Minutes of
General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting
May 9, 2007 at
Present:
Meeting began at 2:25
Facilitator: Yaping Li
- Welcome and Introductions
- Statements from AFT members on Non-Agenda Items
In a statewide salary comparison in CPFA News SMCCD ranked #14.
- Minutes of the April 11 EC meeting
Approved.
- Budget cuts: CSM and Skyline class
cancellations
AFT was not aware that Skyline had
cut approximately 75 sections this year.
At CSM 55-65 sections were cut for Fall 2007, and faculty advisors are going to lose reassigned time and will be pushed back into the classroom, bumping P/T faculty out of classes and increasing the workload for F/T counselors.
Some P/T faculty have been told they have to teach in Half Moon Bay at the new Coastside facility – John says this cannot be mandatory.
Concerns/Questions:
Ø AFT was not fully aware of the cuts being made. Why not? Is the Administration obligated to inform AFT about upcoming cuts? Could the reason be in part that AFT hasn’t had representation on College Council for a number of years at CSM (and Skyline?), or that participation in the various Academic Senate Governing Councils has seemed to wane in the last couple of years?
Ø Some EC members expressed concern that while courses are being cut on the three campuses, District Administration is pushing to expand Concurrent Enrollment and course offerings at the Coastside facility in Half Moon Bay – are courses really being cut, or merely “shifted,” at the expense of existing adjunct faculty?
Ø Some also expressed concern that adjunct faculty who lost classes didn’t contact AFT.
What action can, and should we take? John reminded the EC of its historical position, that when cuts are necessary, they should occur first at the administrative level, followed by classroom support, and only then should actual classes be cut.
Action:
Ø Request that all college presidents inform us when cuts happen.
Ø Demand an open discussion with administration about potential cuts.
Ø Communicate our position to the Academic Senate.
Ø Send out an eNews articulating AFT’s position about the order in which cuts should be made, and emphasizing some of our concerns related to budget shortfalls and resulting cuts to classes.
- Negotiations: EC discussion of
prioritization of 3 non-economic items
Joaquin worked to categorize people’s suggestions from the AFT survey. Some of the suggestions were economic, but with little cost. Today we agreed to choose 3 or 4 items and also get some advice from our attorney. The items which got the greatest support in the faculty survey, and which had the least economic cost were the following:
Ø strengthen P/T seniority and provide multi-year contracts
Ø adjust faculty workload for teaching online courses
Ø allow for unlimited time off (deducted from sick leave) to care for sick family members
Ø give P/T faculty step increases for work outside the District while working for SMCCD
We also discussed the possibility of limiting faculty workloads outside the classroom. Could we put a cap on committee work, a limit beyond which faculty would get reassigned time. Perhaps we should investigate whether other colleges have attempted this and whether they have been successful. Dan suggested we might want to take action in the future on the class size resolution, perhaps resurrecting it with the new District Academic Senate President.
Negotiations will start in July.
- Immediate Tasks and Projects: a new
approach to the EC division of labor?
Partly in response to a suggestion from one of our union members that AFT do more to give people small manageable ways of getting involved in the union, Ernie suggested keeping a large white board in the AFT office, with a list of on-going projects and assigned point people to contact.
- Distance Education Advisory Committee
update
There is a website, where any policies which have been finalized are available, and where people can give feedback to any of the members.
The District is still considering using Web Access, which is free, and E-college, which costs $45 per student seat per semester.
There has been no real discussion about compensation. AFT has made a demand to negotiate regarding this issue. New policies will go into place in fall 2007 without compensation and other issues having been sufficiently addressed.
- Concurrent Enrollment roundtable
There was a roundtable last Thursday, but no one from Skyline’s Academic Senate or Administration attended. The high school union, which had been told the transition would be seamless, was surprised by what they heard. Our Chancellor was pushing everyone to get moving on expanded Concurrent Enrollment, emphasizing that we have a limited amount of time. The District has hired a consultant and printed a brochure to be mailed to the community. The brochure was created before the roundtable and is advertising something that doesn’t exist yet.
The District apparently wants to “bundle” the issues of P/T summer office hour pay and office hour pay for short courses, with Concurrent Enrollment. AFT has emphasize that Concurrent Enrollment and P/T faculty pay issues must be dealt with separately – P/T pay has already been negotiated.
The Chancellor is willing to go ahead with his plans for Concurrent Enrollment without AFT support, and instead work through Corporate and Community Education.
Action:
Ø
Joaquin will request a meeting with Harry Joel
and the Chancellor. He wants Senate leaders and multiple EC members to attend.
- District Association of Retired Teacher
(DART) luncheon
DART has been on hiatus. In June a letter will go to all recently retired faculty (or those about to retire) regarding a luncheon meeting and the possibility of reconstituting the association.
- P/T Office Hours problem solving
meeting
Joaquin worked out a formula to “fix” P/T faculty paychecks, which he presented at a meeting last month. Harry Joel said he would take it to ITS, but says he was told making the adjustment would be very expensive. In response to Harry’s comment that the District doesn’t have to pay faculty for summer office hours, John reiterated, in writing, that summer pay is considered the same as the previous spring.
- Grievances
AFT is waiting to hear from PERB, about whether the P/T librarian case constitutes unfair labor practice. The two related grievances are on hold.
- Meet & Greet
AFT plans to host a social event for all District faculty some time in August or September 2007.
- Student parking fees
Skyline and CSM Academic Senates voted “yes” to increase student parking permit fees from $30 per semester to $40 per semester, and daily parking permits from $1 to $2. Cañada’s Senate decided not vote on the issue. (The District has also proposed – though not directly to AFT – charging for faculty parking).
The EC agreed to support students’ wishes on this issue.
- Open discussion/meeting critique
Copies of the new contract are available – faculty can pick them up from the AFT office.
Meeting adjourned: 4:20