JANUARY 10TH: RED SHIRT FLEX DAY!

Dear faculty colleagues,

I hope you had a restful break and are ready to take the steps needed to win a FAIR contract! As you know, it has been 11 months of bargaining and still no contract! EVERYONE is needed to join the EFFORT to ESCALATE our contract campaign!

What can you do?

  • Wear your #RedforEd AFT t-shirts on Jan. 10 Flex Day.
  • Engage with your union reps during Flex Day lunch on each campus.
  • Join AFT’s Contract Action Team (CAT) — meetings Wednesdays, 2pm-4pm.
  • Pledge to help win the fight — sign a red union pledge card on Flex Day.
  • Keep up on negotiations — read the Fall summary update (below?YES!)
  • Continue voicing your questions and concerns to your AFT Chapter reps.
  • Calendar these events:
    • Next CAT Team meeting, Wednesday, Jan. 15 @ CSM, 2pm, AFT Office
    • Next bargaining session with the District, Thursday, Jan. 16
    • Next AFT members’ meeting, Jan. 22 @ CSM building 10-401, 2:30pm-5pm.

In solidarity,

Paul Bissember, Executive Secretary, AFT1493

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE: AUGUST – DECEMBER 2019

At each negotiation session, different issues are slated for discussion. Here’s an update by issue as to where we stand now.

WORKLOAD EQUITY FOR ALL FACULTY

The District’s latest proposal on Workload failed at meeting the most basic recommendations outlined in the Workload Committee’s 2019 report. For full time faculty, the District proposed that division deans and faculty should assign faculty to committees and other professional responsibilities, thereby bypassing the role of the Academic Senate. They also proposed a new and onerous requirement: faculty must submit an annual workload report for review by their dean to determine if their work has met (still unspecified) expectations.

The District is willing to allow that full-time faculty who serve on a third tenure-track hiring committee or tenure review committee can earn minuscule credit totalling 0.05 FLC.

Status: AFT has rejected this proposal.

The District has agreed to put in writing that they will compensate part-timers for work they are directed to complete by their supervisor.


EQUITABLE LOAD FOR LAB CLASSES

Based on feedback from Music, Art, Physical Education and Science faculty and the need to establish parity around load calculation, AFT proposed increasing the FLC for these labs up to 1.0 over the life of the contract. On October 30 the District proposed to set aside AFT’s proposal for one year in order to study the issue. AFT pointed out that the District had made the same offer regarding Workload, and no positive progress had resulted.

Status: AFT has rejected this proposal.


PAY EQUITY FOR NON-INSTRUCTIONAL FACULTY

After hearing from counseling faculty about inconsistencies in how the special rate is used, AFT proposed eliminating the current Special Rate and using the current Lecture Rate for any activity involving student contact, and the current Lab Rate for those not involving student contact. The Counselors made their case to the District during September negotiations. The District rejected this proposal.

Status: Although the District initially said they would work with AFT to come to a resolution, they rejected the Counselor’s proposal completely and offered no counterproposal. AFT filed a grievance over the workload issue on Dec. 5 and will continue to work with Counselors to improve working conditions.


ONE MONTH PAID MATERNITY/CHILD BONDING LEAVE

AFT requested that the District grant one month of paid maternity and/or child bonding leave to members.

Status: The District rejected AFT’s proposal.


COMPENSATION: SALARY, BENEFITS & PART-TIME PARITY

AFT proposed that part-time faculty be paid at 85% of full-time salaries, considering the same number of steps and columns in the salary schedule. We demonstrated that over the past 10 years, the District has overestimated expenditures while underestimating revenues. (For example, last year $11 million set aside for academic compensation was not spent on faculty). The District has ample resources to allocate to faculty compensation.

Status: We are waiting for the District to cost out AFT’s proposal.


INVESTIGATIONS / PROGRESSIVE DISCIPLINE

During November, in a productive discussion on faculty investigations, AFT and the District moved towards an understanding that the AFT needs to be notified of investigations with sufficient time and information to represent faculty meaningfully.

Status: We’ll continue working with the District to ensure that language guaranteeing this be included our contract.

Also in November, AFT continued to explain the need for clear language and policy around just cause and progressive discipline that would apply to any discipline measures faced by faculty. Status: The District will review AFT’s counter to discuss at the next bargaining session.


BINDING ARBITRATION

The District proposed limited Binding Arbitration on terms that it would exclude part-timers and almost all categories likely to be arbitrated. AFT countered that we would only exclude tenure review decisions from binding arbitration.

Status: District rejected AFT’s most recent proposal on Binding Arbitration.


PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: IMPROVED PROCESSES & INCREASED FUNDING

The District rejected Academic Senate/AFT Proposal on Professional Development to increase PD funds, broaden faculty eligibility for PD, and establish clear guidelines on how these funds should be used, in order to put limits on PD funding being misused for district/college initiatives. The District instead proposed changing the composition to PD committees to include more administrators and fewer faculty.

Status: AFT has rejected this proposal.


AFT has reached Tentative Agreements on the following items:

●     List of unit employees and job information.

●     Academic year begins on the first day of instruction or flex day.

●     Part time faculty will be paid for their attendance on flex days.