Contract negotiations updates specifically related to part-time faculty are included below.
Specific references to part-time faculty or adjunct faculty are highlighted in red.

Questions? Contact: AFT 1493 Executive Secretary Marianne Kaletzky

 

March 17th Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky; AFT observers: Kolo Wamba, Rika Yonemura-Fabian, Katharine Harer, Jesse Raskin
SMCCD: Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Cheng Yu Hou, Aaron McVean, Joe Morello, David Feune, Max Hartman, Charlene Frontiera

Today AFT and the District continued working towards an agreement on compensation, including parity for adjunct instructors.

Earlier this month, we saw major progress when District negotiators agreed to create a new salary schedule for adjunct instructors that includes all 25 experience-based steps and 5 education-based columns available to full-timers. (At the moment, adjuncts do not receive any additional compensation for their education, and have only 11 steps to recognize their experience, meaning that many max out on experience-based increases with decades left in their careers.) The District will transition to this new schedule in 2022-2023. Last month, the District also agreed to set a parity goal of 85%, meaning all part-timers should earn at least 85% of what similarly qualified full-timers earn for the same work.

At today’s negotiations, AFT and the District came to agreement on the amount of money the District will commit to parity, over and above existing Total Compensation Funds, in 2021-2022. The District had previously offered $1.25 million; today, District and AFT negotiators agreed the District will commit $1.5 million to parity in 2021-2022. This contribution is in addition to the $792,000 the District will allocate for parity in 2020-2021, and also in addition to the Total Compensation Funds the District will make available for all improvements to compensation and benefits for both full-timers and adjuncts.

AFT and the District continue to work towards agreement on the following:

• Once 85% parity is achieved, how many FLCs of service should be required for adjuncts to advance a step: the District is proposing that adjuncts should be required to accrue 20 FLCs to advance a step, whereas AFT is proposing 15. The District and AFT have already agreed that adjunct instructors can accumulate FLCs indefinitely until they advance and that, until parity is achieved, adjuncts will continue to advance as they currently do: that is, they advance a step for any year in which they teach.
• The precise method used to calculate parity and measure when the District has reached 85%.
• How to construct the educational columns in the new schedule: the District is proposing that the one-column salary schedule for 2021-2022 become the Master’s column of the new schedule, whereas AFT is proposing that the single column become the Base Pay column.

Both negotiating teams are hopeful that we can reach agreement soon and have set aside 3 days this coming week that we are available for negotiations.

Next bargaining dates:

• Tuesday, March 23^rd (1-3): compensation, including part-time parity
• Wednesday, March 24^th (1-4): compensation, including part-time parity
• Thursday, March 25^th (9-12): compensation, including part-time parity

 

March 9th Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky; AFT observers: Suji Venkataraman, Annie Corbett, Katharine Harer, Eric Brenner
SMCCD: Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Cheng Yu Hou, Aaron McVean, Joe Morello, David Feune, Max Hartman, Charlene Frontiera

Today AFT presented a counter-proposal on compensation for adjunct instructors. AFT’s counter asks the District to put more money towards parity for adjuncts. AFT’s counter also revises two aspects of the District’s proposal for paying adjuncts on a new salary schedule—one that includes all the educational columns and experienced-based steps available to full-timers—beginning in Fall 2022. Specifically, AFT is proposing:

• That the District commit $1.75 million to part-time parity over and above Total Compensation Funds in 2021-2022. (The District had previously proposed committing $1.25 million above Total Compensation Funds to parity in 2021-2022. AFT and the District have already agreed that in 2020-2021, the District will commit $792,000 towards part-time parity over and above Total Compensation, and AFT will commit $264,000 from the Total Compensation Funds to raises on the adjunct instructional schedule before the union allocates these funds to other compensation improvements.)
• That, after 85% parity is achieved, adjuncts advance a step once they have taught 10 FLCs. The District had proposed that adjuncts be required to teach 20 FLCs before advancing a step. AFT and the District have already agreed that adjuncts can accumulate FLCs indefinitely until they advance, rather than having a constrained time frame to reach the required number. AFT and the District have also agreed that, until 85% parity is achieved, adjuncts will continue to advance steps as they currently do: that is, they advance a step for every year they teach at least one class, regardless of how many FLCs they teach or whether they teach both semesters.
• That the single-column, 11-step adjunct schedule for 2021-2022 become Steps 1 through 11 of the Base Pay column for the new salary schedule of 2022-2023, and that the other educational columns be built from there, using the same percentage increases from Base Pay that exist in the full-time salary schedule. The District has proposed making the 2021-2022 schedule Steps 1 through 11 of the Master’s column.

After hearing AFT’s proposal, the District went to caucus. They will present their response at the next negotiation session on Wednesday, March 17^th.

Next bargaining dates:

• Wednesday, March 17^th (12:30-2): compensation, including part-time parity
  

 

March 4th Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky; AFT observers: Eric Brenner and Timothy Rottenberg
SMCCD: Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Cheng Yu Hou, Aaron McVean, Joe Morello, David Feune, Max Hartman, Charlene Frontiera

Today, after hearing AFT’s most recent proposal on part-time parity, the District agreed to give adjunct instructors all 25 experience-based salary steps currently available to full-timers, rather than the 11 that adjuncts currently have. Beginning in 2022-2023, instructional adjuncts will therefore have a full “mirrored schedule” with all the steps (to recognize experience) and columns (to recognize education) that full-timers have. The District also agreed that, until 85% parity is reached, adjuncts should be able to advance steps as they currently do: that is, they advance a step for every year they teach at least one class, regardless of how many FLCs they teach or whether they teach both semesters. AFT and the District have also agreed to keep the system of hourly pay for the period of the contract we are currently negotiating, while stipulating that once the contract is ratified the union and District will form a group to study the logistics of moving to load-based pay for adjunct instructors.

However, AFT and the District have yet to agree on how much money the District should commit to part-time parity.

AFT’s proposal, which the union presented at the beginning of today’s negotiation session, provides that:

• The District should commit $2 million to part-time parity over and above Total Compensation Funds in 2021-2022. (The District had previously proposed committing $1 million above Total Compensation Funds to parity in 2021-2022. AFT and the District have already agreed that in 2020-2021, the District will commit $792,000 towards part-time parity over and above Total Compensation, and AFT will commit $264,000 from the Total Compensation Funds to raises on the adjunct instructional schedule before the union allocates these funds to other compensation improvements.)
• In 2022-2023, the District should pay part-timers at 82% pro rata on the new mirrored schedule. Office hours should still be paid separately as parity has not yet been reached.
• In 2023-2024, the District should pay part-timers at 85% pro rata on the new mirrored schedule.

In their response, the District increased their offer for 2021-2022 to $1.25 million over and above Total Compensation. However, the District indicated that, while they will commit to transitioning to the mirrored schedule for 2022-2023, they are not ready to make any other financial commitments beyond the life of the contract currently under negotiation, which will expire in Summer 2022. In particular, they are not willing to commit to paying at 82% parity in 2022-2023 or 85% parity in 2023-2024. Their position is that specific compensation amounts for these academic years should be negotiated in the next contract bargaining cycle.

AFT will present its response at the next negotiation session, which will take place this coming Tuesday, March 9^th, from 2:30 to 5 p.m.

Next bargaining dates:

• Tuesday, March 9^th (2:30-5): compensation, including part-time parity
• Wednesday, March 17^th (12:30-2): compensation, including part-time parity
  

 

February 26th Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky; AFT observers: Evan Kaiser, Rika Yonemura-Fabian, Eric Brenner, Annie Corbett
SMCCD: Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Joe Morello, Aaron McVean, Charlene Frontiera, Cheng Yu Hou, David Feune, Max Hartman

Today, after the Board heard from 182 SMCCD faculty who wrote in support of AFT’s proposals for part-time parity, District negotiators agreed to move adjunct instructors to a new schedule with columns to recognize adjuncts’ education and more steps to compensate adjuncts for their experience. As with the District’s early February decision to set a parity goal of 85%, this step represents significant progress towards fair pay for adjuncts. The District has also increased by $1 million the amount of money they are offering for part-time parity over and above the existing Total Compensation Funds. This increased funding not only allows more equitable pay for adjuncts, but also makes more of AFT’s Total Compensation Funds available for improvements to salary and benefits for all faculty, both full-time and part-time, both instructional and non-instructional.

Throughout these negotiations, one of AFT’s core demands towards achieving part-time parity has been to move part-time instructors to a mirrored salary schedule—one that has all the steps and columns on the full-time salary schedule. As it is, the one-column, 11-step adjunct instructional schedule particularly disadvantages adjuncts who have taught for many years and those with education beyond minimum qualifications. To take one example, an SMCCD adjunct with 25 years of experience and a doctorate makes less than 55% of what an SMCCD full-timer makes for the same teaching. The difference is so pronounced because the adjunct has spent many years stuck at Step 11, and receives no additional compensation for their education.

For months District negotiators have refused to consider a transition to a mirrored schedule, claiming the bureaucratic burden would be prohibitive. Today, however, they agreed to give adjunct instructors all the educational columns available to full-timers and to add an additional step, beginning in 2022-2023. Specifically, the District’s proposal:

• Would begin by adding $1,056,000 to the current adjunct instructional salary schedule in 2020-2021 and another $1 million to the current schedule in 2021-2022. Of these additions, $264,000 would come out of Total Compensation Funds made available to AFT for all improvements to salary and benefits, with $1,792,000 being allocated by the District over and above Total Compensation Funds. Together, these additions would result in an increase of 7-8% to current adjunct instructional compensation rates over and above any further improvements made possible by Total Compensation Funds.
• Would transition to a new salary schedule in 2022-2023. This new salary schedule would offer part-timers all five educational columns full-timers have (Base/Minimum Qualifications, MA, MA+45 units, MA+60 units, and PhD/EdD/JD), with the same percentage difference between the columns. The District is proposing to create the schedule by making the 2021-2022 schedule the Master’s column of the new schedule, then adding the appropriate percentage increases for MA+45, MA+60, and PhD/EdD/JD.
• Would create a Step 12, included on the 2022-2023 schedule, with a 3% increase over Step 11. The District has suggested that AFT negotiate further steps at a later date. The District has proposed a system in which adjunct instructors would advance a step after teaching 20 FLCs since their previous advancement. Adjuncts could accrue FLCs indefinitely until advancing a step.
• Would preserve the current system of pay by hour. Although AFT has consistently proposed transitioning to a pay-by-load system, the District has indicated it is not open to transitioning to a pay-by-load system during the term of the contract under negotiation.

AFT will present its counter to the District’s most recent proposal at our next negotiation session this Thursday, March 4th, from 3 to 6 p.m.

Next bargaining dates:

• Thursday, 3/4 (3-6): compensation, including part-time parity

 

February 16th Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky; Observers: Eric Brenner, Katharine Harer, Doniella Maher, Rika Yonemura-Fabian
SMCCD District:  Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Aaron McVean, Joe Morello, Charlene Frontiera, Max Hartman

Today the District presented a counter-proposal on adjunct compensation, and AFT responded.

At the last bargaining session on February 4^th, the District agreed with AFT’s longstanding proposal to set a parity goal of 85% for SMCCD, meaning the District agrees that adjuncts should earn at least 85% of what full-timers make for the same work. AFT is grateful to the District for agreeing to set the 85% parity goal, which is a major step towards fair pay for adjuncts. However, AFT and the District have not yet agreed on how quickly parity should be reached, what funds should be used to achieve parity, and what salary schedule adjuncts should be paid on. 

SMCCD’s proposal:

The District again proposed today to keep adjunct instructors on their current salary schedule, which does not compensate adjuncts based on their education and does not allow them to progress beyond 11 steps. Under the District’s plan:

• For 2020-2021, the District will commit $792,000 to parity beyond the funds currently available for all increases in part-time and full-time compensation and benefits, known as the Total Compensation Funds. This $792,000 will equal a 3% on-schedule raise for all adjunct instructors. In addition, the District is asking AFT to commit to a 1% on-schedule raise for adjuncts from Total Compensation Funds before it uses these funds for other purposes. The result is that adjunct instructors will receive a 4% on-schedule raise in addition to any other raise given across the board from Total Compensation Funds.
• For 2021-2022 and all subsequent years until parity is achieved, AFT must commit to giving adjunct instructors a 2% on-schedule raise from Total Compensation Funds before it uses these funds for other purposes. Under this plan, parity would be achieved in about 9 years.

AFT’s proposal:

AFT has proposed that parity be achieved through the application of money beyond the existing Total Compensation Funds, particularly since SMCCD is a wealthy district in an area where property tax revenues continue to increase. AFT is also asking that the District prioritize moving adjunct instructors to a “mirrored schedule”: one that includes all the steps and columns available to full-time instructors. Today AFT proposed:

• Accepting the District’s proposal for 2020-2021, including the $792,000 the District has made available beyond the existing Total Compensation Funds. Adjunct instructors would get a raise of 4% in addition to any other across-the-board raises made possible by Total Compensation money. This would bring the average adjunct instructor to about 71% parity.
• For 2021-2022, bring adjunct instructors to 77% parity on the existing adjunct salary schedule. Use 2021-2022 to prepare for the transition to a mirrored schedule that includes all steps and columns on the full-time salary schedule.
• For 2022-2023, pay every adjunct instructor on the mirrored schedule at 82% of what a similarly qualified full-time instructor makes for teaching the same load.
• For 2023-2024, pay every adjunct instructor on the mirrored schedule at 85% of what a similarly qualified full-time instructor makes for teaching the same load.

Following the bargaining session, the District’s chief negotiator indicated that she needs to consult with the Board at the next available opportunity on Wednesday, 2/24 before responding to AFT’s proposal. The next bargaining date will therefore be Friday, 2/26.

Next bargaining dates:

• Friday, 2/26: 3-5 (compensation, including part-time parity)

 

February 4th Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky; AFT observers: Kolo Wamba, Eric Brenner, Michael Hoffman, Annie Corbett
SMCCD: Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Cheng Yu Hou, Aaron McVean, Joe Morello, David Feune, Max Hartman, Charlene Frontiera

At today’s negotiations, the District agreed to set a part-time parity goal—something SMCCD was originally supposed to commit to in academic year 2002-2003, when it first accepted funds from the state to help achieve part-time parity, but which the District has never done. The District also agreed with AFT’s current proposal to set the parity goal at 85%, meaning that part-timers should get paid at least 85% of what full-timers make for doing the same work. And the District noted that their own calculations show SMCCD part-time instructors currently making about 66.8% of what full-timers make for the same teaching—a figure that accords with AFT’s estimates. The District agreed with AFT that, based on this figure, SMCCD compares poorly with other Bay Area districts when it comes to parity for part-time instructors. (Part-time counselors and librarians are already at or above the 85% mark, which is why both the District’s and AFT’s proposals apply only to instructors.)

District chief negotiator Laura Schulkind noted that the District was taking a major step in agreeing to set a parity goal—and AFT agrees. However, we have yet to agree on the concrete steps the District should take to reach the goal.

District’s proposal for adjunct instructors:

AFT has consistently argued that parity can only be achieved—or even measured—if the District transitions from paying adjunct instructors by the hour to paying them by load, the way that full-time faculty are. Today, the District again rejected that proposal. Instead, District negotiators propose maintaining the current system of hourly pay, which compensates adjunct instructors based on contact hours only.

The District’s proposal would commit about $525,000 of District money beyond the existing funds from the Total Compensation Formula to giving instructional adjuncts a 2% on-schedule raise for 2020-2021, provided AFT allocates at least the same amount from the Total Compensation Formula for an adjunct raise that year. From there, the District proposal would require that AFT give instructional adjuncts at least a 2% raise every year from the money that the district makes available for all faculty compensation improvements (FT and PT salaries and benefits) until parity is achieved.  

AFT’s proposal for adjunct instructors:

AFT negotiators identified multiple shortcomings in the District’s proposal—especially the fact that, under the District’s plan, it will take 10 years for adjuncts to reach 85% parity. In addition, the District wants to maintain the system of hourly pay, which makes it difficult to compare adjunct wages with full-time annual salaries. The District is also proposing to calculate parity for every adjunct based on the Master’s column, a formula that fails to acknowledge that many adjuncts have education beyond a master’s degree. (Adjuncts with more education and experience have the lowest parity percentages, with some making as little as 55% of what similarly qualified full-timers make.) And under the District’s proposal, the adjunct pay schedule will still have only 11 steps—meaning that many adjuncts will “max out” on step increases decades before they plan to retire.

AFT has proposed instead that the District move all adjuncts to a “mirrored schedule” with every step and column that full-timers have—and that the District commit to achieving 85% parity, on that scale, by 2022-2023. AFT proposes the following plan to achieve parity:

• For 2020-2021, maintain the system of hourly pay and use the District’s formula to compare adjunct and full-time pay. Pay every adjunct 75% of what a full-timer with a master’s degree makes for teaching the same load at the step the adjunct is currently on.
• Pay adjuncts by load, on a mirrored schedule, beginning in 2021-2022. The District will require all adjuncts to submit documentation of education by March 31, 2021, in order to place every adjunct on the mirrored schedule. If adjuncts do not submit documentation, the District will place them in the column that corresponds to the minimum qualifications for their discipline. The District will place adjuncts on the mirrored schedule by June 1, 2021, and begin payment on that schedule with AY 2021-2022. That year, every adjunct instructor will be paid 80% of what a full-timer at the same step and column earns for teaching the same load.
• Increase pay to 85% in AY 2022-2023.

The District is considering its response to AFT’s proposal. The District will present their counter-proposal at the next negotiations sessions on February 16^th.

Next bargaining dates:

• Tuesday, Feb. 16^th: 2-4 (compensation, including part-time parity)
• Tuesday, Feb. 23^rd: 1-4 (compensation, including part-time parity)
• Wednesday, Feb. 24^th: 2-5 (compensation, including part-time parity)
• Friday, Feb. 26^th: 3-5 (compensation, including part-time parity) 

 

January 8th 2021 Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky
SMCCD District:  Cheng Yu Hou (incoming SMCCD Chief Human Resources Officer), Laura Schulkind, David Feune, Mitch Bailey, Aaron McVean, Max Hartman, Joe Morello, Charlene Frontiera

Today the District presented a counter-proposal on compensation, including part-time parity and benefits for all faculty.

On compensation and part-time parity, the District maintained their previous offer of the Total Compensation Formula in which 80% of new property tax revenue is allocated to pay increases for the District’s employee groups (including administrators, faculty, and classified staff), and each employee group can choose how to allocate their share to improve compensation and benefits. The District’s previously presented compensation offer also includes off-schedule matching funds of up to 2% for adjuncts. Under this proposed provision, the District would offer a one-time bonus to match up to 2% any raise AFT gives part-timers. The District refused to address part-time parity in their current offer, with District Chief Negotiator Laura Schulkind indicating she thinks it is too late in negotiations to discuss parity. Instead, she said that if AFT agreed to settle the contract, the District would agree to reopen negotiations on the single issue of part-time parity within 30 days of contract ratification.

AFT responded by reiterating our demands for movement on part-time parity. AFT Chief Negotiator Joaquin Rivera noted that, although the District describes the current financial context as extraordinarily uncertain, property tax revenues in San Mateo County have increased significantly since the beginning of the pandemic. Furthermore, the District has a history of overestimating costs and underestimating revenue, with the District retaining $36 million more in 2019-2020 than they had estimated. Finally, administrators’ salaries have grown considerably in recent years, while faculty salaries–even for full-timers—have remained virtually flat.

AFT countered the District’s offer with a proposal for the District to:

• Move adjunct instructors to a mirror schedule, meaning they would be paid by load rather than by the hour and get compensated for their education, just as full-timers are
• Commit to a “parity goal” of paying every adjunct instructor 85% of what a full-timer with the same education and experience makes for teaching the same load
• For 2021-2022, pay each part-time instructor 75% of what a similarly qualified full-timer makes for teaching the same load. Reach 85% in two years.

At the session, AFT and the District agreed to hold our next negotiations on January 19. However, after the session, the District Chief Negotiator indicated that she would not have the necessary direction from the Board to negotiate on the 19^th, and proposed finding a date in early February instead. As we told members earlier this week, we have been frustrated by the continual difficulties in bringing the District to the table over the past few months. We very much hope the District will come to negotiations on the 19^th and offer a response to our compensation proposal.

Next bargaining date:   1/19 (compensation and benefits): time TBA

 

December 23rd Negotiations Session (Spring ’21 MOU)

We are happy to report that AFT and the District agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding for Spring 2021 just as the winter holiday was beginning. The MOU sets forth working conditions for faculty as the SMCCD continues to deliver instruction and other services remotely.  [View full MOU here.]

MOU Highlights:

Crucially for many faculty, the MOU renews the opportunities for medical and family leave originally guaranteed by the federal government’s Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA). FFCRA expired on December 31, 2020. However, under the new MOU, the District will continue to provide leave according to the following provisions:

• To all employees:
  • Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis; or
  • Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay because the employee is unable to work because of a bona fide need to care for an individual subject to quarantine (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), or care for a child (under 18 years of age) whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, and/or the employee is experiencing a substantially similar condition as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Labor.

• To employees who have been employed by SMCCD for at least 30 days:
  • Up to an additional 10 weeks of paid expanded family and medical leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay where an employee is unable to work due to a bona fide need for leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.

Faculty who have worked for the District for at least 30 days, and who have a child at home due to Covid-related conditions, will therefore be able to take up to 12 weeks of leave at two-thirds pay.  Adjunct faculty are also entitled to leave at two-thirds of the pay they would have earned: the number of weeks of paid leave will be pro-rated according to each faculty member’s appointment percentage. And where FFCRA excluded faculty who had taken family leave in the past 12 months, our agreement with the District specifies that faculty who took leave in Fall 2020 may take it again in Spring 2021. AFT is grateful to all our faculty, especially faculty parents, who spoke out about the need for continued family leave.

The Spring MOU also contains these new provisions:

• A monthly stipend for all faculty to defray expenses related to working from home. The stipend, which will be automatically paid to faculty, will be $100 per month for full-timers and pro-rated for faculty who hold a part-time appointment at SMCCD.
• Compensation for distance education trainings other than QOTL that a faculty member takes, provided their dean has agreed that the training is appropriate, applicable, and necessary.
• A guarantee that not teaching in Spring 2021—regardless of the reason—does not affect a part-timer’s position on their division’s seniority list.
• Evaluations of librarians will give feedback on the evaluee’s use of both synchronous and asynchronous library instruction methodologies and technologies, with the provision that the feedback on distance education technologies will not negatively impact the evaluee’s final rating.
• Evaluations of tenured faculty and continuing part-timers will be “frozen” until in-person instruction resumes. Once in-person instruction resumes, deans will prepare a proposed evaluation schedule for each faculty member whose evaluation was delayed, which will be finalized after consultation with the faculty member and AFT.

The MOU extends the following provisions of the Summer/Fall 2020 MOU:

• Full-time faculty members will not be expected to engage in more than two high-volume/high-demand duties, including committee service, program review, curriculum development (excluding DE addenda), and SLO’s.
• Counselors’ scheduled time for counseling appointments will continue to be reduced to 21 hours per week, with “prof time” for tasks like maintaining records and following up with students continuing to be increased to 9 hours per week.
• Instructors who teach classes that exceed 45 students on Census Day or 40 students on the last day to withdraw will receive additional compensation. For each class, faculty will receive the following extra per-weekly payment, retroactive to the beginning of the semester:
  • 1 hour per week for each class with 46-57 students at census or 41-54 at withdrawal.
  • 2 hours per week for each class with 58-69 students at census or 55-69 at withdrawal.
  • Compensation at the large lecture rates set forth in the CBA for classes with 70 or more students.
• Faculty will receive 6 hours of pay at the special rate to convert courses that have not previously been converted for remote teaching. Courses delivered remotely for part of Spring 2020 and courses that a faculty member began to convert during QOTL are eligible for conversion pay, provided the faculty member has not previously taught them entirely online.

October 22nd Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky
SMCCD District:  Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Joe Morello, David Feune, Aaron McVean, Max Hartman, Charlene Frontiera

At today’s bargaining session, AFT presented its counter-proposal on compensation and benefits. While accepting the District’s total compensation formula, AFT added to the District’s proposal specific provisions for part-timers, including:

• Paying part-time instructors by FLC rather than by the hour. Hourly pay has long resulted in the dramatic undercompensation of part-time instructors, since they are not paid for prep time or grading.
• Paying part-time instructors on a “mirror schedule” to full-time instructors beginning in the 2021-2022 school year—meaning that the adjunct salary schedule would include every column and step that appears on the full-time salary schedule. Previously, part-timers with a terminal degree and part-timers with many semesters of experience made less than 60% of full-timers with the same education or experience per FLC. The mirror schedule would pay every part-timer 80% of the corresponding full-time salary per FLC.
• Specifying a parity goal of 85%, which the District would make a plan to achieve over two academic years.
• For the 2021-2022 school year, paying part-timers 80% of the salary earned by a full-timer with the same education and experience, teaching the same load.

AFT’s proposal also included:

• An increase in full-timers’ medical caps of $50 for individual coverage, $75 for two-party coverage, and $100 in family coverage each year, to be applied on January 1^st of 2020, 2021, and 2022. Increases in later years would be applied on top of prior increases.
• Increasing part-timers’ healthcare reimbursement maximum by $600 per semester in each of three years. The part-time reimbursement stipend would therefore increase to $2105 per semester effective January 1, 2020; $2705 per semester effective January 1, 2021; and $3305 per semester effective January 1, 2022.
• Assigning labs .85 FLC per hour across the sciences, art and music, and PE and KAD.

District negotiators rejected AFT’s counter-proposal, saying that they did not have the authority to offer additional on-schedule compensation without first getting authorization from the Board of Trustees at the Board’s October 28^th meeting. As a result, the parties canceled the negotiations scheduled to take place on Friday, October 23^rd, and are currently working to find dates for further sessions.

October 19th Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky
SMCCD District:  Laura Schulkind, Joe Morello, David Feune, Aaron McVean, Max Hartman, Charlene Frontiera

At today’s bargaining session, AFT and the District agreed to revise the portion of Article 7 that covers the workload and working hours for librarians, and the District presented its latest counter-proposal on compensation and benefits.

Article 7:

In response to feedback from librarians, AFT asked to revisit the new language for Article 7 that the parties recently settled. The new Article 7 required that librarians spend 32.5 hours a week at an assigned or approved location “primarily providing librarian services to students” and 5 hours completing other professional duties. However, as AFT noted, librarians do a wide variety of work beyond interfacing with students. The District agreed to a broader definition of librarian duties that can be carried out during the 32.5 hours. Full-time librarians will also be required to complete a Professional Responsibilities Plan of 4 points per year in the other 5 hours of their workweek.

Compensation and benefits:

The District’s counter-proposal on compensation and benefits maintains the current Total Compensation Formula, in which 80% of new property tax revenue goes to employee salaries. AFT has long argued that a larger percentage of new revenue should be allocated to employee groups, especially if the District wants to make progress towards complying with the 50% law.

If AFT applied the entire proposed increase to compensation, the District claimed, faculty members would get a raise of 3.44% for 2019-2020 and 5.93% for 2020-2021. In its compensation proposal, the District also:

• Offered to match, up to 1.5%, any salary increase given to adjuncts through the total compensation formula. In other words, the first 1.5% increase for part-timers would be doubled to 3%. District chief negotiator Laura Schulkind said this matching offer represented an outlay of about $400,000 on the District’s part.
  
• Offered a one-time increase in medical caps of $50 a month (whether for individual, two-party, or family medical coverage) during COVID.
• Maintained the current lab rate of .8, indicating they do not want to raise lab rates to .85.

District Chief Negotiator Laura Schulkind argued that even a 2.5% raise would make SMCCD highly competitive within the Bay 10. Schulkind also said that wages for part-timers compare well to other Bay 10 institutions—despite the fact that SMCCD part-timers make only 50-70% of what full-timers do for the same work, while other Bay 10 districts have parity figures of 85% or even 95%. As AFT Chief Negotiator Joaquin Rivera noted, “The part-timers do not compare well to the Bay 10…And the extra one and a half percent is going to do very little to close this gap.”

The AFT will present its counter to the District’s compensation proposal this Thursday, October 22.

Next bargaining dates:

• Thursday, October 22^nd, 1-5: compensation and benefits.
• Friday, October 23^rd, 1-5: compensation and benefits

 

October 1st Negotiations Session

Negotiators/representatives present:
AFT:  Joaquin Rivera, Monica Malamud, Marianne Kaletzky;
SMCCD District:  Laura Schulkind, Mitch Bailey, Joe Morello, David Feune, Aaron McVean, Max Hartman, Charlene Frontiera

At today’s negotiations, AFT and the District came to an agreement on Contract Article 7, which defines working hours for faculty.

The parties also began efforts to resolve disputes around the implementation of the Summer/Fall 2020 COVID MOU, particularly the application of its articles providing compensation to faculty who convert courses for delivery via distance education modalities.

District negotiators indicated that they hope to present a counter-proposal on compensation and benefits at the next negotiations, which will take place October 7^th. Upcoming compensation discussions will also include negotiations about part-time parity and lab rates.

Article 7 (faculty workweek)

The newly settled Article 7 includes

• Workweek for instructors: Instructors will be required to be on campus (or at another assigned or approved location) only during scheduled courses and office hours. This provision significantly reduces required on-campus time for many faculty: for instance, under the previous contract, a full-time faculty member teaching in-person was required to be on campus 25 hours per week, even if their course meetings and office hours took up less time. Full-time instructors will also be required to complete a Professional Responsibilities Plan of service activities totaling 6 or 7 points.
• As agreed upon in special negotiations between counselors and counseling deans, as well as representatives of AFT and the District, full-time counselors will be required to be on campus (or at another assigned or approved location) for 30 hours per week. 22 of these hours will be devoted to scheduled counseling duties. 8 will be allocated to other professional duties (“prof time”). Full-time counselors will also be expected to complete a Professional Responsibilities Plan of no more than 5 points per year. Part-time counselors will be allocated one hour of prof time for every 3 FLCs of counseling duties.
• Workweek for librarians: Full-time librarians will be required to be on campus (or at another assigned or approved location) for 32.5 hours a week—time they are expected to use primarily for providing librarian services to students. Full-time librarians will also be required to complete a Professional Responsibilities Plan of no more than 3 points per year. Librarians will not be expected to work more than 37.5 hours per week.
• Workweek for nurses and faculty assigned to other duties: Full-time nurses and faculty assigned to other duties (including instructional designers) will be required to be on campus for 37.5 hours per week, unless another location is assigned or approved. These faculty will not be expected to complete a Professional Responsibilities Plan.

 

August 12th Negotiations Session

The District presented a counter-proposal on binding arbitration. Currently, faculty have access only to advisory arbitration: grievances that are not resolved through informal discussions or formal hearings with administrators may be heard by an arbitrator, who will issue a recommendation; however, the final authority on whether to follow the arbitrator’s recommendation rests with the Board of Trustees. Under binding arbitration, the Board would be held to the arbitrator’s decision.

The current District offer allows for a three-year pilot program in which binding arbitration would replace advisory arbitration, with the following conditions:

• Nothing related to the tenure review process would be subject to binding arbitration.
• Grievances related to part-time retention and assignments would be subject to advisory arbitration only.
• Other part-time matters covered in Article 19 of the contract would be subject to binding arbitration only if the part-timer concerned has received two consecutive satisfactory evaluations or has been given an assignment for eight consecutive semesters with no negative evaluations.
• During the pilot program, a maximum of three grievances per year would be eligible for binding arbitration.

The AFT will respond to the District’s offer on binding arbitration in the next negotiations session.

 

May 20th Negotiations Session

Wages and Benefits

The AFT bargaining team presented the following proposal on Wages and Benefits:

Wage increases as follows:

– 2% effective with the beginning of the fall semester 2019
– If the assessed valuation of property, as determined by the San Mateo County Assessor’s Office Local Combined Roll prepared by the County Assessor’s Office, increases by more than 3% for 2019-20, 60% of the assessed valuation increase above 3% will be added to the 2.0% compensation increases stated above effective with the beginning of the fall semester 2019. For example, if the assessed valuation increases 8.0%, then 60% of the 5%, i.e. 3.0%, will be added to the 2%.

– Part-time faculty will be paid at 85% pro-rata.

Increase medical cap as follows effective 1/1/2020:

• Single: $50.00 per month
• 2-Party: $100.00 per month
• Family: $150.00 per month
• Increase part time faculty medical reimbursement $600 per semester effective January 1, 2020.

 

May 13th Negotiations Session

District’s Counter-Proposal on Discipline

To start off the discussion, the District’s Chief Negotiator, Laura Schulkind, shared that previously, in another district, she had successfully reached an agreement on a discipline article in two sessions.  Schulkind then walked through their entire proposed article.  She expressed that “having standards and procedures in place helps everyone.”

Overall, the District’s counter-proposal represents an advancement in bargaining as it includes many of the aspects that the AFT had been advocating for: notice to faculty around discipline, due process rights to evidentiary hearing on charges, just cause, and progressive discipline.  In addition, their proposal defines and outlines formal and informal discipline.  The major issue that the AFT bargaining team brought up to the District is that their proposal leaves out part-time faculty.  The District’s team caucused, and came back to the table to explain that they would write up new language to include eligible part-time faculty “who have met the load assignment criteria set forth in Article 19.2.4” providing them with rights around dismissal. Review the District’s entire counter-proposal.

 

February 18th Negotiations Session

AFT Counter Proposal on Discipline

In the AFT’s counter to the District’s last proposal on discipline, we added language to outline informal discipline processes, and rejected the District’s language to exclude Part-Time Faculty from disciplinary procedures.  The District will review and submit a counter.

 

February 10th Negotiations Session

The District took AFT’s proposal, reviewed, took out Ed Code language, defined some items that AFT had outlined including Just Cause, informal discipline, and disciplinary steps.

The AFT immediately noted that the district’s proposal excludes Part-Time faculty and would not be subject to the grievance process.  The District’s team responded that they “don’t see these two groups (Full-Time and Part-Time faculty) going through the same disciplinary procedures.”  Regarding grievances, their rationale for carving this out from the grievance process is that current Ed. Code relating to discipline would bring disputes to an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), and our grievance process brings disputes to an arbitrator which could provide two contradictory rulings.   AFT argued that it is important to establish a disciplinary process for ALL faculty and that the grievance process would allow us to settle issues at the lowest possible levels, and resolve them informally without necessarily going to an outside arbitrator or ALJ.  The District encouraged AFT to include these questions/responses in a counter.

AFT Response Binding Arbitration

AFT agreed to part of the District’s proposal that would qualify Part-Time Faculty for arbitration cases who have received two (2) consecutive satisfactory evaluations or have accumulated 8.  In the AFT’s counter, we rejected the exclusion of article 19.2 (Assignment and Retention), and the 9 FLCs minimum requirement for adjuncts to be included or that the 8 semesters to qualify have to be consecutive.

District response on compensation and part time pay parity

On the Total Compensation Formula, the AFT had countered that 100% of new money, instead of 80% which the district maintains, be allocated to employee groups.  The current Total Comp. formula shrinks the total funding that employee groups receive over time.  In addition, AFT proposed defining Part-Time Pay parity in the contract at 85% and mirroring the Full-Time Faculty salary schedule.

The District proposed maintaining the Total Comp. Formula as is.  The District rejected defining Part-Time Pay Parity in the contract.  However, in their proposal, the district proposed matching up to 1.5% of the Total Comp. allocation that goes to Part-Time Faculty for this year (2019-2020) which would be incorporated into the salary schedule going forward.  So if 1% of the Total Comp allocation goes to Part-Time Faculty, the district would match an additional 1% (1.5% the District would match 1.5%, 2%, the District would give 1.5% etc.)

 

February 5th Negotiations Session

District Counter Proposal on Binding Arbitration

The previous AFT proposal for an MOU on Binding Arbitration was to include Part-Time faculty.  The District agreed to include Part-Time faculty, but with two stipulations:  (a) the MOU would apply only to Part-Time faculty who have received two (2) consecutive satisfactory evaluations and have been given an assignment of at least nine (9) FLCs per semester for eight (8) consecutive, and (b) the following topics would be excluded and not eligible for binding arbitration: assignment and retention.  AFT argued this is a very high threshold to meet and would exclude the vast majority of Part-Time faculty and issues.  AFT will prepare a counter proposal.

 

January 16, 2020 Negotiations Session

Binding Arbitration Pilot

AFT presented a counter to the district’s recent proposed Binding Arbitration 3-year Pilot.  The district’s proposal left out binding arbitration rights for Part-Time faculty, so the AFT’s counter added the following language to include adjunct seniority rights:

“issues under Article 19 will be eligible for binding arbitration for part-time faculty members that have received two (2) consecutive satisfactory evaluations or has been given an assignment for six (6) semesters with no negative evaluations.”

Part Time Pay Parity and the 50% Law

AFT presented updated information we received from the district relating to Part-Time Pay Parity and the 50% law (requiring that no less than 50% of district’s general expenditures go to classroom instruction).  Firstly, we reminded the district that it has been in violation of the 50% law for the past 5 years (in the 2018/19 academic year SMCCD was at 42.24%).  In addition, the district has never defined Part-Time Pay Parity.  As reported in The Advocate October 2012 issue, the state of California had asked all community college districts to “define, through the local collective bargaining process, a parity goal…the goal would be the percentage towards which negotiators try to move in future negotiations.”  In order to move us closer to compliance with the 50% law, and fulfill the mandate from the state to define parity in our contract, AFT urged the district to support our Part-Time Pay Parity proposal which would establish parity at 85%.   Here are the numbers we received from the district:

• Increasing part-time from 60% to 85%, at a cost of approximately $10.6 million, would increase the District’s compliance by approximately 6.8%
• Increasing part-time from 65% to 85%, at a cost of approximately $7.9 million, would increase the District’s compliance by approximately 5%
• Increasing part-time from 70% to 85%, at a cost of approximately $5.5 million, would increase the District’s compliance by approximately 3.5%

 

Summary of Negotiations: August – December

At each negotiation session, different issues are slated for discussion. Here’s an update by issue as to where we are 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 report. For full time faculty, the District proposed that division deans and full-time faculty should assign faculty to committees and other professional responsibilities, thereby bypassing the role of the Academic Senate. They also propose 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 faculty who serve on a third tenure-track hiring committee or tenure review committee can earn miniscule credit totaling 0.05 FLC.

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

Status: AFT has rejected this 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.

BINDING ARBITRATION

The District proposed a limited binding arbitration on terms that 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 most recent AFT proposal on Binding Arbitration.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: IMPROVED PROCESSES & INCREASED FUNDING

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 used for District/college initiatives.  They instead proposed changing the composition to PD committees to include more administrators.

Status: AFT has rejected this proposal

We have 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.