March 11, 2015

San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493

Minutes of General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting

March 11, 2015 – CSM

EC members present: Lin Bowie, Eric Brenner, Vicki Clinton, Stephen Fredricks, Katharine Harer, Teeka James, Dan Kaplan (Exec. Secr.), Michelle Kern, Doniella Maher, Monica Malamud, Sandi Raeber-Dorsett, Joaquin Rivera, Paul Rueckhaus, Janice Sapigao, Elizabeth Terzakis, Rob Williams, Shaye Zahedi.

Meeting began at 2:38 p.m.

 

Facilitator: Anne Stafford

Closed session

Dan reported on a variety of issues, both on-going and resolved.

 

  1. Welcome and Introductions

Not necessary – all attendees are EC members.

 

  1. Statements from AFT (non EC) members on Non-Agenda Items

None.

  1. Minutes of February 18, 2015 AFT meeting

Approved unanimously.

  1. Workload Reduction Campaign

Teeka, Anne, Dan, Paul and Monica met with Academic Senate presidents on Monday, March 2nd, at 3:45 pm.

Some of the topics discussed:

  • There are very useful things that faculty are doing, but that are beyond normal duties: (too much) committee work, SLOAC, program coordination, program review, employee relations, learning communities.
  • Promoting programs and recruiting students is something that faculty are now being asked to do; faculty may be the best people to promote their programs/courses, but if that’s part of the load, then it must be recognized as such (extra pay or reassigned time).
  • Using technology (for example, learning WebAccess, and even the expectation/obligation to check and respond to email daily and year-round) has generated more work for faculty.
  • Can we have parameters/limits? The job of faculty has gotten bigger. How can faculty be compensated?
  • It seems that most faculty would prefer reassigned time as opposed to overload. But it should be the faculty member’s option how to be select reassigned time or overload.

Next steps/suggestions:

  • Go through the list of faculty duties and identify where the faculty duties have grown.
  • Brainstorm a list of current duties, and see how they match up with contractual duties.
  • Take the current list of duties and try to set limits (for example, maximum number committees included in regular load; faculty should be compensated if the limit is exceeded).
  • Senates will put this topic on their agenda and have a discussion about faculty workload and duties.
  • Senate presidents will compile a list of all the committees and faculty representatives on their campus.

CSM discussed this at yesterday’s Academic Senate meeting, and faculty were pleased that the union and the senate are dealing with this issue.

 

  1. Negotiations update – Joaquín Rivera

We had a negotiation session on February 27.

Joaquin prepared a salary comparison of FT salaries in the Bay 10 and shared this at the negotiation table. We fare well in our District in terms of salary. But when we compare benefits, our District is towards the bottom of the Bay 10 group. If salaries and benefits are added up together (this is “total compensation”), then our District is in the middle of the pack. Kathy said she could not trust the data without the supporting documentation; Joaquin answered that all the supporting documentation is public and available online.

According to Eugene a District cannot be #1 everywhere (for example, PT vs. FT salaries, or salary and benefits). According to the District, PT could get good health plans and a subsidy in the health exchange; however, Joaquin countered that PT probably cannot live on $30K, which is about the top income with which they can qualify for the subsidy.

Joaquin brought up to the EC the idea of having different tiers of stipends, perhaps depending on longevity, as a way to break the deadlock.

  1. PT Medical Reimbursement presentation (moved up on the agenda)

We have requested that this item be on the agenda for the Board meeting of March 25. We have speakers lined up. Eric, Michelle, Paul, Joaquin and Katharine met to plan for the Board presentation. An e-mail about the upcoming presentation at the Board meeting went out to all faculty today. Flyers are ready.

 

  1. Strategic Campaign Initiative Organizing Project update – Katharine Harer

Katharine wrote a new grant and submitted it to the CFT, to continue with the work that she and Michelle have been doing.

COPE fund: there were six ongoing contributors at the beginning of this project, now there are 26.

Katharine is now focusing on visiting Cañada, since she earlier visited more faculty at Skyline and CSM.

When Katharine and Michelle were invited to present their work at the CFT Leadership Conference, Sandra Weese, CFT Organizing Director, said: “San Mateo has one of the best new faculty packages that I’ve ever seen”

 

  1. Organizing the second PT Faculty Appreciation Days

CSM: scheduled for March 18, 2-6 p.m.

Skyline: scheduled for March 12, 2-6 p.m. They have 12 items for raffles (bookstore, restaurant, stores). There will be a sign-up list for attendees, asking for non-work emails.

 

  1. Dues Restructuring Proposal discussion

The Dan asked the auditor’s opinion on the dues increase. He suggested going from 1.2% to 1.4%.

All other things being equal, our income would go from $550,584 to $601,515. Dan suggests going from 1.2 to 1.5%. Several EC members voiced their opposition to this idea. The last time that dues were increased, the argument was that our dues structure was not equitable among PT and FT faculty.

We should go over our budget and look at what we’re spending. Dan will put the local’s budget on the next EC meeting agenda. We should either make this an hour agenda item or a special session, and people should review the budget which was in our August packet.

We discussed speaking up at the CFT Convention on the subject of per-caps. Eric feels like the CFT and AFT take too much from our local dues, and that we should push back.

 

  1. Administrators Survey – Elizabeth

Elizabeth hasn’t started working on the survey; she said that administrators are expecting this survey. Eugene has requested a meeting with Elizabeth to talk about why faculty are “unhappy at Cañada”. Doniella said that we need to figure out how to provide support to Elizabeth if/when she meets with Eugene. She would prefer not to have a meeting with Eugene.

  1. DPGC report – Teeka

Civility and Anti-Bullying Board Policy and Administrative Procedure were not brought up again.

 

  1. Statements from EC members on Non-Agenda Items

Doniella: Colia Lafayette Clark is coming to Cañada March 12. Doniella also shared a resolution of Support for USW Strike; this will be on the next agenda.

Katharine distributed flyers for the Board meeting, and sign up sheets for events.

Janice: brought up the workload associated with constantly checking and responding to email. Also, some deans expect faculty to check and respond to email on a daily basis.

Monica: we should look at the contractual requirement of 25 hours/week present on campus, now that faculty teach online too.

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:58 p.m.