Earlier this year, the Riverside Community College District (RCCD) Board of Trustees unanimously approved that the district will cover 100% of the health insurance premiums for eligible associate professors at the three colleges under its umbrella: Riverside Community College, Moreno Valley College, and Norco College. To be eligible, these members must have a teaching quota of 0.4 or higher. Additionally, RCCD agreed to refund the amount that associate professors spent on health insurance premiums for the RCCD health insurance option during the 2023-2024 academic year.
But how was this victory possible? In interviews with the five-person RCCD teachers union bargaining team that worked hard to reach this agreement, they emphasized that it was a long process that began in 2022, but was well worth it.
“Initially, the department delayed negotiations because they wanted to wait until the statewide insurance exchange was established. So we petitioned the board directly to bring the department to the negotiating table, and we were successful. Not only did we provide free health care for our associate faculty, but we also received a full refund of our annual health insurance premiums,” said Virgil Lee, co-negotiating director for the RCCD faculty union and a full-time faculty member at Norco College.
“Our colleagues from other chapters shared their contracts and memoranda with us, so we had a lot of examples we could learn from. It was helpful that we were well prepared, because the district was not prepared,” said Jennifer Froecke, a full-time faculty member at Moreno Valley College.
“It was important to have a conversation to alleviate the concerns of district administrators,” said Rejean King Johnson, an associate professor at Moreno Valley College.
“This was a matter of fairness for our employees because associate faculty were the only major employee group at RCCD that did not receive free health insurance. Also, once this agreement was in place, RCCD became the premium district in the region because we are the only district in the region that pays 100% of the health insurance premiums for our part-time faculty. Only a few districts in the state do this,” Virgil Lee said.
“I would like to sincerely thank the RCCD administration and board of directors for working with the RCCD teachers union to provide equal health care for all RCCD faculty and staff. I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to the RCCD teachers union negotiating team for their hard work in reaching this agreement,” said Dr. Rhonda Taube, RCCD teachers union president.
