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Present: Romy Thiele, Yaping Li, Annie Nielcolls, Katharine Harer, Tom Sullivan, Teeka James, Joaquin Rivera, Ernie Rodrigues, Victoria Clinton, Karen Oleson, Suzanne Russell, John Kirk, Dan Kaplan, Chip Chandler, and Eric Brenner

I. Statements from AFT members on non-agenda items

John Kirk's report on District Budget Committee:

A. The committee has 2 faculty members, 2 classified employees, and, 6 administrators. No training has been provided in understanding how numbers work. He also mentioned that he'd investigate how some district employees get detailed pay, some at $10,000/year for more than one year.

B. Regarding basic aid, John pointed out a potential problem of losing PFE money of $2 million dollars or more. For more information on this issue, please go to the District portal.

C. Katherine suggested that AFT members inform the faculty members, who wanted to see detailed financial information from the Union, that the District has not been forthcoming about numbers. For example, last year's financial report 311 has never been made available.

D. Dan suggested adding more faculty members to the District Budget Committee, and writing letters to the 3 campus presidents requesting the numbers of encumbered money.

E. John pointed out that the District aims at cutting enrollment to lower the total amount of spending as a long-term strategy.

F. Dan also pointed out a future possibility that when property values plummet, the district will get hurt financially.

II. Approval of Minutes of 9/24/03

A.COPE: approved on condition that "corruption at Canada" be changed into "issues at Canada".

B: EC: approved.

III. Co-Presidents' Report

A. Joaquin reminded EC members of the survey deadline as Nov. 8, 2003. Pros and cons of the open-ended survey were discussed. Joaquin argued that the open-ended format is easy to tabulate and will not influence the amount of input. Karen reported that as of Oct. 13, some of the counselors were not getting information about the survey.

B. Calendar: Approved the calendar with the decision that Spring Break for 2005 is after Easter (with a reminder box indicating "This Year Only"), and that Veteran's Day is observed on Friday.

C. Katharine asked all campuses to arrange tables for AFT endorsed Board Candidates. It was suggested that we combine this activity with Equity Week for effectiveness and to save resources. It was also suggested that a uniformed flyer be made and distributed on the three campuses. It is also recommended that dos and don'ts be published in the Advocate to guide the faculty in district election materials.

IV. Campus Forum Report

A. Teeka and Yaping reported the following prioritized negotiation concerns generated at the CSM meeting on 9/29/03

1. Salary: Start with a strong demand, without locking into a three-year agreement.

2. Health Benefits: Medical premium cap needs to go up or increase salary to compensate for higher medical cost.

3. Personal leave: Need to redefine "approved by district" to give faculty right to have a day or two for what reasons; improve personal leave language.

4. STRS: Try to get "2+2", which costs upfront but saves in the

long run, or at least "2".

(See the Advocate for more information)

B. Romy reported the following from the Canada campus forum:

1. Protecting post-retirement contract

2. Negotiate "2+2"

3. Change the professional development program formula

4. Class size

V. Campus Equity Week

A. Equity week activities will be conducted on three campuses from 8:30-1:30 from Oct. 27-31. One big event will be held on Foothill campus on Friday during lunchtime.

B. Katharine suggested that we make flyers to increase consciousness among students. Dan recommended showing " Teachers on Wheels" not only during the week, but also using this video in classrooms or as assignments.

VI. Labor Assembly of U.S. Labor against the War:

It is approved that Dan and Katharine attend this conference in Chicago to discuss the issues of war, which bear relevance to our budget crises.

VII. Grievances: John reported the following:

A. Class size was increased in a number of classes at Canada College. The administration has not responded to the inquiry from AFT, which leaves the Union only one option-to file an unfair labor practice charge against the district.

B. Post-retirement contracts: Last Fall Canada administration denied a number of post-retirements contract requests. (See the Advocate for details)

C. Part-time seniority: The Canada administration eliminated all foreign language programs and most part-timers lost their jobs. It is not fair for a person who has taught for 25 years to lose his or her seniority to the part-timers on other campuses, who have one or two years of seniority.

D. Paid leave for over one year for a Canada faculty member who was accused of sexual harassment. AFT lawyers will write a final report on Nov. 24. The case may be able to conclude May 2004.

VIII. District Shared Governance Council:

Katharine and Dan discussed the history of the role of AFT in the District Shared Governance Council. AFT is currently not an official member and has no voting power.

The experience Katharine and Dan have had with the Counsel regarding AFT's role has been lengthy, distressful, and difficult. Currently some students and faculty members believe that the shared governance process should be Union free. On the other hand, the district Academic Senate voted to include AFT. John suggested that the AFT should continue to make an effort to be included until the District Shared Governance Council takes an official position to exclude AFT.

End of meeting: 4:25.

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