Minutes of
General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting
January 24, 2007,
Present:
Guests: Nick Kapp, Patty Dilko
Meeting began at 2:20
Facilitator:
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Statements from AFT members on
Non-Agenda Items
Ž Dan
announced an anti-war rally Saturday, January 27 at 7:00 p.m. at the First
Unitarian Universalist Church in
Ž Katharine
alerted us to the “Youth Petition to Cut All War Funds & End the War in
Ž Ernie
asked for feedback about the food at EC meetings; people seem happy.
Ž Monica
wondered if anyone knew how to send goods to
Ž Somebody
pointed out that Karen Olesen is on leave this semester and wondered whether
she would be replaced. Ernie thinks he can appoint a replacement if anyone is
interested.
Ž Monica asked whether any of the three campuses
have been talking about compressed calendars. Nick said that people are talking
about it at Skyline. Nothing is happening at CSM.
3. Minutes of the December 6 EC meeting:
Approved
4. Adding minutes to TU/TH classes:
Ernie met in December with Mike Claire, Harry Joel, and Nick Kapp to discuss a revised proposal to add five minutes to “all classes that meet for 1.5 hours two days per week commencing with the 2007/08 academic year, as a way to boost FLC’s. Joaquin had looked at the document and said that Mike’s calculations are correct for fall, but not for spring. The EC decided that we were not ready to vote, but talked about the possibility of agreeing to try the additional minutes for a set period of time, perhaps two years, in exchange for something else, such as getting the District to agree that faculty salary increases will be no less than 4%, if COLA dips below 4%, for academic years 2007/08 and 2008/09. Joaquin and Ernie will meet again with the District on this issue.
Questions/concerns:
Ž What will the trickle down effect be (how will afternoon classes be affected)?
Ž There is a 16-hour minimum for a 1-unit class; is there a maximum? Joaquin will investigate.
5. AFT governance research committee
proposal discussion:
Dan restated the general idea, which is to model the AFT structure after the Senate structure, with representatives from as many Divisions as possible. Though some people expressed skepticism about the feasibility of such a restructuring, Yaping pointed out that increasing faculty involvement in AFT is a long-term goal and suggested that, for now, people forward names of potential reps to Dan, so that he or others can begin contacting them.
6. Marty Hittelman endorsement for CFT
Presidency:
Others running:
George Martinez: Heads K-12 Council.
Mary Bergan: Perhaps the most conservative of the three.
About 70% of CFT is K-12; 30% is Community College. Most recent presidents have come out of K-12.
Comments about Marty Hittelman: forceful advocate for part-timer issues, interested in issues of distance learning, dynamic leader, progressive, founding member of Peace and Freedom Party, able to work at many levels, efficient, responsive.
AFT 1493 EC endorsed Marty Hittelman unanimously.
7. Agenda item time limits:
Monica proposed experimenting with time limits for agenda items as a way to help the facilitator know when to move on to another item. A number of people agreed that time limits could help reduce anxiety over whether all agenda items will be adequately addressed. We agreed to try using time limits for the remainder of this semester. When people request that an item be put on an agenda, they should also include a recommended time limit. These limits are intended as guidelines rather than rigid restrictions.
8. Department of Construction Planning
Update:
Ernie had helped Harry Joel to draft a memo to the EC that more fully and accurately explained the current status of the Department of Construction Planning in response to the Advocate article about the Department. The memo states that a total of ten people have been hired in the Department of Construction Planning, only two of whom, as management, “will have a nominal percentage of [their] time charged to the general Fund” (Rick Bennett and Linda DeSilva). Harry assures us that the percentage should be small and that the District will try to use bond money primarily to pay for these two positions, but he could not quote an exact amount. The people in the eight classified positions will have to be given other jobs when the bond money is gone.
A number of EC members expressed their dissatisfaction at not being given an exact, or even approximate, dollar amount. In response to the question about whether we should accept Harry’s memo, and the District’s position, we decided that we would register our serious concerns about lack of specificity of the term “nominal,” and that, while we appreciate the District’s communication with us about this issue, we would make clear to them that we intend to monitor funding of the positions.
9. Grievances:
1. Unfair Labor Practice
Charge and Grievance for Part-time Librarians
The grievance was appealed to Level II and a hearing was held with
the
Chancellor on 12/18/06. He
agreed that part-time librarians should be given
semester length contracts according to past practices. As a result we are
in the process of trying to settle the grievance and unfair.
2. Arbitration on Part-Time
Seniority
Attorney's briefs were sent to the arbitrator last week. We should receive
a decision within a month.
3. OSHA
OSHA has issued reports on both building 7 at Skyline and building
36 at
CSM. The union will get
copies of both reports and make them available to
whomever wants a copy.
4. Other issues
Numerous smaller issues have been reported to the union- class
cancellations, bumping of part-timers, etc.
10. AFT release time for 2007-08 discussion:
The president/Ernie must present proposed release time to the EC by the end of Spring; today’s proposal is preliminary.
Kate Motoyama expressed interest in getting release time from AFT to start work on revising the tenure review process. She also proposed reviving the Trust Committee. One person recommended that the release time for this project should go to someone who has been more directly involved with the union recently. The EC decided not allocate release time for Kate.
11. Advocate 30th Anniversary
social event:
Dan is looking for volunteers to help plan an event for some time in April or May, perhaps a dinner at a nice hotel, with speakers, awards, etc. Nina agreed to help plan. Dan will call a special meeting for those interested.
12. AFT Local 1493 COPE chapter recruitment
campaign:
Few people are still contributing to the COPE account. Because a previous Board of Trustees refused to allow regular payroll deductions, the current process is cumbersome. Dan wants us to consider asking the current Board to change the system and needs a few people to help him work on this. Contact Dan if you are interested.
13. Open discussion:
Ž Concurrent
enrollment: Ernie reported on a lunch meeting discussion involving Jing Luan,
Harry Joel and Nick Kapp. In this informal conversation, Jing shared that conversations
with high school districts were continuing. Current District thinking about
expanding concurrent enrollment is that, in all likelihood, an expanded version
of the current model will be used for all high school districts except
Ž Alma, who is working on redesigning AFT’s website, would like EC members to send her a baby, or childhood photo to be included on the website, along with a current picture.
Ž Rick brought to our attention the fact that part-timers still have not received retro. checks; at this point they are feeling as if they lost out in the last contract negotiations. John will talk with our attorney, and the Advocate will run an article about the current situation. John pointed out that by law faculty must be getting paid for the work they are doing. Ernie will contact Harry Joel and Kathy Blackwood, and will send out an enews, letting faculty know that AFT is trying to make some progress.
Ž Katharine
wanted to know who would be willing to serve as contact people for youth trying
to get petition signatures to stop the war in
Meeting adjourned: 4:38
Submitted by Anne
AFT 1493 Executive Committee Minutes