Membership Outreach

100+ faculty members attend AFT Flex Day workshop

AFT 1493 leaders hosted a Zoom ‘Know Your Contract” session on District Flex Day, August 15. Faculty members were invited to discuss some key aspects of the current contract which the union is currently trying to strengthen through our contract negotiations. As Co-Vice President Katharine Harer welcomed faculty members to the session, the Zoom meeting quickly filled up to the maximum 100 participants. (A number of faculty members were not able to get into the session because the Flex Day Zoom meeting had been set to a 100-participant maximum. The next time we organize a similar Zoom meeting, we will be sure to increase the maximum.)   [Workshop report continues below.]

One member’s perspective on the workshop

On Flex Day, Monday, August 15, I attended the AFT Contract workshop.  I look forward to AFT workshops as a time to discuss critical issues and engage old friends and colleagues. It was great listening to and discussing contract issues with the warriors on the front lines. They rigorously represent not only the needs and concerns of full-time faculty, but also those of the vast number of part-timers like me—we are never left behind. There were several important full-time and part-time faculty issues discussed with specific proposals that are being negotiated by our team. I just want to say: Thank you team! 

Frederick Berry, Assistant Professor, Communication Studies, CSM

AFT 1493 Chief Negotiator Joaquín Rivera began the presentations by explaining the currently negotiated salary formula that has established the level of faculty salary increases based on property tax revenue that the District receives from the County, and he then described how the union plans to propose a new fairer formula that would provide salary increases that more closely mirror increases in the District’s property tax revenue.

The next set of brief presentations discussed benefits that the union has been working on negotiating or organizing for. AFT 1493 President Monica Malamud described the parental leave that union negotiators have been trying to bargain for and then AFT 1493 Executive Secretary Marianne Kaletzky discussed the new healthcare benefits for part-time faculty that have been won through CFT organizing and lobbying at the State level.  [Read more about new adjunct faculty healthcare funding.]

Monica Malamud next gave a general update on contract negotiations, which have been in process since last May (you can read the latest negotiations reports here) and then there was a short discussion of how members can get involved in supporting union negotiations. Attendees were polled to see what potential support actions they would support and then those interested in getting more involved were invited to attend the Local’s Contract Action Team—CAT.

In the last part of the flex day session, participants divided into two breakout sessions, one for full-time faculty, which focused on the new workload point system and the other–for adjunct faculty—discussed the transition to the new mirror salary schedule for part-time instructional faculty.

If you have questions about any of the information presented at the AFT Flex Day workshop or about any other union-related topics, please reach out to one of your campus AFT reps.