Palomar staff forge alliance with faculty, see major gains, doubling of membership
The Palomar College Council of Classified Employees and campus administrators in San Marcos settled a contract and memorandum of understanding that moved the staff forward by three major steps. 1) The 385 unit members received a $2,000 lump sum salary increase and 0.72 percent, plus a 3 percent raise that faculty also received. 2) This first contract replaced a 25-year-old employee handbook. 3) The local won binding arbitration for grievances.
More local action from around the state
»Menifee Council of Classified Employees negotiated five bereavement leave days for members, matching the number district teachers have.
»Tuolumne County Council of Classified Employees won a 3.15 percent increase in compensation for classified employees in the county office.
»United Educators of San Francisco published a booklet, Paraprofessionals and their Union, detailing the history of district paras and their union.
Local Wire – November-December 2013
LOCAL 6161
North County comes of age…The Palomar Faculty Federation wants to
change politics in northern San Diego County and it isn’t waiting
around for someone else to do it.
“Public education is under attack and teachers and unions are
fighting for survival,” said Co-President Shannon Lienhart. “Our
best path forward is to find common ground, form coalitions, and
work together.”
Freeway Flyers: Local action & quick news
Victor Valley part-timers spearhead needed change on campus
AFT Part-Time Faculty Federation has become active like never before. President Lynne Glickstein reports that with the support of the CFT, the union got educated and got smart.
Local scholarship program gives back to students and community
Established in honor of dynamic organizer Linda Cushing
The Linda Cushing Scholarship program launched by Part-Time Faculty United at College of the Canyons recently expanded to award four $500 scholarships per year to qualified students, according to Pete Virgadamo, history instructor and president of the Santa Clarita union.
ISSU-CFT and Pasadena City College reach tentative agreement
Instructional support staff employees ratify unanimously
On Thursday, June 20, the members of the Instructional Support Services Unit-CFT (ISSU-CFT) met to review and vote on a tentative agreement recommended by union President Julio Huerta and the executive board.
ISSU-CFT includes most of the nearly 225 professional and office staff at Pasadena City College. The independent ISSU unit voted to affiliate with the AFT last year as AFT Local 6525.
Classified who teach college classes preserve fair assignments and pay
The AFT College Staff Guild and the Los Angeles Community College District agreed in January that classified employees who accept adjunct teaching assignments do not need to reduce their classified hours if the assignment is outside regularly scheduled hours.
Berkeley local unions fight for fair contract, cooking and gardening program
The faculty and classified AFT local unions in the Berkeley Unified School District rallied on May 8 before a district board meeting. With state funding to the district on the rise, educators say the district can provide more for its employees, especially since it is holding $7.9 million in its ending fund balance.
The workers are also trying to save the successful cooking and gardening program threatened by cuts to the federal program, Network for Healthy Californians.
Daly City elementary schools honor collective bargaining
Local 3267 commemorates significant union event
CFT Vice President Melinda Dart, president of the Jefferson Elementary Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 3267, presents a plaque to district Superintendent Bernardo Vidales. The plaque commemorates the occasion when leaders of the AFT local occupied the board room, a key moment in the history of collective bargaining in the Daly City district.
Faculty and students rally to save San Francisco City College
Alisa Messer, president of AFT Local 2121 at City College of San Francisco, speaks to a crowd of several hundred faculty and students outside Diego Rivera Theater. The rally was held at the same time as the interim chancellor was delivering her remarks on Flex Day to a nearly empty auditorium.
Gilroy paras win email time, domestic partner coverage
The Gilroy Federation of Teachers and Paraprofessionals is breaking new ground in negotiations covering about 120 paraprofessionals in the Gilroy Unified School District. President Arcelia O’Connor said previous contracts had not addressed emails and granted only limited rights for domestic partners.
“But now we have time to check district communications online,” O’Connor said, “and we have added domestic partners to members of the immediate family for items like family illness and bereavement.”
CFT budget analysis saves classified jobs in Aromas
At the bargaining table June 8, administrators of the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District proposed layoffs, demotions, and reduced hours for a third of the 68 members of the Federation of Classified Employees. Most of the member negotiators would feel the cuts personally.
Two visitors saved the day: A sympathetic member of the school board joined the district team, and the CFT budget analyst joined the classified team.
Extreme Makeover: Compton style
The building for rent on South Long Beach Avenue wasn’t much to look at, but officers of the Compton Council of Classified Employees could see exciting new possibilities for their union. First, though, AFT Local 6119 would need to move a wall, install a floor, and paint.
How could the union, which represents 540 employees of the Compton Unified School District, pay for that kind of remodeling? Sweat equity.
Freeway Flyers: Local action & quick news
Coast rights injustice for part-timers working in non-instructional positions
After years of patience andpersistence, the Coast Federation of Educators secured compensation for two part-time non-instructional faculty members who were discovered to be working more hours than a full-timer — at a fraction of the pay.
When confronted with these violations, according to Local 1911 President Dean Mancina, the district claimed this group of faculty was exempt from both the California Education Code and the local’s collective bargaining agreement.
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