NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE!

Why We’re At Impasse & How You Can Help

On July 6, 2016, after five months of negotiations, the District declared Impasse.

Here’s a run-down of some of the most critical issues.

The District insists on:

• establishing a new way of looking at total compensation that represents about a 2% salary increase even though under the property tax-sharing formula in our 2013-2016 contract our raises would be 4.77%
• imposing major changes to faculty evaluation procedures, such as administering student evaluations in all classes, for all faculty, every single semester, requiring deans to do in-class observations of all tenured faculty, and adding VPI class observations for all tenure-track faculty
• refusing to negotiate our Workload Equity Proposal and suggesting that faculty workload is just fine as it is
• eliminating flexibility on Flex Days, meaning faculty would be required to attend only District-sponsored Flex activities

AFT believes all faculty deserve:

• benefits and compensation that are fair and reasonable, especially given that our community-supported District enjoys a predictable funding stream
• respect for our recently revised evaluation procedures and recognition that faculty evaluations are a faculty-driven process
• an equitable workload and a clear definition of work duties
• respect for faculty’s judgment to choose professional development activities we believe will be most beneficial to our students

What’s next?  We’re going to fact-finding

AFT and the District negotiated with the assistance of a state-appointed mediator including mediation sessions on August 22 and September 6.  On September 16 the mediator announced that he was unable to bring the two sides close enough to any resolution, so he was releasing the case to fact-finding. The District and AFT will now select a fact finder from a list offered by the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) and the timing of when fact finding sessions will be held will depend on the fact finder’s and negotiating team members’ availability and required preparation time.

How can you help?

• Sign the Workload Equity Petition now!  (Go to aft1493.org to sign)
• Attend the Board of Trustees meeting on September 28, 2016 (6:00 p.m.)
• Talk to your colleagues about supporting the AFT negotiating team
• Be ready to wear your red AFT 1493 t-shirt. Keep it in your office or your car so you can put it on at a moment’s notice!   If you don’t have a t-shirt, call the AFT office to get one!