Cabrillo College Federation of Teachers

Julie Olson Edwards being interviewed

Julie Olsen Edwards, retired ECE instructor and union organizer.

Founded in 1985, the Cabrillo College Federation of Teachers Links to an external site. (CCFT) Local 4400 is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers Links to an external site. (AFT) and represents teachers, counselors, and librarians at Cabrillo College.  The AFT is one of the largest unions in the United States, with more than 1.7 million members and 3,000 local affiliates. CCFT includes both full-time (or "contract") and part-time (or "associate") faculty, with the majority of members and faculty at Cabrillo being part-time and working without an on-going contract. The CCFT negotiating team negotiates with the college over salaries, healthcare, teacher evaluations, workload, working conditions, and other issues. 

Below are CCFT newsletters from 2018 and 1985. The 2018 newsletter includes an interview with retired Early Childhood Education (ECE) faculty Julie Olson Edwards who describes the origins of the CCFT (see the linked PDF 7 pages).  Both Olson Edwards and her husband were active in the first drive to start a union for Cabrillo faculty.  Olson Edwards came from a family of union organizers:  Her mother, poet Tillie Olson, worked to organize agricultural workers in the Stockton. Her father, Jack Olson, was a member of the International Longshore and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU).  The 1985 newsletter describes problems with part-time faculty paychecks and proposed revisions to the California Master Plan for Higher Education Links to an external site..

Questions

  • How might learning the early history of the union help members understand the value of union membership?
  • What were some of the conditions that prompted faculty members to start a union?

2018 CCFT Newsletter: Interview with Julie Edwards Download 2018 CCFT Newsletter: Interview with Julie Edwards (PDF 7-pages)

 

1985 CCFT Newsletter

Transcription Links to an external site.

See transcription above

Lau, David. "The Origins of AFT Local 4400:  A Profile of Julie Olsen Edwards." Faculty Voice Newsletter, 16 May 2018.

CCFT Newsletter. February 1985.