Monthly Archives: October 2023

GOOD NEWS!!! AFT & DISTRICT HAVE REACHED A TENTATIVE CONTRACT AGREEMENT! CONTRACT FORUMS: NOV. 3 & 8

Good news!!! At 10:38 p.m.on Tuesday, October 24, after a mediation session that lasted more than 9 and a half hours, AFT negotiators and District negotiators reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) on a faculty contract covering July 2022 through June 2025.

  [ View:  • Outline of Tentative Agreement
                • Full Text of Tentative Agreement
•••••••••••• Timeline for Contract Ratification ]

Special membership meeting: Wednesday, November 1st, at 4 p.m.  Zoom link: bit.ly/aft1493mm At this meeting, we will discuss the Tentative Agreement for the 2022-2025 contract. AFT’s Executive Committee will also vote on whether to recommend that members ratify the Tentative Agreement, recommend against ratification of the Tentative Agreement, or issue no recommendation.

All faculty are invited to the meeting, which will take place on Zoom at bit.ly/aft1493mm

Note that we will also be holding 2 Contract Forums where faculty can discuss the Tentative Agreement with negotiators:

  • one Contract Forum on Friday, November 3rd from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Zoom at bit.ly/aft1493mm
  • one Contract Forum during our regular AFT Membership Meeting the following Wednesday, November 8th, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. on Zoom at bit.ly/aft1493mm. We will hold the Contract Forum at the beginning of the Membership Meeting, starting close to 2:30.

 

 

Outline of Tentative Agreement

Tentative Agreement for SMCCCD faculty contract July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025

PAY AND BENEFITS

Wages (Article 8):

  • For all faculty except instructional part-timers: raise of 7% for 2022-23, 5% for 2023-24, and 3% for 2024-25 (total 15%). Negotiations for the third year will be reopened to negotiate a potential raise above 3% if property tax revenues increase at least 6% for San Mateo County this fiscal year.
  • For instructional part-timers: raise of 9.5% for 2022-23, 7.5% for 2023-24, and 5.5% for 2024-25 (total 22.5%). Negotiations for the third year will be reopened to negotiate a potential raise above 5.5% if property tax revenues increase at least 6% for San Mateo County this fiscal year.
  • Retroactive pay going back to July 1, 2022.
  • Language preventing the District from deducting ostensible overpayments from future paychecks without written permission from the faculty member.

Benefits (Article 9):

  • Full-time: significant increases in District contributions to healthcare premiums according to the following table:
Plan type District contribution under previous contract District 2023 contribution under new contract District 2024 contribution under new contract
Single $875.00/month $913.74/month $1021.41/month
Faculty+1 $1444.97/month $1608.18/month $1797.68/month
Faculty+2 or more $1878.41/month $2090.63/month $2336.99/month

 

    • Based on new language, when Kaiser premiums increase, District contributions will also increase for all faculty (not just those on Kaiser).
    • Retroactive healthcare contributions will be paid to FT faculty on District plans going back to January 1, 2023.
    • See how much you will pay in Spring 2024 at bit.ly/1493FThealthcare.
    • Status quo dental coverage.
  • Part-time:
    • AY 2023-24: 1-year agreement that increases the part-time healthcare reimbursement amount from $3305 per semester to $5482.44 in Fall 2023 (for healthcare premiums paid July through December 2023) and $6128.46 in Spring 2024 (for healthcare premiums paid January through June 2024). This agreement also expands eligibility to part-timers who teach at least 40% between multiple community college districts, and increases reimbursement frequency to four times per year, with reimbursement requests submitted by the end of September, December, March and June.
    • In February 2024, AFT and the District will reopen negotiations on part-time healthcare.

NEW ARTICLES

Class assignment for full-timers (new article):

  • New article provides a contractual process for full-time faculty to submit preferences for class assignments, schedule, modality, and location and specifies that deans shall not arbitrarily disregard a faculty member’s specified preferences. If a faculty member’s assignment request is denied, the dean must provide the reason for the denial in writing.

Disability accommodations (new article):

  • First-ever contract language on reasonable accommodation for faculty with disabilities.
  • This article specifies that administrators will meet with faculty seeking reasonable accommodations and their union reps as part of the ADA-required interactive process; will inform faculty and their union rep in writing of the resolution of their request for accommodation (what accommodation has been granted or if the request has been denied); and will meet with faculty and union reps as necessary to review problems concerning reasonable accommodation.

OTHER CHANGES TO EXISTING CONTRACT

Union rights (Article 2):

  • Language specifying AFT’s right to attend any faculty orientations organized by HR and to present at group orientations for at least 30 minutes.

Workload (Article 6):

  • Language specifying that before reassigned time (including coordination time) is assigned, the faculty member and relevant administrator shall agree to a list of duties and the total percentage of reassigned time.

Work location and work hours (Article 7):

  • Language specifying remote counseling as a modality of counseling.

Reassignment (Article 12):

  • Faculty may be assigned to service in an FSA outside their principal FSA if they meet minimum qualifications (previously, the contract required that the faculty meet minimum qualifications and either have a major/master’s/doctoral degree in the other FSA, have worked in the other FSA in the current year, have worked in the other FSA at least 4 semesters over the past 7 years, have the other FSA as a major on a California credential, or had the FSA as their principal assignment at the time they got tenure). This change would only affect faculty who meet minimum qualifications in areas outside their primary FSA that do not require a master’s, and who do not have a major in that area.

Professional development (Article 13):

  • Revisions recommended by campus Professional Development committees, including guidelines for committees and a clear approval sequence.

Faculty Service Areas (Article 20):

  • Language specifying how faculty may apply for FSAs for which they qualify beyond their primary FSA.

Evaluations (Appendix G):

  • The District has agreed to negotiate on revisions to evaluation forms in February 2024 (outside the regular contract cycle). AFT’s goal is for these revisions to go into effect at the beginning of AY 2024-25.

NO MOU ON DUAL ENROLLMENT:

 

Timeline for contract ratification

Note: at our AFT membership meeting on October 18, 2023, AFT 1493’s Executive Committee voted that only AFT members shall be eligible to vote in contract ratification votes. For that reason, if you are not currently an AFT member and want to vote on whether to ratify the contract, you must sign up at https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/san-mateo-community-college-federation-teachers by Monday, November 13th, at 11:59 p.m. See more information below.

  • Special membership meeting / EC vote on recommendation: Wednesday Nov. 1st, 4-5 p.m. at bit.ly/aft1493mm
  • Zoom contract forum 1: Friday, November 3rd from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Zoom at bit.ly/aft1493mm
  • Zoom contract forum 2: during regular AFT membership meeting, Wednesday, Nov. 8th, 2:30-5 p.m. at bit.ly/aft1493mm
  • Deadline to become an AFT member to participate in ratification vote: Monday, Nov. 13th, by 11:59 p.m. (sign up at https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/san-mateo-community-college-federation-teachers)
  • Ratification vote conducted online: Wednesday, Nov. 15th, at 9:00 a.m. through Friday, Nov. 17th at 5 p.m.
  • Results announced: Monday, Nov. 20th
  • Potential SMCCCD Board of Trustees vote on contract: Wednesday, Nov. 29th

 

Thank you again for all your organizing to get a strong Tentative Agreement! We look forward to discussing the TA with you on the 1st and the 8th.

In solidarity,
Your AFT negotiating team

STATEWIDE CAMPUS PARITY WEEK

Contract Mediation Today (October 24)

**Our AFT negotiating team is going into confidential contract mediation this afternoon, so some of the facts below may change. We will let members know as soon as we have any news to share.

Campus Parity Week

In the meantime, this week is the California Federation of Teachers’ #CampusParityWeek. Here are some facts about adjunct working conditions in our District:

✔️As of 2022, 57% of our faculty are classified as “temporary,” meaning they’re part-time or temporary full-time. That means the majority of our faculty have little job stability and often lose hours for reasons unrelated to their performance. “Temporary” faculty include counselors, librarians, coaches, and nurses as well as instructors.

✔️As of 2020, 42% of sections taught in SMCCCD were taught by part-timers.

✔️Currently, SMCCCD part-time instructors are at about 75% parity, meaning that they earn only 75% of what full-timers earn for the same work. (If a full-timer makes $10,000 for teaching a class, an average part-timer teaching the same class gets paid only $7500). In our last contract, our District set a parity goal of 85%—but they have yet to meet it.

✔️Part-time instructors are only paid for class time and office hours. They are not paid for prep and grading.

✔️This August, AFT and the District negotiated a one-year agreement that makes substantial improvements to the District’s part-time healthcare reimbursement program, including increasing the reimbursement amount by 85% from Spring 2023 to Spring 2024; allowing more part-timers to qualify for reimbursement; and increasing reimbursement frequency. In February 2024, AFT will return to the bargaining table to negotiate on what part-timers will receive when the one-year agreement expires. We hope to get an agreement that allows part-timers with a load of at least 40% to enroll in the same healthcare plans our District offers to full-timers, with the same out-of-pocket employee contributions.

Book Club:  EQUALITY FOR CONTINGENT FACULTY

Want to strategize about how to improve adjunct working conditions in our District? Join our book club reading Equality for Contingent Faculty: Overcoming the Two-Tier System. All faculty are invited, and you can drop in even if you don’t plan to read the entire book.

DISTRICT DECLARES IMPASSE / WE ARE WORKING TO GET A FAIR AGREEMENT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Dear colleagues,

At our AFT membership meeting on September 13th, we asked faculty for direction on how to move forward in our contract campaign. Our negotiating team heard your direction loud and clear and was working to carry out the plans we made at that meeting when we learned that the District had called for impasse.

Impasse is a legally defined term meaning that both sides have reached a standstill and need outside help to come to an agreement. AFT’s negotiating team did not agree with the call for impasse, as we believed we could still reach agreement through regular negotiations. However, according to the law, either side can call for impasse, and the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) can determine that impasse has been reached. PERB made that determination earlier this month, as campus chairs communicated to you.

The determination of impasse opens up a new series of steps, starting with mediation, which is confidential, and then moving to fact-finding. However, there is no obligation to go through all the steps, and we can reach a settlement at any time. We have a mediation session scheduled for this coming Tuesday, October 24th, and are working to reach a Tentative Agreement as soon as possible. We hope you will attend tomorrow’s membership meeting to learn more (see details below); you can also contact your campus reps for more information.

In solidarity,
Your AFT negotiating team

JOIN AFT FLEX SESSIONS OCT. 11

Join our AFT Flex sessions this Wednesday

AFT reps at each campus will hold Flex sessions this Wednesday to update faculty on the most recent developments in our contract negotiations and engage faculty in a discussion about our future. We want you to attend this workshop so you can be part of the movement to create a more participatory, transparent, and democratic union. We will introduce AFT’s new steward network and discuss how you can become a steward yourself. Our union wants to create a more robust system of member engagement and participation so you can make sure your department’s perspective is represented in negotiations, advocacy, and other things that our union does. We need YOU to make all of that happen. We will begin by going over the current status of contract negotiations to give context for this discussion. All faculty are welcome to attend.

Here’s how to attend the session for your college on Wednesday, Oct. 11th:

SOLIDARITY WITH UNION SIBLINGS ON STRIKE

Solidarity with union siblings on strike

About 453,000 workers have gone on strike so far this year to win stronger contracts and better working conditions. AFT 1493 has made donations to support 4 unions that have recently gone on indefinite strikes, including:

Members of the WGA recently ratified their new contract after 148 days on strike; the other three unions remain on strike. If you are able to donate, we encourage you to contribute to strike and hardship funds to support financially struggling members of any of these four unions. You can contribute using the links above. And if you have family or friends who are taking collective action with other unions and could use support from our local, please let us know.