Community College of Philadelphia Strike Fund

The faculty and staff at Community College of Philadelphia need your help!  

We hope to raise $10,000 before we go on strike.

If we are forced to go on strike, we will need to raise more. 

Our contract fight is about the future of Community College of Philadelphia and whether or not Philadelphians will have access to quality higher education. CCP plays a vital role by providing access to higher education for all, including those who are first-generation college students, immigrants, single parents, working adults, as well as recent high school graduates. CCP educates the most undergraduates in the City, the most Philadelphians, and the most poor and working class college students— students who have turned to education to change their lives. 

We are fighting for dignity—for ourselves, and for our students. We are fighting for reasonable workloads and small classes, for more support services for students and for a voice in educational decisions at our College. Our labor deserves fair compensation that will allow our families to thrive, and that will allow us to recruit and retain the talented and diverse workforce our students need. We don't work at Community College to get rich, but we can't afford to go backwards.  

We have been working without a contract for over 2 and a half years and we have been negotiating in good faith, but CCP's president, Dr. Generals, and the Board of Trustees have continued to insist on the worst contract in the College's history. Our goal is to settle contracts through negotiations, but we are preparing to strike in case we need to. We are fundraising here for money to help us care for our most vulnerable employees in the event of a strike. Many junior faculty members have significant amounts of student loan debt and live paycheck to paycheck. Some full-time staff members make so little that they qualify for food stamps. Most adjunct faculty work at multiple institutions in order to make ends meet. While we do have a strike fund, it may not be sufficient for a long strike. Also, it can't be dispersed until the strike ends. These additional funds will allow us to take care of faculty and staff who will face severe hardship during a strike. 

In its advertising, the College touts CCP alum and Rhodes scholar Hazim Hardeman who received one of the most prestigious post-graduate awards in the world. However, as Hazim himself pointed out in a statement of support that he wrote for faculty and staff, at the same time as they prop him up the College seeks to remove the people and resources that helped make Hazim's path possible.

Our union has a rare and beautiful history of all three bargaining units: Classified Employees, Part-Time Faculty, and Full-Time Faculty signing contracts together. As our recent strike authorization vote confirmed, 91% of voters stand in solidarity against the administration's so-called "best offer." We don't want to strike, but we have to fight back. We hope you will join us.  

PLEASE DONATE TO THE STRIKE FUND
In addition, we ask that you share this campaign on social media and/or email it to people who support education equality and worker's rights. 

**If we are able to avoid a strike, all donations will go towards the union's student scholarship fund.**

(For transparency: Marissa is an organizer for the union and Jamie is the union's treasurer-- all funds will go directly to the union's bank account.)