Minutes of
General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting
December 6, 2006,
Present: Ron
Brown, Alma Cervantes,
Meeting began at 2:23
Facilitator: Yaping Li
3. Statements from AFT members on
Non-Agenda Items (we agreed to move this item up the agenda while we waited
for Richard Holober to arrive):
Þ Ernie: He has been contacting other AFT locals regarding SMCCD’s Concurrent Enrollment Initiative.
Þ Katherine: The Social Planning Group met and has proposed three events over the next year and a half: May 2007, Ferry ride to Sausalito’s Caledonia Street Fair and dinner gathering; September 2007, Labor Day picnic; September 2008, AFT Local 1493 Faculty Art/Literary Showcase. Katherine distributed a flyer that describes the three events and asks for volunteers to plan and coordinate them.
Þ Dan: He proposed some sort of big
social event near the end of Spring 2007 semester to celebrate thirty years of
continuous publication of The Advocate.
It will need planning – let him know if you are interested.
Þ Karen: She will be on long-term leave Spring 2007.
Þ John: 9:15 a.m. Saturday, December 9
meet at
Þ Teeka: She will also be on leave Spring 2007. She will distribute Governance Structure Committee proposal and District Shared Governance Report over email.
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Richard Holober
He was here to thank AFT Local 1493 for its early endorsement in his upcoming run (June 2008) for Assembly in the 19th District and to request a financial contribution to his campaign as well as help in communicating our endorsement to the voters. He currently has endorsements from the California Nurses Association, Teamsters, and Electricians. He wants to get early support from Labor, and ultimately CFT, with which he believes he will be able to win the election.
He offered to answer questions. When asked which issues were most important to him, he cited the following:
Þ Health care. He views this as a universal right and feels it should be government-administered (take out the insurance companies).
Þ Creating good jobs with a real future.
Þ Education
Þ Refocus people’s attention on the real issues rather than the distractions of emotional issues such as same-sex marriage. He feels Democrats have veered away from a clear focus on doing what’s best for working class families.
When asked how he would respond to questions about having been part of a Board of Trustees that started the District’s last contract negotiations with an offer of 0%, he replied that such an offer was common (it has not been). He did say he is fairly certain that that will not happen again. He thinks our most recent settlement reflects a Board that is supportive of faculty.
After Richard left, the EC discussed whether, and how much, financial support we are prepared to give. The sentiment among those in the room was that although he has listened to faculty in the past, and been helpful during negotiations, he has not been an especially strong advocate for faculty. In the past we have given $2,000 (but no more than that) to Board candidates we have supported, but have never supported an Assembly candidate. Because AFT Local 1493 has had to spend more money than anticipated on legal fees this past year, we agreed to ask the COPE Committee to contribute $1,000 to Richard Holober’s campaign, with the understanding that we may decide to contribute more in the future.
* Future agenda item: Coordinate the creation and distribution of COPE membership forms to faculty.
4. Minutes of the September 13 and
November 8 EC meetings:
Þ September 13 minutes adopted with suggested corrections.
Þ November 8 minutes adopted with suggested corrections.
5. AFT Local 1493 Budget Report follow-up,
Dan Kaplan:
Revised page 3 of projected 06/07 budget. The upshot: See note at bottom of page; Harriet is not worried about $4,115 shortfall as our income should end up being higher. Dan reminded us that the EC will approve a budget each fall (a proposed budget must get to CFT by July). EC members approved the revision unanimously.
6. Distance Education Advisory Committee
(DEAC) 11/13 meeting report, Ron Brown and Alma Cervantes:
The committee met November 13 and December 4. Members have met with Ron Galatolo, Jing Luan, and Mike Claire, all of whom agreed that “access” to distance learning will be in place over the next two-three years. All courses that can be offered through a distance format will be. They feel that there are currently too many different formats for delivering distance education and therefore inconsistency. They want to develop a standard district platform; there will be money to develop courses through this platform, but not for others. The major advantages of having a single platform are seen as consistency for students and faculty’s ability to focus on course content rather than web design.
In addition to meeting throughout the spring semester, DEAC will hold monthly meetings throughout the summer.
There are three subcommittees, addressing the following:
Þ course offerings
Þ resources
Þ compensation (Dan suggested this is a collective bargaining issue)
There is faculty representation on each subcommittee, and each subcommittee can add members.
Questions:
Þ What
is the current make-up of DEAC?
Þ What
role/power does DEAC actually have?
Þ Is
there a push from the administration to increase distance learning, or to
merely improve it?
Þ Will
having a single platform be more efficient for faculty to develop and maintain
distance-learning classes?
Concerns:
Þ Ron said there was some concern among members of DEAC that the platform is being developed before content needs have been fully determined.
Þ Workload and compensation issues (how will part-timers be compensated?)
Þ
Katherine recommended that AFT put a proposal in place for how the process will occur. Some of the issues will need to be negotiated while some will not; Ernie will write something up. We will continue this discussion at a future meeting.
7. Department of Construction Planning
Update, Ernie Rodriguez:
Recap regarding Harry Joel’s emails. The number of positions is higher than originally stated. Harry says the District will not be able to calculate the amount of money coming from general funds until after the work is completed.
The EC felt that Harry’s response was unacceptable and that because what we were told earlier in the semester is not the reality, we agreed that we need to take action. A two-pronged approach will consist of the EC drafting a letter to the Board (with cc’s to Chancellor Galatolo and Harry Joel) expressing our concerns (Ernie, Teeka, Rick, and Katherine), and members of the EC (Ernie and Katherine) meeting personally with pairs, or small groups, of Board members. The first draft of the letter is to be distributed before the January 2007 meeting.
8. Grievances:
John distributed his report.
9. USLAW Re-Affiliation, Katherine Harer:
Do we want to re-affiliate? Katherine and Dan feel USLAW has
been doing exemplary work (demonstrations, education), but the EC agreed that
it would be appropriate to poll faculty on this question. Dan will create a
poll with the help of
10. Agenda time limits, Monica Malamud:
This agenda item was tabled, as Monica was unable to attend.
11. Open discussion/meeting critique:
We did not have enough time to fully discuss this issue and will carry it over to the beginning of the January agenda. Some questions: Have we done enough to streamline meetings? Should we continue to address information-only items through written reports? Should we try instituting time limits for agenda items?
Homework:
As part of the AFT Structure Sub-Committee’s earlier proposal, Dan reminded everybody to review the list he distributed at the November meeting ("Full-Time AFT members by Campus and Division") and come to the January meeting prepared to suggest/recommend faculty they feel might be interested in serving as Division reps to the AFT.
Meeting adjourned: 4:38
Submitted by Anne
AFT 1493 Executive Committee Minutes