria Vega, to discuss the rumors regarding the formation of a union for part-time faculty.

In approximately 2001, we were approached by Linda Cushing, from the California Federation of Teachers (CFT). Linda was a dedicated labor organizer for the American Federation of Teachers and the California Federation of Teachers. When we met Linda, she told us how she was working to organize full-time and part-time faculty at Cerritos College. She told us about her grassroots approach including setting up tables in the campus courtyard to talk with instructors and gathering union authorization cards. We liked her immediately, and we felt that the goals she discussed with us for Cerritos were achievable. We began working with her. Despite the many setbacks and hours of hard work, we believed in what we were doing and, in the end, we had a few full-time faculty who became true to the cause and strongly supported the part-time faculty.

In our attempts to move forward with establishing a faculty union, I recall challenges we experienced communicating with all faculty (part-time and full-time) and attempting to have them understand the benefits of unionization. I specifically remember job security being one of the major concerns of part-time faculty.  What I can say with certainty about the time is that we faced systemic and administrative institutional resistance that heavily impacted part-timers. With time and information-sharing, part-time faculty – with the help of full-time faculty – finally mobilized.  We routinely gathered in high numbers at Board of Trustees meetings, organized campus-wide rallies, distributed literature, and took action that brought the administration back to the bargaining table.

The importance of establishing and continuing to work toward the strongest contract possible for faculty is immeasurable and life-changing for employees. To this day, I do take pride in the strides we made in establishing a union for part-time faculty!

Summer 1995. As a new 32-year-old full-time hire, I asked my History Department chairman who I should see to join our union. He answered that it was my right to join either CTA or CFT but there was no collective bargaining on our campus.

I was told there had been an attempt to unionize the campus, but those who supported the initiative faced significant challenges. I learned about a Salary and Benefits Committee that had a record of negotiating a higher salary and benefits than most unionized campuses in the surrounding.  This information implied that a unionized faculty was likely not needed. 

At this time, I was already a CTA member, which I joined while teaching at a middle school whose district had collective bargaining, however, I was not impressed with that local because they did not or could not advocate powerfully for teachers. It was then I learned there is a difference between an ineffective local, an ineffective union, and unionization in general.  If the existing collective bargaining organization does not protect every faculty member in the local, the membership’s responsibility is to change it, elect new leaders or choose another organization. The local must actively defend every member of the unit to ensure effectiveness.  Therefore, I continued with CTA and joined the Cerritos chapter. 

I also joined the Salary and Benefits Committee at Cerritos. This committee selected a team from among its members that would meet with the college President and his officers to discuss salary, COLA (cost of living adjustment), and benefits. While the committee signed an agreement, it did not have the power of a union behind it and my understanding is that the steps in the collective bargaining process did not apply.  Interestingly, collective bargaining was found to be needed at other colleges, but at Cerritos, the last to be ununionized, collective bargaining was said to be not necessary, so a union did not exist. 

In the late 90s, I became History, Poli Sci, and Economics coordinator. At the end of my term, I served as faculty senator, however, remained on the Salary Committee.  While the late 90s seemed like good financial years, by the early 2000s it seemed that the Salary Committees team was having greater difficulty arguing for the full COLA which is not a raise, but fair wages.  We had no legal right to the steps afforded to a unionized campus, for impasse, arbitration, fact-finding, or a work stoppage.  We earned in the higher ranges because we had to teach summer, but I wondered about those that do not want to teach summer classes.  Furthermore, the adjunct staff were only indirectly represented by the Salary and Benefits Committee. Therefore, the primary concern of the committee was preserving the salary and benefits of the full-time staff.

Later, a faculty member from the English Dept., David Fabish, asked for a special meeting with the Salary and Benefits Committee which was open to all faculty.  It was mentioned that the Salary Committee was not doing all it could for the faculty.  David gave an impassioned presentation on stage. He showed that, in reality, other campuses were doing better.  It was then proposed we ought to consider going with collective bargaining with one of the big two unions.

As member of the Salary Committee, I realized that I was not alone in arguing that we should invite both unions, CFT and CTA, to conduct analyses of our budget, and this idea gained support across the campus. The CFT presenter made revelations about the budget and showed action that could be taken.  If we unionized, we could advocate using the legal prerogatives of collective bargaining. To me CFT was the best option.  The two unions competed to get faculty to sign union cards for their respective organizations. CFT won the and the college became unionized. 

I joined CFT and was appointed first Membership Chair. David Fabish was President and Robin Huber served as Secretary.  As we built our union, the number of members increased rapidly.  Our early executive team was committed and passionate about making this union succeed. Janis Pizer from the Counseling Division was an officer and very helpful to our cause – a valiant and indefatigable organizer. Robin Huber was instrumental in offering his insight and leadership. David Fabish was a dynamo learning everything he could about unionization and negotiations. I want to give credit to Tim Juntilla for drafting many of the articles of our first contract. The late Chris Arfwedson from Nursing was a passionate pugilist for faculty rights. She was our pillar of strength in the Health Occupations Division. And, from the very start of the movement to form a union, the sculptor, Steve Portigal (Fine Arts Division) was a pioneer, clearing the way for our union through thickets of fear. We also had the strength of the great Jack Swanson from the English Department - the champion of faculty rights - to support the union cause. I miss Jack and Chris dearly, but I know they have gone to the great Union Hall.

At this time, we organized some rallies in support of our contract campaign. We had congresswoman, Gloria Sánchez address us at one of the rallies. We also had some of the local press and once even a TV station at a faculty rally and presentation at the Board of Trustees.

I remember those who helped me tape fliers all over campus, most notably adjunct instructor from the English Department, Launa Nelson. She demonstrated commitment to doing the hard work of walking from building to building helping past fliers. Later, Ted Stolze from Philosophy joined our campus and served as CCFF President. He and Launa married and now have son - a man who demonstrates the intelligence of his parents. So many years have passed.

I have had to lessen some responsibilities and activities due to health reasons.  However, I stayed active in the union, continued as a faculty senator for a few more years, and served as Co-Chair of History Department a few times. I took my medical remedies and improved.

I continue to serve in the History Department although my years as an employee of this campus are coming to an end soon. However, returning to the theme of this story, I saw CCFF come under capable hands and get solidly off the ground.  I will always remember and admire the contributions of our faculty rank-and-file and officers to the faculty cause. 

May union be strong in our future!  Faculty Power is Union Power!