Austin Community College's adjunct faculty must organize with higher education employees around Texas to successfully lobby the state Legislature for health benefits, said members of a panel hosted by ACC's Adjunct Faculty Association Friday.
"Good arguments are necessary, but they're not sufficient," said Ted Molina-Rabb, legislative liaison for the American Federation of Teachers. "You've got to give legislators a political reason to support you."
The association plans to submit a bill to the Legislature that would guarantee that adjunct faculty who teach a minimum number of hours receive state-funded health benefits through the Teacher's Retirement System of Texas and the Texas Public Employee Retirement System, said Becky Villarreal, an adjunct English instructor.
In 2001, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board reported that 69 percent of all community-college instructors in the state work part time. Though many teach more than half of the average hours taught by full-time faculty, they do not receive benefits, Villarreal said.
"All of us at ACC know adjuncts who have worked here for five, 10, 15 years without health benefits," Villarreal said. "There are a lot of people that are hurting."
The Texas Employees Uniform Group Insurance Act states that an employee eligible for state mandated health benefits must also be eligible for participation in TRS, Villareal said. TRS requires that adjunct faculty be paid at a comparable rate to their full-time counterparts to be eligible for benefits.
Due to a series of pay raises, adjunct faculty are in a better position now than ever to argue they are paid at a comparable rate, Villarreal said.
ACC adjunct faculty earn 65 percent to 75 percent of full-time faculty. Once their target pay is reached, they will earn 78 percent to 80 percent of full-time faculty, Villareal said.
"The problem is you might never see another pay raise, particularly with the financial state ACC is in," said John Worley, an ACC Board of Trustees member. "I still don't think you're paid enough."
A similar bill failed passage two years ago because it did not garner adequate support and because of competing demands on the state's budget, said Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, who served on the panel.
"This year there are going to be even more competing demands," Naishtat said, referring to the state's deficit of between $5 billion and $12 billion.
The employee retirement system is already expanding by more than $1.5 billion annually, said Ray Hymel, an executive at the system's office.
One in every five Texans has their health-care needs met by state-subsidized programs, and health-care costs are rising throughout the country, Hymel said.
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