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Legislature’s actions benefit classified
“Noon dutys” now part of the classified service
The job title varies from one school district to another, but most “Noon Dutys” — as part-time playground supervisors or noon duty aides are often called – are women working five days a week for two or three hours a day. They are often the lowest paid employees on campus.
Current law blocked most noon dutys from classified status, but that changes on January 1. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed AB 670 by Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond), giving a leg up to about 1,500 part-timers across the state.
Annual conference highlights role of members and communities
Local unions gather to shape organizing strategies
About 100 members of the CFT Council of Classified Employees recently met in Anaheim for three days of networking and learning. Half the members who attended the annual conference were first-time attendees, signaling both a changing workforce and a new generation of union activists.
Longevity awarded new respect
AFT Local 6142 members made two important gains at the bargaining table with front-loaded pay raises and a reworked system of longevity stipends.
Chief Negotiator Luukia Smith said El Camino College staff will receive a 5 percent raise for 2017 retroactive to January 1, with at least 1.28 percent more in 2018 and a cost-of living increase the following year.
San Francisco paras see pay increase
Facing a crisis of affordable housing that threatens to push educators out of the city, United Educators of San Francisco’s 6,200 teachers, early childhood educators, paraprofessionals, nurses and social workers negotiated an 11 percent pay increase over three years, as well as annual bonuses. The overall compensation package will grow to 16 percent if voters approve a parcel tax that city leaders hope to place on the ballot in 2018.
3,000 reasons to appreciate her union
Monica Marlatt, a career development specialist for Santa Cruz city schools, has good cause to appreciate her membership in AFT Local 6084, the Santa Cruz Council of Classified Employees.
Marlatt’s daughter, Madeline, is studying nursing at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Books and nursing fees alone totaled $900 last semester, but help is on the way. This summer the CFT awarded Madeline, and eight more continuing college students, a Raoul Teilhet Scholarship for $3,000.
New holidays for Long Beach staff
The Long Beach Council of Classified Employees ratified a three-year agreement providing significant economic relief and longer holidays for about 425 members.
Pay will increase 3 percent the first year retroactive to this July 1, followed by cost-of-living increases of at least 2.1 percent and 2.35 percent the second and third years.
Michael Bilbrey for CalPERS Board Member
This election will be very close. Every vote counts. Here’s how to cast your vote
The CFT has endorsed and strongly encourages your support for Michael Bilbrey in the runoff election for the CalPERS Board of Administration.
- As a long-time labor leader, Bilbrey has demonstrated his commitment over many years to protecting defined benefit pension plans and ensuring affordable healthcare.
Classified Conference focuses on organizing
About 100 members of CFT’s Council of Classified Employees recently met in Anaheim for three days of training and networking.
The buzz in hallways and workshops was about Gov. Jerry Brown signing AB 670 less than a week earlier. The new law makes part-time playground supervisors part of the classified service.
“This is our opportunity to organize ‘noon dutys,’” said Carl Williams, the CCE vice president for Southern California and leader of the Lawndale Federation of Classified Employees.
Rank & Files, Sep-Oct 2017
Michael R. Wing, science teacher at Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, and a member of the Tamalpais Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1985, has written a book Passion Projects for Smart People (Quill Driver Books), coming out in November. The book is a guide for teachers about how to live like a professor without having access to a professor’s resources, with chapters on projects, affiliations and collaborations, applying for things, travel with purpose, teaching, citizen science programs, and publishing. Learn more and order the book here.
CalSTRS pensions analyzed in light of GOP attacks
Teachers do much better with defined benefit plans than 401(k)s
Most public school teachers working today count on traditional pensions — which guarantee a monthly income based on age, salary and years of service — as their main source of financial security in retirement.
Unions get full and timely access to new employees
New law leads to union negotiating rules for employee orientation
In April 2016, Julia Troche applied to be a lecturer in Egyptology at UCLA. “It was my alma mater as an undergrad, so this was a special position for me, a chance to give back to the institution that gave me so much,” she says. She’d received an email from the department chair of Near Eastern Language and Culture asking her to apply. “She told me there was no guarantee of continuing employment, but it would put me in a good place while I looked for a tenure-track appointment.”
Quest for fair accreditation ends in union victory
CFT and ACCJC agree on key points in legal settlement
Since the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges made its appalling decision to terminate City College of San Francisco’s accreditation four years ago, AFT Local 2121, the faculty union there, and the CFT have fought back through legislation, lawsuits, political pressure and protests.