CCCFE Faculty News Notes Feb 2013

February 25, 2013

Negotiations Up-Date:

    The Federation Team has met with the District twice since the Winter session began;  the first meeting was a good working session on the Evaluation Article, in which both sides agreed to streamline the process a bit by modifying the comprehensive evaluation process and reshaping the basic evaluation process to include a mini portfolio.  Common to both is the presence of the dean in the committee structure.  This article is still being worked on.

            The District had been adamant about not having any division chairs. Now, however,  The District has indicated that it will agree to have three chairs—since administrators seem to think that the proposed reorganizational plan can work effectively with three chairs.  The Federation strongly disagrees, particularly in light of the proposed reorganization..  Moreover, the District proposes reducing the duties and responsibilities of the Division Chairs, by eliminating items 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 14, and 19, according to the last District proposal..  Some of these can legitimately be eliminated, particularly those pertaining to budget development, but not all.

            The District has proposed giving the Division Chairs 40% reassigned time, but no stipend.  Obviously, the Federation will not discuss the compensation issue, until we reach the compensation discussions—after other items have been agreed upon.

            There have been no tentative agreements reached, since the District continues to want to talk only about take-aways—such as the Life Insurance for employees hired after July 1, 2013 and district-paid life time health benefits for employees hired after July 1, 2013.  Please think carefully about casting aside these benefits for future employees and let the members of the negotiating team (Toni, Jose Villalobos, David Maruyama, and Dale Ueda) know the direction you wish us to take at the table.  These benefits have, during the past four years, been eliminated from contracts around the state, but they are extremely valuable and should not be cast aside lightly, as they will not come back, leaving future employees to fend for themselves in matters of life insurance and post-retirement health benefits. It should be noted that these are not expensive for the district to maintain. For example, for active members, the district pays $108/employee/year.  Yes, per year.  It’s a benefit that is available for all full-time employees, not just faculty.

            Our principal concern is for health insurance costs for current employees;  some are paying as much as $1384/month from their salaries;  that’s tantamount to taking a cut in pay, so that is certainly not acceptable.

            The district has taken to mocking proposals for increases in salaries on the part-time overload schedule, the mockery stemming, according to two members of the district’s negotiating team, from the bargaining unit turning down a contract that included a 12% increase to the PT/OL schedule over a two year period.

Parking Issues:

            Brace yourselves for parking inconvenience.  The Federation had been repeatedly assured at Consultative Council that there would be ample parking for faculty and staff for the opening of the spring term. That does not appear to be the case, if the parking available for faculty and staff during winter is any indication.

Orange curbs for faculty and staff are along the east side of the campus along the road between Artesia and Greenleaf,  along the road to the south side of the Math-Science and gym buildings, and behind VT and the bookstore. It has been rumored that students have been parking in these spaces, because there have been less than 20 vacant total orange spaces (all lots combined) during the winter session. 

            It is not possible to park off campus in the residential area to the east of the campus, since the residents have had their streets designated for residential permit parking only.  Please note:  IF YOU PARK OFF CAMPUS,( ON THE EAST SIDE OF CAMPUS) YOU WILL RECEIVE A TICKET FROM THE CITY OF LONG BEACH.

            Additionally, please be advised that it may take you longer than anticipated to get from wherever you may park to your office or classroom.  While the work on the infrastructure is actually going rather quickly, the pedestrian routes around the campus change frequently, so be sure to give yourselves some extra time.

            The District has been repeatedly notified about the parking inadequacy for faculty and staff, and recommendations for additional staff parking  have been made.

Maintenance Issues:

        Currently we have two Workers’ Compensation cases arising from the unsafe working conditions in one of the classrooms in VT and in the Academic Senate Office.  Each of these situations has resulted in serious injury of the faculty member.  Please be advised that if you sustain injury on the job, you need to notify Human Resources and the union immediately.

            The restrooms in the row buildings are in desperate need of repair;  several are closed—both student and staff restrooms.  When the men are vociferous in their complaints, you can be assured that the situation is dire:  in one of the men’s restrooms, the sinks are on the floor, and in another, the toilet has been removed.

            And, in the midst of the construction, the maintenance access to the various areas of the campus has been significantly reduced so that the maintenance workers must drive their vehicles down the east walkway to get back and forth to their office.

District Proposal for Reorganization:

        There has been much discussion about the District’s proposed plan for reorganization of academic areas;  some parts have merit, but other parts seem to defy logic, suggesting that the driving force behind the plan was equalizing the number of faculty under each dean and the number of FTEs generated.  In other words, the thrust of the reorganization serves administration, but a large portion may not be in the best interests of either students or faculty.

         Recognizing short-comings of the proposal, Dr. Don Roach submitted a petition with 64 tenured faculty signatures, (80% of the total faculty) requesting that the administration delay any implementation of the proposed reorganization plan until we’d cleared the accreditation hurdle.  The petition was brought before the Board, prior to the Board members receiving a copy of the proposed plan, and it  was accompanied by a strongly worded letter that was written by Dr. Roach speaking as an individual faculty member.  Unfortunately, the perception was that the petition supported the letter.

          While the District is in the process of vetting the proposed plan for reorganization of academic areas, it needs to consider very seriously the faculty perspective. Our primary concern needs to be getting off of the latest ACCJC sanction, and that means focusing our attention on completing SLO and Program assessments.

The District seems to be unaware that shifting reporting responsibilities is disruptive, splitting up divisions can be disruptive, and with differing alignments come different division chair responsibilities.  The District would be well-advised to postpone this proposal—even following discussion of it—until the accreditation issues have been resolved and a faculty contract addressing division chair responsibilities and evaluation issues has been ratified.

CCCFE Faculty meeting Thursday, February 28 at 2 p.m. following the mandatory faculty meeting with the Vice-President of Academic Affairs.This is a single agenda item meeting to elect a delegate to the CFT convention which is in Sacramento on March 15 – 17.  The Secretary, David Maruyama will conduct the brief meeting.(Both Vice-President Jose Villalobos and I will be in another mandatory meeting at that time.)

Accreditation Troubles Ahead for San Francisco City College:

                  For those of you who have not been following the San Francisco matter, be advised that this time the ACCJC has engaged in sabre-rattling against the large San Francisco district, putting it directly on Show Cause sanction without any intervening sanction (like Warning or Probation).   The SF District finances are in disarray, and the ACCJC is demanding the closure of a number of the District Centers which serve the needs of underprepared students.

                  CFT past President, Marty Hittleman continues his battle with the ACCJC, a battle which began during Compton’s accreditation woes—actually just after we lost accreditation, and which has continued in increasing degrees of outrage against the ACCJC and Barbara Beno specifically.

                  Although CFT sent out time-sensitive material containing an article on San Francisco City College’s accreditation troubles on October 12, it was not received here until February 26;  nevertheless, we will distribute the CFT newsletter through the campus mail so that you can read about San Francisco’s issues which we will update following the convention mid-March.