This paper considers the North American community college context and focuses upon community college faculty as a labor force in the "new economy" (Carnoy, 2000; Carnoy, Castells, Cohen, & Cardoso, 1993; Sennett, 1998) because of several characteristics of the institution and its faculty. First, the community college is an instrument or vehicle of both state and federal government economic and social policy. They are tied to economic markets and behaviors that are global in their interactions and to the redress of inequalities promulgated by social policy. Second, the community college is a productive force: its products are both workers and consumers for local economies; the institution produces both private and public goods. Both the work and the consumption of these products-students-have implications for a globally competitive economy. Third, the community college's student demographics-the result of an open-access philosophy and a mission that incorporates social mobility for the underserved-include a broad spectrum of society, particularly a population that is not connected to four-year colleges and universities. Part of this population reflects the social welfare/social agency identity of the community college: those who are the underserved, the neglected, and the disadvantaged in U. S. society, arguably a consequence of both old and new capitalism. Fourth and finally, the major workforce in the institution-the faculty-are more a labor force than professionals, managed by collective agreements and state legislation that limit their autonomy and role in governance and by administrators who are increasingly intrusive in the faculty domain of instruction (J. Levin, Kater, & Wagoner, 2006; Rhoades, 1998). Community college faculty are often excluded from an authoritative governance or decision-making role and cede that role to either the governing board and president/chancellor or governing board alone. Yet these conditions of working life also generate contradictions. For example, community colleges retrain workers laid off in the manufacturing industry as a result of plant closures and industry re-location to another country but, because of the students they recruit, are also required to charge undocumented immigrants out-of-state tuition fees, which can be as much as five times the amount as in-state tuition. Educational decisions, customarily assumed as the domain of faculty, as professionals, such as the use of distance education as an instructional mode of delivery, are vested in management, and faculty can only take issue, formally, through collective bargaining if they are unionized and if managerial action violates the terms of the collective agreement. In such a context of managerial authority, the dynamics of higher education in the new economy are readily apparent, given the proximity of the community college to the economic marketplace and to government. In the context of the new economy and managerial authority, these developments in the character of the institution and its work force create contradictions. This paper will outline these trends and the contradictions they generate, and the implications for the way community college faculty mobilize around issues of concern.ReferencesLevin, J. (2001). Public policy, community colleges, and the path to globalization. Higher Education, 42(2), 237-262. Levin, J., Kater, S., & Wagoner, R. (2006). Community college faculty: At work in the new economy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Levin, J. S. (forthcoming). Non-traditional students and community colleges: The conflict of justice and neo-liberalism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York: W.W. Norton & Company