In late June, after three years of negotiations and with considerable relief, members of AFSCME 3506, the union representing the adult education faculty at the City Colleges of Chicago, ratified a contract that gave them modest salary increases.
Roumbanis says there’s plenty of research showing that for ESL programs, more instruction time amounts to greater success. With the changes, he says, ESL courses that previously consisted of 170 to 250 hours of class time will be reduced to 96 hours. For speakers of languages using different alphabets, he says, “This will close the door for them.”
AFSCME 3506 and other unions representing CCC employees want the college to put the brakes on this plan. Speaking in one of the brief time slots allowed for public participation at the trustees meeting, Cook County College Teachers Union Local 1600 president Tony Johnston asked the board and administration to stop the adult ed restructuring, do an impact analysis of the proposed changes, consult with the faculty, be transparent about expenses, and revise the budget (which will be balanced for fiscal 2020 thanks in part to the questionable use of nearly $13 million from the sale of the district’s downtown headquarters).
