| March 4, 2003 | vol. 44 no. 1 |
From the President…
It's official: I am now your new PFT President. I thank you for this opportunity to work for you. During the election, I distributed a sheet to the Faculty containing some biographical data and a list of my goals. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions regarding any of those points. My e-mail address is mills48@pacbell.net. The phone number at the Union office is: (510) 763-8820.
The challenges facing us are considerable and it is more imperative than ever for the PFT to be strong and united. The major task before us now is negotiating our new contract with the Peralta Community College District. Our current contract expires on June 30, 2003. In order to negotiate the best contract possible, as well as strengthening Local 1603 in general, I believe it is first necessary to revitalize the College Chapters. Each college has two representatives and these individuals are your first points of contact on any issue concerning wages, hours and working conditions.
These highly competent leaders and their respective campuses are:
· Alameda: Helene Maxwell and Frissell Walker
· Laney: Ron Jones and Indra Thadani
· Merritt: Barbara Joans and Melvin Newton
· Vista: Joan Berezin and Joe Doyle
This old bromide holds true-there is strength in numbers. Your Union's influence is enhanced by a growing membership. Although our present numbers are quite large, adding more members can only increase our clout. If you are not currently a member of the PFT, please consider returning the membership form on the back of this newsletter. It costs you nothing to join; the monthly fees that non-members already pay are virtually identical to the dues paid by members. Don't forget: only members can vote on contracts, in elections, and on issues affecting the quality of the Faculty's professional life. And only members benefit from the perks of our affiliation with the state and national unions: discounts on services as varied as magazine subscriptions and car rentals to legal advice and life insurance. Such a deal!
As you are no doubt aware, the fiscal issues facing the State and the District are serious and immediate. The PFT's position, along with the Board of Trustees, is: no cuts in the classroom. Bill Love, Mark Greenside and I are currently working with the Chancellor's Budget Advisory Committee to explore ways to save money. The District Academic Senate, Local 790 and Local 39 join us in this effort.
In Contract-related matters, part of the District's original negotiating proposal inferred that lifetime health benefits might be at risk. The PFT met with the District and the Board and persuaded them to drop that troubling item. The fact remains, though, that health care costs are on the rise and our negotiating team (consisting of Bill, Mark, Rick Greenspan and myself) is meeting with the District's negotiating team to identify cost-saving measures in health care. Now-retired Faculty member Alex Pappas, an expert in insurance matters (who actually helped create the original Faculty benefits program), is ably assisting us.
In addition, we are well represented by Rick Greenspan and Kathy Bauer on a fact-finding committee formed to identify problem areas in health care costs. All information generated by this committee is sent on to aid us in contract negotiations. You can be certain that we will keep you abreast of the major issues and developments that affect your professional life here at Peralta.
The PFT has a tough, but challenging few months ahead of us. I look forward to leading the Union through these uncertain times. With your continuing support and input we will come through stronger than ever.
Michael Mills
The PFT Executive Council Welcomes its newest Members:
President Michael Mills, Treasurer Elaine Chen-Ramirez, Vista Co-Chair Joan Berezin, and Political Action Committee Chair Carole Ward Allen. We also wish to thank outgoing members Bob Grill (Past President) for his seventeen years of continuous Executive Council service and Rick Greenspan (Treasurer) for all of his good work on negotiations, the budget, and tenure review. Past President Kathy Bauer will now take a voting position on the Executive Council, and Laney Co-Chair Ron Jones (Accounting instructor) will be serving as interim bookkeeper this semester. Many thanks to Jim Bauer for his fine bookkeeping work during a difficult transition period.
Scholarship Opportunity
Joanna Beck, PFT Professional Staff
The California Labor Federation will be awarding 39 $2,000 scholarships to college-bound high school seniors. This is the 53rd year such awards have been made by this premier state labor federation.
Who is eligible? California high school seniors graduating this year and planning to attend an accredited institute of higher learning in 2003.
What's involved? Request a copy of the application form from the PFT Office (510-763-8820) or visit the CLF website: www.calaborfed.org. The candidate must complete the form and submit a 500-1,000 word essay on the topic, "How Have Unions Been Important to Working People in California over the Past 100 Years?"
The application deadline is April 8, 2003.
District Budget Advisory Committee
by Mark Greenside, PFT Secretary
After three years of requests (mostly by District Academic Senate President Norbert Bischof) the District has established a Budget Advisory Committee. The Committee membership includes Faculty representatives from the PFT (Bill Love and Mark Greenside) and the Academic Senate (Norbert Bischof and Shirley Coaston). It also includes representatives from Locals 790 and 39, the Classified Senate, and Confidentials, as well as a Student Trustee and several college and District administrators, including Chancellor Temple, interim Senior Vice Chancellor Charles Taylor, Senior Vice Chancellor Judy Walters, and the money people, interim Vice Chancellor Tom Smith and Assistant Vice Chancellor Yvonne Dorrough.
The Committee has met three times. The dynamic goes like this: everyone (except District Office administrators) wants to cut Central Services first; District Office administrators want the cuts to start at the colleges.
To date, District Administrators have made three suggestions: 1) To cut $4 million from this year's (2002-03) budget as follows - $1 million from Categorical Programs, $1 million from the Reserves, $1 million from an infusion of funds from CalTrans, $900k from the District Office, $164k from canceling short term classes, and $110k from College Travel; 2) To eliminate this year's unfunded growth-2000 Full Time Equivalent Students (approximately 5000 students)-next year; and 3) To start planning $9- $12 million in cuts for 2003-2004.
The only item of agreement to date is to run a full Summer Session program with the core of the offerings at Laney.
I have made a number of suggested cuts to the members of the Advisory Committee, showing possible savings cuts and requesting information. A copy of that memo is being distributed in a separate flyer, along with this newsletter. If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact me through the PFT office.
PCCD's Opening Contract Proposal
Following is a copy of the District's opening proposal. As you can see, the chief items of contention are Health and Welfare Benefits and Retiree Benefits. The District is clearly looking to increase co-pays for current employees and introduce some policy changes for "prospective retirees" (meaning anyone retiring after June 30, 2003).
Formal negotiations have not yet begun. Informally, the PFT has informed the District that we fully intend-and are prepared to do whatever it takes-to maintain our current level of benefits for all current and future Faculty employees.
The Faculty members involved in these negotiations are Michael Mills, Bill Love, Mark Greenside, and our not-so-secret weapon, Alex Pappas. Also involved are the PFT representatives to the District Health and welfare Committee, Rick Greenspan and Kathy Bauer.
We know this is a critical issue. We will keep you posted as we meet.
District's Opening Proposal for Negotiations
To Peralta Federation of Teachers
This document contains the Opening Proposal of Peralta Community College District to Peralta Federation of Teachers (PFT) for negotiations toward a successor collective bargaining agreement (CBA) after the June 30, 2003 expiration of the current CBA. In accordance with Government Code §3547, the District's opening proposal will be introduced at the Board's February 11, 2003 meeting, to notify the public of the issues for upcoming negotiations. At the Board's February 25, 2003 meeting, the Board will hear public comment and thereafter adopt its opening proposal. Thereafter, the District and PFT may commence negotiations over such proposal.
This proposal seeks to focus the parties' attention on the most immediate fiscal problems confronting the District, due to the State's fiscal crisis and the explosion in health benefits and retirement costs. The District proposes to work with the PFT's negotiations team on a close, cooperative, and expedited bases, jointly attacking the most crucial problems that the crisis has created.
The District reserves the right to modify its proposal if PFT's opening proposal seeks negotiations over a broader range of issues, or if circumstances so warrant.
Subject Article Proposal Health & Welfare Benefits 22 Work with PFT to determine a fair allocation whereby employees will share in health benefits costs for themselves and dependents. Retiree Benefits 22.F Work with PFT to determine a fair and fiscally prudent approach for health benefits for prospective retirees. Salary 21 Determine appropriate structure and content for wage increases for the life of the agreement; revise language re "effective District COLA rate" to include consideration of State take-backs. Counselors 18.F Modify Counselor work year to consist of 175 days between July 1 and June 30 . If the District requires services from a counselor in addition to his/her 175 days, the additional time will be paid at the pro rata rate. Calendar 17.C Spread five flex days throughout the year as determined by the District Staff Development Advisory Committee. Term 33 The parties shall determine the appropriate term for a successor agreement. Appendices Modify appendices to reflect the changes negotiated by the parties on the above subjects.
PFT Election Results
The recently completed Special Election for the President and Treasurer of the PFT yielded the following results:
The ballots were opened and counted in the traditional PFT method by Professional Staffperson Joanna Beck and Staff Secretary Robert Lew, Jr. Ninety-nine ballots were returned by the deadline of 5 p.m., February 19; six of these were disqualified because the ballot had been incorrectly cast.
For President, Michael Mills received 100% of 93 correctly returned ballots. For Treasurer, Elaine Chen-Ramirez received 100% of 87 correctly returned ballots.
Though we usually do it as a separate election, the Election of Delegates to the CFT Convention coincided in time with the need for a Special Executive Council Election, and so this ballot was also included in the mailing to save time and expense.
Eighty ballots were correctly returned for this election, and the Delegates are as follows, ranked by number of votes received: Michael Mills , Helene Maxwell, Susan Schacher, Frissell Walker, Ken Bell Gleason, W. Jon Lambden, Mark Greenside, Bob Grill, and Bill Love.
All of the Delegates named are authorized to vote in representation of the PFT at the CFT Convention in San Francisco. The top six Delegates attending will be reimbursed for some of their expenses from the PFT's General Fund (up to $166.67, approximately one-third of the amount usually set aside for this purpose, in consideration of a tight budget, since the Convention is so close to home).
Know Your Contract
Joanna Beck, PFT Professional Staff
The Peralta Federation of Teachers is justly proud of the gains it has won for all Faculty, inside and outside of the Contract. We are troubled when any of these gains is delayed, unfairly applied, or misunderstood. Some of the most recent Contract gains have provided increased recognition of and dignity for the large part-time Faculty in this district.
For example, the PFT/PCCD Agreement (the Contract) provides for one paid office hour per week for part-time Faculty who meet certain conditions:
[P]art-time classroom instructors ("instructors") working a teaching assignment of two classes or 40 percent or more of a full-time load shall schedule, post, and maintain one (1) office hour per week for that semester, for which they shall be paid at the non-instructional rate (.5 equated hour). Payment shall be made at the conclusion of the semester. Such office hour shall not be considered part of the instructor's load for any purpose. (Article 18.A.7.1)
However, we have been getting Faculty phone calls here at the Union office which suggest that not everyone is fully and correctly aware of the provisions of Article 18. Apparently some part-timers who meet the conditions spelled out in Article 18 of the Contract: a) are not aware that they are entitled to the paid office hour; b) may have been paid incorrectly for their office hour work; or c) may not have been paid at all for their office hours some semesters.
There seems to be a particular problem for some part-timers when their scheduled office hour happens to fall on a district holiday. In some cases, even when the instructor reschedules that hour for a non-holiday, the District does not recognize nor compensate the instructor for his/her office hour that particular week.
If you are a part-time instructor who has been unaware of or unsure about your right to this paid weekly office hour, or has had trouble being paid correctly for them, please contact us at the PFT Office ASAP. Our phone number is (510) 763-8820. We value and we depend on your feedback.
~ REMINDER ~
There are eighteen (18) weeks in the Spring Semester, while there are seventeen (17) weeks in the Fall.
Membership FAQs
Robert Lew, Jr., PFT Staff Secretary
While answering the phones here at the PFT Office, I find myself fielding certain questions more frequently than others, especially concerning membership and dues/fees. In hopes of quelling some of the confusion, I reproduce some of them and their answers here for you:
There is a PFT deduction on my paychecks, aren't I already a member? Not necessarily. The Peralta Faculty is an Agency Shop, meaning that while all members of the bargaining unit pay to support the activities of the bargaining agent (because all members benefit equally from those activities, such as negotiating the Contract, which governs your wages, hours, and working conditions, and individual defense and advocacy in job actions), membership in the Union itself is voluntary. If you never filled out and signed a Membership Form like the one below, you are not yet a PFT member.
How much does it cost to join the PFT? Very little, actually. There are no initiation costs involved in joining the Faculty Union; members' dues are about $2.50 more per month than the agency fees that non-members pay. This sum is a pass-through of certain members-only expenses: contributions to our Professional Liability Insurance (which can pay some of your court costs in a job-related litigation or criminal case), contributions to the CFT's Raoul Teilhet Scholarship fund (which only members or their children may receive), and membership dues paid to the Alameda County Central Labor Council.
I am a member of the Union, but my pay-stub says I paid Fees rather than Dues. What happened? Clerical error, most likely. The most common cause for this occurrence is when a Faculty member works as a Long-Term Substitute for a semester and is moved from one pay structure to another, and back again. The District's payroll computer counts such a person as a new hire, and all new hires are added to the Agency Fee lists. I check the deduction registers every semester to make sure our members are on the correct lists, but I'm only human and my eyes sometimes miss things. If this has happened to you, please contact me at the Office and I'll set it straight.
If I have a break in employment or go on unpaid leave, will I lose my membership? Probably not. Members remain on the Active list for one semester after the last time they appeared on the deduction register; if they do not appear again on the subsequent semester's register, I deactivate them; but I don't delete members from the database unless they've been inactive more than four years (or by request).
Hope that helps!