At our most recent negotiations on August 30, AFT and the District came to agreement on a one-year Memorandum of Understanding significantly increasing the healthcare reimbursement for part-timers, and expanding the pool of part-timers eligible for reimbursement. See further details in the full negotiations report here. This agreement is a major victory for our union and our part-timers, and it would not have been possible without the continued organizing of both full-timers and part-timers to get our District to provide better healthcare for adjunct faculty. At the same time, this MOU is not the end of the story: before it expires in June 2024, AFT expects to work with the District to fully implement AB 190 and provide eligible part-timers with all the coverage options available to full-timers, with the same District contributions full-timers receive.
Despite the progress on part-time healthcare, District negotiators indicated at the August 30th bargaining session that they believe we are close to an impasse, defined legally as a point at which further negotiations would not be productive. According to the District, they believe we may have reached impasse due to the two negotiating teams’ being far apart on a proposed MOU covering dual enrollment teaching and on articles including those covering union rights (Article 2), remote work (Article 7), parental leave (Article 11), part-time assignment (Article 19), and a proposed new article on academic freedom. On all these articles, AFT has made substantial movement from our original proposals, while the District has made no movement at all since negotiations began in May 2022. The District continues to insist on status quo proposals in all these areas, meaning they are unwilling to change anything about faculty’s current rights and working conditions. Read the full report on August 30th negotiations here.
If impasse is declared and certified by the California Public Employee Relations Board, the parties would go through legally mandated confidential mediation and, if mediation is unsuccessful, fact-finding. Our August 2023 Negotiations Summary page provides more information on the current status of AFT proposals and on what steps we would go through if the District declares impasse.
AFT negotiators will be discussing what a potential impasse declaration would mean and soliciting members’ perspectives at our membership meeting on September 13, 2023.
