District Budget Board wants to increase reserve fund to 15-30% but Cañada & CSM Senates oppose idea A new District Board of Trustees policy has been proposed that would set “the appropriate level of reserves that the District will strive
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Negotiations Update Negotiations continue on medical caps & language on part-time employment & full-time teaching AFT 1493’s negotiating committee has been meeting with the District’s negotiators with the goals of increasing medical caps for both full-time and part-time faculty, strengthening
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How repeatability regulations are devastating the arts and taking the community out of our colleges by Maya Bendotoff, Executive Director, Cabrillo College Federation of Teachers, AFT 4400 In the summer of 2012, prior to the passage of Prop 30, when
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New faculty welcomed by AFTers bearing gifts By Katharine Harer, AFT Strategic Campaign Initiative Organizer Our campaign to meet and welcome new faculty hires is off to a great start.  Strategic Campaign Initiative Organizers, Katharine Harer and Michelle Kern, have
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Part-Timers Should District adjunct faculty have an advantage in hiring for full-time positions?Let us know what you think  At November’s AFT 1493 Executive Committee meeting, a faculty member from Skyline College proposed that adjunct faculty should receive priority status
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Introducing new AFT 1493 Executive Committee Reps. Stephen Fredricks, Skyline College Executive Committee Rep. Greeting colleagues! I am proud to be a part of the AFT Local 1493’s Executive Committee. I have been working at Skyline College since 2005, and
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Board urges State to increase funding for adjuncts’ pay & office hours by Dan Kaplan, AFT 1493 Executive Secretary On November 24, the Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution urging the State of California to provide additional funding for
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CHALLENGING THE ACCREDITING COMMISSION Statewide Academic Senate leaders increase critiques of ACCJC at Fall Plenary Session By Marty Hittelman, former President of the California Federation of Teachers The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) met in Plenary Session on
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CFT and other unions make ballot recommendations for November 4th election The following are summaries of ballot recommendations from the California Federation of Teachers, the California Labor Federation, the San Mateo County Labor Council and other unions for key races
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A response to District’s views on procedures for adjuncts applying for full-time positions The following is a counter-response by a Skyline adjunct faculty member (who wishes to remain anonymous) to an article in the September Advocate by Barbara Christensen, SMCCCD
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Introducing new AFT 1493 Executive Committee members Rob Williams, Skyline College Chapter Co-Chair Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I feel great pride in being your Skyline College Chapter Co-Chair (Co-Chairing with the wonderful Janice Sapigao).
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Joe McDonough AFT Social Justice Scholarship to award $5000 annually AFT Local 1493 and the family of Dr. Joe McDonough are pleased to announce the new Joe McDonough AFT Social Justice Scholarship. Joe McDonough was a professor of psychology for
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DART organizes hike in Crystal Springs watershed by John Searle, DART President The local DART (District Association of Retired Teachers) chapter organized a small mixed group of faculty, both retired and current, and two Stanford nurses, to take advantage of
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Book Review How the dream of American higher education has been sabotaged by social inequality and plutocracy by Tom Mohr, Trustee, San Mateo County Community College District   Mettler, Suzanne. Degrees of Inequality. How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged
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Some health plan premiums are increasing significantly in 2015, but Kaiser rates are going down slightly; Negotiations for raising the medical cap are about to start Depending on which health plan you are covered by, full-time faculty members’ 2015 medical
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PART TIMERS District responds to Advocate letter on failure to give fair treatment to current part-time faculty in hiring for full-time positions by Barbara Christensen, SMCCCD Director of Community/Government Relations The Advocate published a letter [“Full-time position open: In-house adjuncts
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Our 3.69% pay raise beats price increases Everyone is probably aware that our salary increase for 2014-15 is 3.69%. The increase, which was negotiated with the District by the creative AFT negotiating team, was based on a percentage of the 
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PART TIMERS Flex = flexible: Flex days and part-time faculty by Monica Malamud, AFT 1493 Secretary Over the years, there have been many questions about how flex days apply for part-time faculty.  The language in our contract was not very
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Decision in Vergara case overturns teacher rights; is being appealed On June 10 of this year, an L.A. Superior court Judge in Vergara v. State of California declared five Education code protections unconstitutional, striking down California’s tenure, layoff, due process
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What is the purpose of our work? Why a college education is much more than achieving a set of learning outcomes by Chad Hanson, Professor of Sociology, Casper College   Every spring we conduct commencement ceremonies. At the end, students
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AFT 1493 awarded Strategic Campaign Initiative grant by Katharine Harer, SCIO Lead Organizer & AFT 1493 Vice President Katharine Harer (Skyline English/Co-VP) and Michelle Kern (CSM Art/CSM Part Time Rep) wrote and received a grant for the academic year 2014-15
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AFT 1493 is on Facebook: Join the conversation Have you seen our AFT 1493 Facebook page lately? We feature articles and posts on issues concerning: Higher education Adjunct rights Legislative and political issues in education Corporate education reform Labor news
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UNION LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Building a strong local union—Advocacy in action By Michelle Kern, CSM Part-Timer Rep.   California Federation of Teachers members from all over the state meet each year for week-long summer classes covering topics ranging from basic training
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IN MEMORIAM Cal Robinson Cal Robinson, longtime Skyline College business and law professor, passed away on August 10, 2014, and will be sorely missed by Skyline and District colleagues. Cal was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, as one of six
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