Minutes of
General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting
September 13, 2006 at
Present:
Meeting began at 2:35
Facilitator: Ernie Rodriguez
Pre-Agenda Activity:
Ü Everyone introduced himself or herself at the beginning of the meeting.
Ü Ernie gave Katharine the gift for Joaquín so that she could pass it on to him.
- Minutes of the May 10, 2006 and August 10, 2006 EC Meetings
- The May minutes were approved. Since there were many corrections and clarifications still to be made to the August minutes, we tabled their approval until a later date.
- AFT Local 1493 retreat follow-up (Rodriguez)
- Ernie asked Teeka and Katharine to coordinate (Teeka in the fall and Katharine in the spring) the follow up on the retreat subcommittees, which we decided ought to meet a few times a semester (once a month, perhaps) in order to move the work in their charge forward. Teeka and Katharine agreed. It’s important to keep our momentum from the retreat by moving quickly on the good ideas we generated there.
- We solidified the three committees and their memberships, as listed below. The first name in each column is the point person for that committee:
|
Social |
Training |
Activism |
Governance |
|
Nina Ernie Katharine |
Dan Vicki Harriet John Yaping |
Karen Rick Dave Chip Monica |
Eric Teeka Anne Dan |
- For fall ’06, the charge is to get “something rolling.” We’ll give updates each meeting. At this point, on behalf of the Social committee, Ernie reminded Teatro Campesino goers to give their checks to Dan ASAP.
- The campaign for this initiative is starting now. Dan reminded us that our Local pledged and donated $2500 and that SMCCD pledged to give the remainder needed to make up $50,000. He distributed a questionnaire covering ways we could each “plug in” to the campaign, and he urged us all to participate.
- Part-timer Reports
- Part-timers are mostly thrilled with the pay for office hours included in the new contract. We should send out an e-news answering questions and letting faculty know what to expect regarding this new item on their paychecks. The retro checks for office hours should be out before January for part-timers, but we don’t really know when these checks will be in teachers’ hands (and likely the regular retro checks will not be out till the November paycheck for the full time faculty). Karen asked how to explain it all to counselors, librarians, nurses, and so on who do lots of their teaching not in a classroom. [I didn’t catch the answer. Sorry.] What we do know, though, is that PTers will get the regular retro check (not the office hours part, however) when FTers do. The line item regarding the office hours may not appear on paycheck stubs until February of next year.
- Budget Report
- Most present had not thoroughly read the budget information included in the packet, so we were not able to have the full discussion of this issue at this time. Dan did explain a few things, however:
i. The auditor’s report is a brand new document; this is the first time we’ve done one.
ii. It cost $2000 to do.
iii. We, as EC officers, are legally responsible for the financial transactions of the organization, so it is crucial that we have regular budget discussions.
iv. Our report was late this year—it’s usually due July 1—but we were not required to pay penalties.
v. We have two bank accounts at Bay Area Educators’ Credit Union.
- Campus Reports
- Faculty Committees: We need two representatives for the Peer Evaluation Guidance Committee (PEGC) (where, I’m not sure.)
- Skyline:
i. The faculty at Skyline are excited about the new contract. They really want us/the District to “show them the money!” (An E-News is going out tomorrow, Sept. 14, 2006, about the money.)
ii. Somehow Rick has figured out that the way the District is handling the professional development funding is out of whack. The District is supposed to roll over unused monies, up to a third of the total allotment at each school, to be added to the school’s next year’s development fund, but it hasn’t been doing so; instead the District has been rolling over only one third of what is left, not up to one third of the total original allotment.[1] The three professional development chairs at the three campuses are going to meet to go over the books to figure this out, and then, if Rick’s right (and we know he is!), it will go to grievance—at least to John Kirk to see what the District’s response is. The root cause is that the language in the Contract isn’t clear.
- CSM:
i. A pregnant faculty member asked Yaping whether all our buildings are safe to be in, given the recent concerns at Skyline and with CSM’s new science building.
ii. Yaping also reported that the PEGC at CSM has been tangled up with a single case of a FT faculty member who has received two “unsatisfactory” evaluations in a row. We are now into virgin waters and have run into some snags. It’s unclear in the Contract if the faculty member in this case gets reviewed the next fall semester (three falls in a row) or if he/she is reviewed for the third time after a twelve-month breather. John has investigated and found the intention of the author of this part of the contract to be the latter. It’s going to the District to see what they have to say. Meanwhile, the faculty member in question is in limbo. This is more language in the C
iii. ontract that needs clarification. Add it to the growing list.
iv. At CSM’s new faculty orientation, the union’s social activities were lauded (harking back to the Giants game and the race track). People have long memories for fun, apparently.
- Cañada:
i. A dean at Cañada is wondering if the new office hours pay for PTers means that the colleges have to provide office space as well. (What a concept!—Teeka’s editorial comment. Sorry.) The answer is apparently not. The District concedes that consultation with students can take place in many ways—phone, email, in the classroom, etc. So providing office space isn’t necessary.
ii. AFT posters are up and looking fabulous.
iii.
They are giving finals a week early this
semester at Cañada for those with classrooms in Building 17 only because classes held in Building 17
needed to reschedule their finals, due to the building being inaccessible
during construction.
- Grievances
- Regarding the PT nursing instructor, John is trying to settle it. The teacher has gotten a full-time job elsewhere and is eager to not have to worry about this situation anymore. The case will not go to arbitration.
- Regarding the Broadcasting Department dean’s violation of seniority, it’s an important case because it sets precedence and the violation is clear. This case may settle, too, but we’ll have to wait and see.
- At CSM, a PT librarian received a varying schedule—like a waitress, different one week to the next—which has made it difficult to have a second job (which of course part-time faculty need to have, usually). This will fall under the “hours of employment” section of our contract. It doesn’t say anything specific about this issue, but past practice is clear: consistent schedules are the norm.
- Also at CSM, a dean is trying to collapse two sections of a course into one section because of low enrollment in the two sections; however, one of the sections is an online course, which requires additional and distinct preparation and teaching from the traditional section. The dean is making (or wants to make, I’m not sure) faculty in CIS take both sections for the FLCs of one. Not ok. John is following up.
- Also, John has been on the case of sick buildings. OSHA is investigating; when they have a report, we will get a copy and know more.
- Numbers 8, 9, and 10 on the agenda were skipped because there were
no meetings yet to report on.
- Open discussion
- We decided to poll faculty on whether they wanted their new contract printed in addition to being available online. Likely we’re going to have X number printed for those who request them, but not one for each person. AFT 1493 and SMCCD split the cost of the printing.
Meeting adjourned, 4:55.
Minutes
respectfully submitted by,
Teeka James
AFT 1493 Executive Committee Minutes