Negotiations update

Covid MOU settled for Spring semester; Negotiations continue on compensation

by Marianne Kaletzky, AFT 1493 Executive Secretary

Just before Christmas, AFT 1493 and the District settled an MOU for Spring 2021 that includes provisions for up to 12 weeks of family leave. Given our difficulties getting the District to the negotiating table, many members were concerned the MOU would not be settled until after the holiday—a possibility that caused particular anxiety for faculty parents waiting to see whether they could take leave to care for children who are at home due to the pandemic. Many of these faculty parents organized to speak out at SMCCD Board meetings: they shared the struggle of wanting to give their all to students who now face unprecedented challenges while also providing attention and support to their children at home. With their testimonies, we were able to get the District to guarantee Covid-related family leave through Spring—even as FFCRA, the Federal program that formerly guaranteed leaves, has expired. For more on available leaves, see our Negotiations Updates.

The Spring MOU contains new provisions to give:

• an automatic monthly stipend to all faculty teaching online to defray expenses related to working from home, with full-timers receiving $100 per month and part-timers receiving a pro-rated amount (faculty should see this stipend beginning in their January paychecks);
• compensation for distance education trainings other than QOTL that a faculty member takes, provided their dean has agreed that the training is appropriate, applicable, and necessary; and
• a guarantee that not teaching in Spring 2021—regardless of the reason—will not affect a part-timer’s position on their division’s seniority list.

The Spring MOU also extends many of the Summer-Fall Covid provisions our survey of members showed were working well, including

• a limit of two high-volume or high-demand service duties for full-timers;
• a reduction of counselors’ appointment time to 21 hours per week to allow 4 additional hours of “prof time”;
• extra compensation for large classes beginning at 46 students on Census Day or 41 students on the last day to withdraw; and
• 6 hours of pay at the special rate to convert courses that haven’t previously been converted for remote teaching.

Difficulties getting the District to negotiate on final issue: Compensation

AFT and the District continue to work towards a multi-year contract to replace the one that expired in the summer of 2019. We have come to agreement on a number of issues, including a system to quantify full-time faculty workload and new protections for members subject to discipline. We now have only one issue left to settle: compensation, including part-time parity. However, since negotiations returned to compensation, we’ve found it extremely difficult to get District negotiators to the bargaining table. In the past three months, the District’s negotiating team has only met with us twice: once on December 8^th, and once on January 8th. They did not even schedule any bargaining dates in November and canceled many other meetings they had already scheduled. AFT members have attended Board of Trustees meetings and Chancellor Claire’s office hours to speak about the need for regular negotiations sessions. Our next meeting with District negotiators is scheduled for February 4^th, and we are working to keep up the pressure on the District to schedule consistent, timely bargaining sessions.

AFT continues to advocate for part-time equity and fair compensation for all

When we have been able to meet with District negotiators, they have offered little movement on part-time parity. The District has refused our proposals to pay part-time instructors by load (rather than by the hour) and to move part-timers to a mirror schedule that includes all the steps and columns full-timers have. Instead, they have insisted on keeping a system that forces part-timers to do prep and grading for free, refuses part-timers any compensation for their education, and offers part-timers only 11 steps—so that many part-timers “max out” on steps with decades left in their careers. In lieu of a fair salary schedule, the District has offered a one-time payment to part-timers equivalent to 2% of their current pay. This one-time payment offers no help to part-timers in the long run; even in the short term, it does very little to make SMCCD part-time pay competitive with part-time salaries at peer institutions, including West Valley-Mission, Foothill-DeAnza, and City College of San Francisco. In all these peer districts, a part-timer at Step 5, with an MA + 15 units, earns at least $770 more to teach a single 3-unit course than the same part-timer does at SMCCD. See the Comparison of Part-Time Faculty Compensation for SMCCCD and​​ Bay 10 Districts 

AFT is committed to securing fair compensation, including increased benefits, for all faculty. We are continuing to demand that the District establish a mirror schedule for part-time instructors and commit to a timetable of concrete actions to get part-timers to 85% parity in two years. We are also demanding salary increases for full-timers that reflect SMCCD’s healthy financial status and current budget outlook in a county where total property tax revenue has continued to increase during Covid.

Grievance Work

AFT works to resolve faculty issues and improve working conditions

By Marianne Kaletzky, AFT 1493 Executive Secretary

District grants back pay to part-timer refused assignment for moving out of state

In December 2020, AFT reached a settlement on the case of a part-time faculty member teaching entirely online, who lost their assignment because she no longer had a California address. The faculty member had taught all their classes online before the pandemic and moved to another state to get help from their family with childcare; they told their dean about their plans in advance, and the dean initially approved. However, the faculty member then heard that, due to a directive from District HR, they were not eligible for future assignments because they were not a California resident. The part-timer had reappointment preference, which the District effectively claimed they had forfeited by moving out of state.

AFT filed a Request for Information regarding the District’s supposed policy of requiring California residency. We found that there was no written policy, nor had the requirement of California residency—which the District was using as a condition of employment—ever been bargained over. We contemplated filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the Public Employee Relations Board, which governs collective bargaining, since it is illegal to introduce a new condition of employment that has never been negotiated between an employer and the union. Fortunately, the District made this unnecessary: they responded to our demand letter by “disclaiming” the unwritten policy (saying they no longer had any interest in enforcing California residency as a requirement for employment) and confirming that the faculty member would be eligible for future assignments.

Unfortunately, the District’s disclaiming of the residency requirement came too late for the faculty member to receive a Fall assignment. After several months of negotiating and advocacy by AFT, the District agreed to a settlement in which SMCCD paid the faculty member the full salary they would have received for teaching in the Fall.

The question of whether California residency is a requirement for continuing employment likely affects a number of faculty at the moment. With remote instruction continuing at many K-12 schools, faculty may be considering moving closer to family and friends for help with childcare. Or they may need to move closer to elderly relatives to support them through the pandemic. If you encounter any issues with working for the District while living out of state, please contact AFT through your campus grievance chair. Grievance chairs are listed at the bottom of this article.

College restores assignment of part-timer who lost class due to QOTL logistics

AFT was also happy to assist in the informal resolution of another matter involving a part-time faculty member with reappointment preference. This part-timer had been on sick leave in Fall 2020 and, due to illness, was unable to complete QOTL training offered at the beginning of Fall semester. By December, they had recovered from their illness and wrote to their dean asking when they could expect to receive a Spring contract for their usual assignment. The dean replied that they could not give the part-timer an assignment as the faculty member had not yet completed QOTL; according to the dean, AFT and the District had stipulated in the Summer/Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 MOUs that QOTL training was required before any faculty member began a teaching assignment.

In fact, the MOU only stipulates that faculty must be paid for 25 hours for completing QOTL. It does not state that QOTL is required of all faculty before beginning assignments. AFT reached out to the dean to clarify and worked with the faculty member and the DE coordinator to make arrangements for the faculty member to begin QOTL early in Spring semester. The dean agreed that the instructor could begin teaching while concurrently taking QOTL and restored the instructor’s assignment for spring.

Workplace issue? Contact your campus grievance chair!

Do you think that something about your assignment, working conditions, or compensation may violate the contract between AFT and the District? Maybe something has changed recently and you’re not sure if your new situation is in keeping with the contract. Maybe you have a sense something isn’t quite right. Or maybe you’re just unsure about the specific contractual article or policy that governs some part of your work.

In any of these cases, you should reach out to your campus grievance chair. Reaching out to the grievance chair does not mean you’re committing to file a grievance. In fact, grievance chairs aim to resolve issues informally if at all possible. They can work together with you and the appropriate administrators to find a solution.

Your campus grievance chairs are:

• Cañada College: Doniella Maher (maher@aft1493.org)
• College of San Mateo: Teeka James (james@aft1493.org)
• Skyline College: Bianca Rowden-Quince (rowden-quince@aft1493.org)

Attend or view a faculty evaluation orientation

In order to be fully informed about faculty evaluation policies and procedures and avoid common problems and misunderstandings, AFT 1493 strongly recommends that any faculty member who will be involved in an evaluation should attend a faculty evaluation orientation or watch the Skyline College Evaluation Guidance Committee’s instructional PowerPoint and video presentation.

Social justice / Community organizing

21-year-old social justice activist James Coleman wins seat on South San Francisco City Council

By Eric Brenner, Advocate Editor

AFT 1493 began working with a new local social justice organization, “ChangeSSF,” after it was formed in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in late May of last year by a group of young activists in South San Francisco.  Some SMCCD student leaders, who the union had worked with previously at our colleges on issues such as opposition to arming our college public safety officers and calling for our district to be a sanctuary campus, were among the founders of ChangeSSF. Last summer ChangeSSF members began to actively organize in South City for reforms such as reallocating city funds from the police budget to social programs and for the removal of police officers from city schools. After the activists felt their proposals and viewpoints were not being taken seriously by SSF City Council members, one of the group’s founders, James Coleman, a 21-year-old graduate of South San Francisco High School, decided to run for a seat on the Council in the November 3 election against 18-year incumbent Richard Garbarino.

At the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, representatives from ChangeSSF, including Coleman, participated in AFT 1493’s teach-in on social justice unionism and we highlighted the group’s organizing and Coleman’s campaign in the September 2020 issue of The Advocate. Through the fall, Coleman ran an amazingly dynamic campaign, primarily powered by college students, and incredibly, ended up defeating Garbarino in a major upset. His news release after winning declared that he was “the youngest, first openly queer, and first democratic socialist to get elected to the South San Francisco City Council.” We checked in with Coleman after he had attended his first meeting as a member of the City Council in December 2020 to ask him to talk a bit about his background, his campaign and his plans for attempting to bring social justice reforms to South San Francisco. We also got in touch with Andrea Sims, a member of ChangeSSF, to get a perspective on the group’s ongoing organizing following Coleman’s ascendance to the Council. 

James Coleman

James Coleman moved back to his South San Francisco home from Harvard University at the beginning of the pandemic in Spring 2020 to finish his junior year online.  As he begins serving on the South San Francisco City Council, he is completing his BA this semester, studying Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology as well as Government, taking all his Harvard courses online from home.  James credits a high school history teacher as first sparking his interest in politics, specifically environmental justice issues. At Harvard he joined the Bernie Sanders for President campaign.

Concerned South San Francisco youth organize ChangeSSF in summer 2020

Following the death of George Floyd, James joined a group of concerned young people who had attended South City and El Camino High Schools and first came together to try to address issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement at the local level in their own city.  They formed an organization called ChangeSSF and began regularly attending SSF City Council and School Board meetings to try to learn about and impact decisions about police accountability and budgeting and police officers in the schools.

In November 2020, South San Francisco City Council candidates were being elected by district elections for the first time and James lived in District 4, one of the two districts where members were up for election. He decided to run despite the fact that his opponent would be Mayor Rich Garbarino, an 18-year veteran on the Council.  James didn’t expect to win.

How did he win?

So how did a 21-year-old, LGBTQ, democratic socialist candidate beat a well known, long-time South City incumbent politician?  James ran an incredibly activist grassroots campaign that engaged around 100 volunteers and more than 200 donors, mostly a network of college friends and graduates from South City high schools, including numerous Skyline College students.  The campaign focused on social justice issues, including universal pre-school for all SSF residents, de-carbonizing the electric grid, and building affordable housing, in addition to reallocating funding from the police to social programs.

In addition to this being the first time for district elections, it was the first time local elections were held in a general election year, and the pandemic and the huge focus on the presidential election helped to vastly increase the turnout from the usual 20-30% to almost 86% of the 8500 voters in the district!  James explained that his campaign volunteers focused on phone-banking and text-banking, making over 17,000 calls and contacting every voter in the district about four times. They also made extensive use of social media ads, which were very affordable for such a small area. Garbarino, meanwhile, relied on lawn signs, mailers, postcards and incumbency/ name recognition. James pointed out that his victory showed that young people can run and win when they run grassroots, social justice issues-oriented campaigns.

Now that he’s won, what are his goals?

Now that he’s in office, James is hopeful that he can work with other Council members to achieve some of his campaign goals. His initial priorities include the establishment of a police review commission, the expansion of SSF’s existing Pre-K program to become a free universal program available to all city residents, the banning of natural gas in new construction with a goal of making the city carbon neutral by 2030 and the decriminalization of poverty, homelessness, substance abuse and mental illness by providing case management rather than arrests and incarceration.

A new San Mateo County pilot program about to be implemented in South City, as well as in Daly City, Redwood City and San Mateo, will take a small step to address this last issue. The County will fund one mental health professional in each city to team with police officers to respond to incidents involving someone suspected of having a mental health crisis.  James would like to see the program expanded and replace the police officers with either a second mental health professional, a paramedic or firefighter.

ChangeSSF continuing to organize and support community members

While James is developing his priorities for working on the City Council, Andrea Sims (a 2013 graduate of SSF High School) reported that ChangeSSF is continuing their community-based work. The group is currently working with the San Francisco-based non-profit Mission Meals to deliver 300 food boxes each week to families in South City who have been impacted by COVID-19. They are also continuing to speak out at the SSF School Board and to work with student groups in South City schools to try to get Student Liaison Officers (SLOs) removed from SSFUSD school campuses because their presence is both physically and emotionally disruptive to a safe learning environment. The group is also working on other projects, including anti-racism trainings and other educational meetings and workshops. Andrea said ChangeSSF always welcomes new members who would be interested in working with them. Anyone interested should DM them on Twitter, Instagram, or on Facebook or email them at CHANGESSF@gmail.com.

Coleman: “We’ll have an inside-outside strategy” with ChangeSSF

James Coleman plans to continue to “work very collaboratively” with ChangeSSF.  He said, “We’ll have an inside-outside strategy.” James also intends to hold virtual chats and virtual office hours to get input from voters.  When asked how students from our district might be able to get involved in social justice work, he suggested they consider joining groups like ChangeSSF, Sunrise Bay Area or Peninsula DSA.  He also said he would be happy to talk with any student who would be interested in getting involved with any of the issues he’s working on on the City Council. He can be contacted at: James@James4SSF.com, Twitter, Instagram, or on Facebook.

Part-Time Faculty

Adjunct Safe Space meetings set for next three months

AFT 1493 adjunct faculty are invited to join us at our Safe Space meetings for part-time faculty to talk about their lived experiences and to share their stories. We will meet on the following dates/times:

• February 24: 4-5pm
• March 24: 4-5pm
• April 28: 4-5pm

The Zoom link for all meetings:
https://zoom.us/j/95015632193?pwd=ek1FdlVHZDJtcWdSenprWU1RSVByUT09

Meeting ID: 950 1563 2193
Passcode: safespace

Read a report from past safe space meetings.

For more information, contact the safe space coordinators:
Annie Corbett (corbetta@smccd.edu) or Suji Venkataraman (venkataramans@smccd.edu)