October 2012 Newsnotes
October 16, 2012
Negotiations Up-Date:
At our last
meeting, the District indicated that it was unable to discuss any matters with
a monetary component, including any compensation issue, Division Chairs,
benefits, until after the November 6th election in case Proposition
30 does not pass and the worst case scenarios are enacted. We will resume negotiations following the
election.
In the
hiatus, David Maruyama is working with
Dr. Dever on refining the Evaluation article.
The District’s original proposals on “streamlining” the process proved
to be a tortuous rendering of just what was in the existing contract—with the
addition of a Dean earlier in the process instead of only at the end of the
process. We made some headway in
discussion of what was important in the process, and what needed to be done
immediately to clarify (within the scope of the existing contract article) the
process for the evaluation of probationary faculty.
We also
made some progress on the Faculty Seniority item during the discussion of that
issue, and the District agreed to bring in a draft proposal reflecting the
discussion. We’ll see after November 6th.
As we work through the items on the table, each of our team members will have
the opportunity to draft a proposal or counter-proposal.
CFT Community College
Council Up-Date:
The
state-wide council met at the beginning of this month in L A.; the big news item, of course, was the Show
Cause sanction placed upon San Francisco City College. Two other locals
(College of the Redwoods and Cuesta) are also on Show Cause, but they are not
CFT locals. San Francisco is faced with the possibility of closing down two of
its centers that provide outreach into very needy communities. And the main
problem at SF is not meeting the mission of the college, but the fiscal
problems, the overspending, and a lack of fiscal controls.
Individual
colleges reported on the results of their most recent round of negotiations.
- Most union presidents reported a permanent cut ranging from 2% to10% ; some reported temporary cuts to full-time salaries; Palomar had to take a permanent 10% cut.
- all experienced either a cap on fringe benefits or a cut to the district paid portion of health care costs. In short, there was a dramatic rise in the amount of money that faculty members were being asked—across the state—to pay into their health care. Some locals had negotiated health care savings plans which help new faculty set aside money for post-retirement health care coverage.
- All reported eliminating Winter Intersessions, and most have severely cut the course offerings for summer. Los Angeles reported furloughs and cuts to course offerings.
- Part-time faculty positions are down statewide due to the cuts in course offerings during the regular semester, since the state is not funding growth.
- While Long Beach City College is not a CFT local, its current circumstance was the cause of grave concern, particularly for the CFT locals at Compton, El Camino, and Los Angeles: if proposition 30 fails to pass in November, LBCC’s Board of Trustees has voted to discontinue between 18 and 20 programs—yes, programs—in Vocational Technology. Think of the number of full and part-time positions that could be lost—jobs permanently lost to faculty, and job opportunities along with the training for jobs lost to students.
Executive Board
Meetings/Actions:
·
Last week, the Executive Board met with Janice Hahn, Congresswoman serving
the Compton, Lynwood, Paramount, Carson, Long Beach area; she is currently running for re-election, and
we were all very favorably impressed by her knowledge of Compton’s situation,
of her commitment to jobs at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, and to
her understanding of the need to support vocational programs to prepare
students for the job opportunities that are being created, particularly in the
ports over the next several years.
·
Today the Executive Board voted unanimously to
recommend endorsement of Hahn and to provide a $500 donation due to her
commitment to community college education.
·
The E Board also voted unanimously to provide a
$500 contribution to Mervyn M. Dymally’s Memorial Foundation which supports
organizations devoted to public education and to health care issues. Compton
owes to great debt of gratitude to Mr. Dymally for his long service to this
community bogth in Congress and in the State Legislature. Early in his congressional career, Mr.
Dymally authored legislation that provided reparations for the Nisei who were
in internment camps during World War II.
While in the state legislature, he authored the “Dymally Act”, also
known as the 60% law which allows part-time faculty who have been teaching more
than 60% of a full-time load for a year to become full-time tenure-track
employees. More recently, he raised that
percentage to 67% in an effort to encourage districts to keep adjunct teachers
at one site, rather than having to be “freeway fliers” going from campus to
campus. Most importantly for us, Dymally
authored AB 318, the legislation which provided the partnership with El Camino
and another piece of legislation which provided the financial resources to help
the institution keep its doors open with a line of credit.
·
The Executive Board previously had approved the
development of a Memorandum of Understanding between the District and
Federation responding to the District’s intent to repeal all of the Board
Policies; the Senate and the Union have
developed the MOU which will be presented at this week’s senate meeting.
·
Leticia Vasquez, our new Part-Time
Representative, has been working on membership, as well as having taken on the
responsibility for arranging the meeting with Janice Hahn.
·
David Maruyama has been very active on the
negotiating team, and is currently working on refining the proposal on
Evaluation. He has also set up a blog
for the union—which he will explain at the union meeting, the notice for which
is provided below.
Change in Payroll
Distribution:This article was published in the May 25th edition of
the News Notes.
Changes in
regulations pertaining to payroll distribution now mandate payment only for any
months worked during a regular session, so that if a district’s calendar
indicates time worked in August—even only a few days, there must be an August
check, and if a regular session is not meeting in January, no check can be
issued because there has been no time worked under a regular semester (Fall and
Spring). Furthermore, any changes to the
rate of pay (for step or column advancement)can only be made at the beginning
of a regular semester of work. This latter
item has been in our contract for many years. Violations of these new mandates
are treated harshly: if a district fails
to comply, it is charged a 17.5% penalty and/or a 17.5% late fee on the total
amount due.
As a result, we have received
notice from the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) that the
distribution of our paychecks will be different next year, beginning July 1,
2012 because of the way these changes in law have affected the way STRS can
credit salary contributions. Thus, in
2012 – 2013, we will receive eleven payments because we have a winter
intersession scheduled. This reflects
payment for work-time from August to June.
Each check will be less than what we receive over 10 months because the
payments are being prorated over eleven since we are scheduled to perform work
during the eleven months. Each of these
payments must be disbursed by the 5th of each month.
Under this arrangement, our
September 1( for August, 2012) paycheck will not show benefit deductions; all subsequent checks will reflect the
deductions, since benefits are paid on a ten month cycle.
Processing of time cards for
special assignments, under the new regulations, must be completed and submitted
to the appropriate office by the due dates;
failure to submit the time cards on time will result in a $17.5% penalty
being imposed on the District.
A word of advice: it is essential that all full and part-time
faculty members check their files for correct step and column placement because
any changes can only be implemented at the beginning of a semester. Any new transcripts showing units you wish to
have credited for payment this fall must be in the Human Resources
5 days prior to the start of the semester.
During the subsequent academic
years, beginning 2013-14, we will again return to the ten-month payment
schedule, since no winter intersession will be calendared, and our paychecks
will return to the annual salary divided by 10, payable from August through
May, and again the payment must be disbursed by the 5th of each
month.
We
understand that there have been questions regarding the payroll warrants issued
this academic year. Hopefully, this will clarify the issue. (This explanation
was sent out in the News Notes at the end of May.)
Union Meeting: October 25, Thursday at 1 p.m. during the
college hour
E Wing (west) E 38
Agenda:
Evaluation of ProbationaryFaculty
Memoranda of Understanding
CCCFE Blog and other improved forms of
communication with the membership.
All members, full and part-time,
are welcome.
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