The purpose of this Senate shall be to facilitate effective communication among the faculty of Austin Community College and between those faculty members and the administration of the College in order to achieve more efficiently the primary objective of the College: effective instruction.
All adjuncts are automatically members of AFA and are encouraged to participate. There are no dues. The purpose of AFA is to represent officially the concerns of adjunct faculty at ACC, involving any and all issues, to include, but not limited to: pay and other compensation benefits, job security, academic freedom, instruction and instructional materials, teaching and evaluation, and communication. https://sites.austincc.edu/afa/
American Federation of Teachers (ACC/AFT)
The ACC local of the American Federation of Teachers began organizing in the late 1990s and serves its members by representing them in compensation issues, grievances with supervisors, academic freedom concerns, and in front of the Board of Trustees. The union also recruits and endorses union-friendly representatives to the Board of Trustees. Since Texas is a right-to-work state, and collective bargaining is legally proscribed, the union’s power comes mainly from its influence in electing Board members, as well as its official recognition by the College. Union membership is entirely voluntary and is open to all ACC non-supervisory employees. Monthly dues are calculated on the basis of the pay scale for the individual’s employee group and can be deducted from the ACC paycheck or from a bank draft. The union also holds a semester-welcoming party during the first month of each semester and all employees—union members or not—are welcome.