San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493


Minutes of
General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting

April 9, 2008 - Cañada College

 

Present: Eric Brenner, Alma Cervantes, Chip Chandler, Victoria Clinton, Teeka James, Dan Kaplan, John Kirk, Yaping Li, Monica Malamud, Karen Olesen, Ernie Rodriguez, Anne Stafford, Elizabeth Terzakis

 

Guests: Patty Dilko, Jane Hetrick, Richard Holober, Eugenia Lan, Martin Partlan, Richael Young

 

Meeting began at 2:25

Facilitator: Monica Malamud

 

 

  1. Welcome and Introductions

 

 

  1. Conversation with Trustee Richard Holober and Student Trustee Richael Young            

                                   

Ernie began by stressing that AFT wants our discussions with the Board to be ongoing and reiterated the suggestion that we organize some sort of retreat, separate from our EC meetings, to continue the discussions begun this semester.

 

Ø    Accreditation: Richard said he does see Cañada’s and CSM’s warning status as a crisis and pointed out that Cañada’s team actually did recommend full accreditation. Richael expressed confidence that the two colleges will get off warning status, but stressed the importance of the District’s strategic plan matching the colleges Education Master Plans.

 

Ø    Administrative salary increases:  While Richard feels that the timing of the salary increases was terrible, he pointed out that the Chancellor had wanted the increase for a long time. He stressed that while he doesn’t always agree with the Chancellor, he supports him completely.

 

Ø    AFT’s relationship with the Board: Richard said that while there is a range of opinions among Board members, in general they feel that AFT is fundamentally hostile to the Chancellor and that it has sabotaged the Board through The Advocate and other media. He believes that any existing ill will and/or distrust have been solidified in recent months.

 

EC members expressed what we perceive to be a lack of respect for faculty on the part of the Board; it feels as if the Board expects us to support the Chancellor unconditionally and does not give us credit for the support we have shown. Many of us are still concerned that requests that we use The Advocate for more “positive” ends, and that we call a temporary “cease fire” are inappropriate and show a fundamental lack of understanding regarding the role of the union. The notion of a “cease fire” implies a state of war,  a  condition which AFT and the Administration are not in.

 

      The EC expressed its concern that important information doesn’t always get to            the Board because it is first filtered through Administration. And, of course, Board             members have no way of knowing that anything is missing. In a related vein,             Richael pointed out that issues often get to the Board too late, presented as “time             sensitive,” resulting in the violation of appropriate processes.

 

Ø    Suggested future steps:

  1. The 3 colleges need to present a truly united front to get Cañada and CSM off warning status – and the Board needs to be truly involved in this process.
  2. Future “retreats” with AFT, Board members, and the Chancellor.
  3. A Board-instituted evaluation process for the Chancellor and other senior administrators.

 

  1. Minutes of the March 12 EC meeting

 

Approved

 

  1. Negotiations Update

 

There have been four meetings to date. Summary (from Joaquin’s report) included below; please go to AFT website for more information.

 

A.        Grievances

Ø    District has agreed to increase number of days to file grievance at level I from 20 to 30.

Ø    District has agreed to suggestion on 17.4.1 to schedule a hearing within 10 days of appeal date.

Ø    District has refused binding arbitration.

Ø    District has refused to change 17.5.5 to allow amendment of grievance before arbitration.

 

B.        Part-Time Issues

Ø    Despite a good deal of discussion, District has not provided a substantive counter proposal yet.

 

C.        Distance Education

Ø    District has not given a counter proposal yet.

                       

 

  1. Richard Holober campaign

 

AFT 1493 has donated $5,000 already. The EC voted to recommend that COPE contribute an additional $2,200 (for a maximum allowed contribution of $7,200). There was one “no” vote.

 

  1. Grievances

 

John reported that there are currently five formal grievances on file, more than at any one time in the past.

 

  1. PT librarians (CSM): We are still waiting for a ruling from PERB, but AFT has received a letter dated 4/4/08, warning that they are about to turn it down for two reasons: AFT has not proven past practice, and PERB claims that the PT librarians had had contracts for only four years. Our attorney will respond to clarify that the librarians had actually had contracts for more than twenty years.
  2. PT faculty member with seniority & overload. This grievance had been sent to a lawyer who just quit.
  3. Non-renewal of probationary faculty.

Ø    One second-year faculty member met with John and has decided not to file a grievance.

Ø    The other second-year faculty member has had a Level 1 hearing. The college president (Mike Claire) did not meet the deadline for responding to the grievance. AFT has appealed to the Chancellor and will be meeting with him tomorrow (4/10/08).

Ø    AFT met with the college president last Friday (4/4/08) regarding the grievance for the fourth-year faculty member.

  1. In the case of English and ESL faculty at CSM requesting to be paid for reading challenge exams, the college president, after missing the deadline to respond, determined that PT faculty can be paid, but FT faculty cannot; he considers reading challenge exams to be part of our job duties (“assist in the placement” of students).
  2. Tenured Skyline faculty who wasn’t evaluated after tenure. The college put something together quickly, but the appropriate process was not followed. The evaluation will be redone later.

 

 

  1. AFT request for new office update

 

Ernie, Dan, and Anne met with Mike Claire to emphasize, in person, AFT’s need for additional office space. Nothing was resolved; another meeting will be scheduled in the near future.

 

  1. 2008-2009 AFT Release Time allocation and leadership transition discussion continued

Ø    Nominations: Nomination forms for AFT leadership positions will be distributed around April 18.

Ø    Release time allocation: AFT 1493 provides slightly more release time than many other locals. Dan suggested that in the future we may try to negotiate to buy more (currently, the District provides 24 units per semester of reassigned time and AFT can buy an additional 9 units per semester). For now, the EC voted unanimously to adopt the proposed allocation for 2008-2009, the primary changes being that the Secretary will receive a stipend in lieu of 1 unit of reassigned time and the reassigned time for grievance work will increase from 3 units to 6, the specific distribution of which will be worked out later.

 

  1. AFT representative to DEAC

 

Alma agreed to serve as the AFT representative to DEAC.

 

  1. Statements from AFT members on Non-Agenda items

           

Monica announced that Cañada cancelled all classes on Friday, March 3/28 to allow faculty to participate in ongoing SLO work. 50 FT faculty and 77 PT faculty (all of whom were paid to attend) participated. In just that one day the college increased the percentage of courses with completed SLO’s from 19% to 53%. Monica proposed that we change the contract language to allow for PT faculty to paid for Flex activities conducted on days they are not scheduled to teach.

 

 

Meeting adjourned: 4:50

 

 

AFT 1493 Home