The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees gets after it tonight at seven in the boardroom at 333 E. Eighth St. The agenda features votes on a host of Measure A bond expenditures and a pair of presentations—one by Peralta legislative advocate Mark MacDonald, another by new Director of International Education Sean Brooke.
But for faculty the hot item is No. 23, trustees’ consideration of the PFT-PCCD tentative agreement on changes to the 2012-15 contract. If approved, the deal would, among other things, give faculty their first raise in nearly seven years, return sabbaticals and professional development moneys to the colleges, and maintain current cost structures for faculty medical and dental plans for another year.
PFT and district negotiators signed off on the TA Oct. 3, and faculty voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal, 79-2, at a general membership meeting a week later. Salary increases—including the long-awaited 25-step salary schedule for part-time faculty and an across-the-board 3.65% raise for contract faculty, both adjustments retroactive to the start of the Fiscal Year—would appear in November paychecks.
Elsewhere:
*Michael Mills, retired BCC prof and former PFT president, thanks faculty who helped get the word out about scholarships offered by the Peralta Colleges Foundation. According to Mills, the PCF got 35 applications from students last year, 436 this year, a dramatic bump largely attributable to faculty support. “The foundation is deeply grateful for the faculty’s assistance and looks forward to strengthening the bonds between faculty and the foundation in our joint mission to provide assistance to our students,” Mills said.
*The PFT executive council has developed assignment guidelines to help department chairs and program directors work with college administrators to follow the contract in scheduling faculty. The guidelines distill contract language to provide a primer on how to prioritize and distribute various types of faculty assignment. College administrators’ deadline for giving faculty sixty-day written notice, per Article 18.A.12, of their spring assignments is just a month away.
Matthew M. Goldstein, President
Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603
union@pft1603.org, 510.763.8820
Website: pft1603.org
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