December 8, 2010


San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493

Minutes of General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting

December 8, 2010 at College of San Mateo

 

EC Members Present: Chip Chandler, Victoria Clinton, Dave Danielson, Sandi Raeber Dorsett, Katharine Harer, Teeka James, Dan Kaplan, Yaping Li, Monica Malamud, Lisa Suguitan Melnick, Elizabeth Terzakis, Rebecca Webb

Other Members Present: Bart Keavney, Matt Leddy

Facilitator: Dan Kaplan

Meeting began at 2:35

1.      Welcome and Introductions

We welcomed each other and introduced ourselves.

 

2.      Statements from AFT members (non EC members) on non-agenda items.

We learned that Lezlee Ware’s new baby—a girl whose name we did not yet know—was born December 6th. Joyful cheers abounded; it’s always a good day when a new child enters our community. Welcome little Miss Ware!

 

3.      Minutes of November 10, 2010 AFT Meeting

The minutes were approved unanimously, with minor changes.

 

4.      District Shared Governance Report

Teeka reported on the December 6th meeting of the DSGC. The struggle around Board Policies continues. Barbara Christensen plucked a sentence (out of context) from Bezemek’s letter to John Nibblin (SMCCD county counsel) and presented it as proof that AFT had agreed to certain language regarding BPs 2.13 and 2.28. Those who missed the gory details can contact Teeka for the full monty.

Teeka requested that AFT 1493 purchase a voice recorder (under $100). The EC authorized the purchase.

 

5.      Spring Semester Faculty Letter Writing Campaign Discussion

We discussed what issues we might want to engage our membership in during the spring semester, both as a part of our ongoing membership building efforts and as a support to negotiations. We batted around several good ideas—from health care to state education policy. We decided to put the issue on the February EC meeting agenda for further discussion.

 

6.      Holober Campaign for San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Discussion

Richard Holober has decided to run for a seat on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. Trustee Holober has been a good ally for us during his time on our SMCCD Board.

Motion: The EC endorses Richard Holober for County Supervisor.

The motioned carried.

Vote:

Yes

No

Abstain

 

9

0

1


7.      Update on AFT/Academic Senate Trust Committee Statement

Ray Hernandez, the District Academic Senate president, wrote an abstract of the trust committee statement, and it was ready for our review, with a “deadline” of December 13th. Dan and Katharine agreed to review and make suggestions (if they had any) so Monica could take those back to the District Academic Senate on the 13th. We agreed that we want to revisit the language regarding SLOs in the both the joint statement and in the abstract (if there is any).

 

8.      CSM P/T Rep Report

The CSM part-timer representatives shared several organizing focus interests that CSM part time faculty have discussed recently. Lisa and Rebecca present a number of front-burner issues for part timers. Some issues were addressed on the spot, other will be longer term campaigns or slated for future discussion. Among the issues were these:

  • getting the part timer reps access to an email directory of SMCCD part-time faculty (Dan will get this ball rolling);
  • agitating for pro rata pay;
  • buying into the health insurance pool (CalPERS regulations control this, but we should educate ourselves on the options);
  • campaigning for longer-term contracts for part time faculty.

 

9.      Update on P/T/ Faculty Organizer Position

We received the first application for the PTFO position. The hiring committee will meet at the beginning of the spring semester to set interview dates for this applicant (and any others whose applications arrive in the intervening weeks).

 

10.      DEAC Discussion

Alma Cervantes has been attending DEAC meetings on our behalf. She is concerned that DEAC has been discussing issues that belong at the negotiating table. DEAC is forming a new subcommittee, “Guidelines for Effective Contact,” and is requesting an AFT reprersentative.  Dan agreed to talk to some other AFT members who may be willing and qualified to sit on this committee for us.

 

11. Grievances

Chip requested that we do another Advocate article or use some other mechanism to improve our communications about evaluations with part time faculty. He has had a number of calls this year from adjuncts who are surprised to learn that only questions of procedure can be grieved.

The PERB settlement hearing is still working its way thorough the PERB process.

 

12. Statements from EC Members on Non-Agenda Items

Elizabeth reported that Alicia Aguirre, a Cañada faculty member who is also a councilwoman for Redwood City, was unhappy about the EC’s resolution about the Cargill housing development. Dan heard at the CCC meeting that Marty Hittleman received aggressive phone calls from Shelly Kessler, the head of the San Mateo Labor Council, complaining about AFT 1493’s position (though ILWU local 10 has come out against this issue, too). Monica noted that we should monitor the situation so as to not damage our working relationship with SMLC.

 

Meeting Adjourned: 5:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by
Teeka James
Acting Secretary