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SanMateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT1493

Minutesof
General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting
of April 27, 2005

 

 

Members Present: Dan Kaplan, Ernie Rodriguez, John Kirk, Kathleen Feinblum, Katharine Harer, Sandy Raeber, Karen Olesen, Victoria Clinton, Eric Brenner, Annie Nicols, Yaping Li, Chip Chandler, Joaquin Rivera

 

Guests: Rich Follansby, Paul Roscelli, Patty Dilko, Dick Claire

 

The meeting was called to order at 2:25.

Minutes for the 3/30/05 meeting was approved.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS/NON AGENDA ITEMS

 

Karen Olesen is participating in the AIDS Lifecyle fundraising drive and asked for sponsors.

 

Dan Kaplan handed out a flyer for the CFT Lobby Days at the State Capitol, May 24 and 25. The handouts included a letter from CFT President Mary Bergan urging participation.

 

CO-PRESIDENTS REPORT

 

1. CONTRACT RATIFICATION – Joaquin Rivera

 

Among those who voted, 95% approved the contract.

EC members reported that feedback on their respective campuses was mostly positive.

 

Some non-teaching faculty expressed concern that not enough of their needs were addressed in the contract.

There was praise for the two days of “non-specified” sick leave.

The sabbatical leave issue needs to be reconsidered because there are so little funds in the staff development fund.

 

2. CFT GETTING READY TO FIGHT ARNOLD – Joaquin Rivera

 

CFT is organizing a pro-education defense fund. Contribution cards to the fund for Committee on Political Education (COPE) were passed out in hopes that the campus chairs can help with the distribution.

 

 

UNION WORK PLAN - Yaping Li and Ernie Rodriguez

 

A draft of the work plan which had been devised at the special meeting of April 12 was distributed and discussed. The work plan covered the topics of Communication, Leadership Development, Organizational Development and Policy and Procedures. Of particular concern was the language for the allocation of release time, especially to those EC members and guests from Canada College. For this one item, actual contract language was presented.

 

The EC in general approved of the document. Recommendations were 1) tighten up the language, 2) include material that had been discussed at the April 12 meeting but was left out of the draft, 3) discuss the plan at the first meeting of the new semester to work out its implementation 4) publish in The Advocate a few items of the plan, publish the full plan on the AFT website, and solicit readers’ feedback, and 5) use the August retreat to put the final touches on the plan.

 

MUTUAL RESPECT POLICY REWRITE – Katharine Harer

 

Katharine Harer presented the revision of the Mutual Respect Policy that she had presented to the District Shared Governance committee.

Dan Kaplan objected to the substitution of the word “legal” for “certain” in the following phrase of the current draft: “The Board recognizes that the First Amendment protects the expression of lawful ideas that are regarded as unpopular or offensive.” Kaplan claims that the word “lawful” by its nature silences free speech, since free speech does not only include those ideas sanctioned by law.

 

The EC expressed impatience with the Mutual Respect Policy. If the policy is too specific, it violates civil rights. If it is too innocuous, it is ineffective. The policy would never hold up in a legal challenge. Ms. Harer suggests that more people appear at District Shared Governance to voice their concerns. As is, the impression is that objections from AFT are holding up the policy’s ratification.  The AFT also wants to reserve the right not to act on the Mutual Respect Policy until they are ready.

 

 

RESOURCE ALLOCATION MODEL – John Kirk

 

There is still some concern that the allocation funds favor the district office. The money for COLA and salary raises seem to be “hidden” in the budget. However, John Kirk suggested we adopt the allocation model now and modify COLA and benefits at any time next year.

 

A motion was made to approve the resource allocation model as presented to the EC. The vote was 11 approved and 2 abstentions.

 

REPORT ON FURNITURE – Katharine Harer

 

At CSM and Canada, decisions on office furniture are being made without faculty input. Some faculty have even had furniture they have personally purchased, be replaced with “new” inferior furniture purchased by the district.

 

BUDGET REPORT - DAN KAPLAN

 

Dan Kaplan handed out the AFT Local 1493 budget from September 2004-August 2005. We are operating with a deficit of $37,062. Though we have kept the deficit low by our frugality, the time has come to remove the dues cap.  The faculty is earning a lot more due to wage increases garnered through negotiations. We need to resume the campaign. Ideas for “selling” the fee increases to the faculty include creating and distributing a brochure, and holding a forum and a special election.

 

GRIEVANCES - JOHN KIRK

 

A couple of students who flunked classes in the nursing program filed a complaint against the instructor. The issue at hand is that the administration never talked to the instructor about the charge. According to law, an instructor in a nursing program who violates nursing training protocol, even under pressure from an administrator, could lose his/her license.

 

CAMPUS REPORTS

 

The CSM representative said that the election polling environment was very positive.

 

The organization Health Care for All – San Francisco and mid-Peninsula chapter, is sponsoring a public meeting on health care reform in support of Senator Sheila Kuehl’s SB 840 which would create a single payer plan for California. The organization wants to use the AFT’s name as sponsor. The motion was approved to sponsor the Health Care for All meeting.

 

USLAW

 

AFT Local 2121 in conjunction with US Labor Against the War is seeking donations for the USLAW Iraq Labor Solidarity Fund to sponsor six Iraqi labor leaders for a U.S. Labor Tour. Local 2121 is sponsoring an art show at Diego Rivera Theatre at the City College of San Francisco campus to raise money for the cause.

 

Adjourned 4:20

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Feinblum 

  

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