September 18, 2002

vol. 43 no. 2

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From the President…

I trust that by now you are settling into the new semester. Before the semester gets any older, I want to follow up on several concerns I first raised in the last issue of The Peralta Teacher and report on some new developments.

PFT Election
First, I urge you to vote in the current PFT election. We have a very important position vacant on the Executive Council, which must be filled. The Executive Council ("Exec") meets on a regular basis during the semester and seeks to implement the consensus of the PFT membership in many areas. Exec actions on grievances, salaries, working conditions, and contract development have a direct impact on your working life here at Peralta. Check your mail for the ballots beginning the last week of this month. Remember though that only PFT members can vote in these elections. So if you are not a PFT member, or are unsure of your membership status, please contact Robert at the PFT Office to confirm your membership status and/or obtain a membership form. Make your voice heard in this important election.

Medical Benefits for Hourly Instructors
With the passage two years ago of Assembly Bill 420, the state of California instituted funding for partial coverage of medical benefits for eligible part-time faculty in the community colleges. The PFT negotiated vigorously with the PCCD to implement these benefits in this district. Many people lobbied tirelessly in Sacramento and the PFT negotiating team worked long hours to get this coverage for our hourly instructors. This fall is the start of the third year of such benefits and the deadline for signing up is fast approaching. Please see the article below explaining the details of these benefits.

Faculty Service Areas
Another area of concern, this time for the contract faculty, is the matter of FSAs. As I wrote in last month's newsletter, in uncertain economic times, it is vital that contract faculty check their FSA status. Please see the article near the end of this page for more information.

Contract Development
Our current Agreement with the PCCD, the "Contract," expires on June 30, 2003. Ten months may seem an eternity, but not when it comes to planning for a new labor contract. We need your input soon on what you would like to see in the next PFT Contract. Rick Greenspan fills in the details later in this issue.

Salary Comparisons
How does Peralta shape up salary-wise with the other community college districts in California? How do Peralta administrators', instructors', and classifieds' salaries compare to other colleges in the state? We have just received new data on the state rankings. For details, see the following article.
 

Yours in Solidarity,
Kathy Bauer

Executive Council Election Bulletin

Due to a misunderstanding on the part of the PFT Staff Secretary, nominations were erroneously opened for the position of Diversity Committee Chair. Bernardo Garcia-Pandavenes, though retired, will continue teaching at Laney College as a part-timer, and will continue to serve the Faculty on the PFT Executive Council for the remainder of his term.

Ballots for the Secretary of the Executive Council will be mailed out to the PFT Membership early next week, so keep an eye on your home mail box. If your home address has changed since the last election, be sure to contact the PFT Office and let us know.

If you had considered running for the position of Diversity Committee Chair, please consider nominating yourself for it or any one of the other Executive Council positions that will be up for election next Semester, when we shall choose the Union leadership for the 2003-2005 Executive Council term.

 

Community College Salary Comparisons By Kathy Bauer

Periodically, the California State Chancellor's Office collects financial and other data from all of the community colleges in the state. This information is used by the State Chancellor's Office to monitor whether the colleges are in compliance with various state laws and regulations, including the 50% Rule (which states that 50% of a District's funds must be spent on instruction) and the 75/25% Rule (which states that 75% of instruction must be performed by Full-Time Faculty).

After this information is gathered by the State Chancellor's Office, it is compiled and made available to the public. Usually, there is a long delay between the reporting of the data by the colleges and the time the information is released by the State Chancellor's Office.

The PFT recently obtained a copy of the "Final Report of the Full-Time Faculty Obligation for Fall 2001." Community colleges are required to have a minimum number of full-time faculty, and Peralta's full time faculty obligation was 305.2 FTE (full-time equivalent) Full-Time Faculty. According to this document, Peralta reported 323.3 FTE for Full-Time Faculty and 253.7 FTE of Part-Time Faculty in the Fall of 2001. Based on these numbers, the percent of FTEF attributed to Full-Time Faculty was 56%. Statewide, the percent of FTEF attributed to Full-Time Faculty totaled 63.1%. As you can see from these numbers, Peralta has a long way to go before it will meet the goal of having 75% of Peralta's classes taught by Full-Time Faculty.

We have also received information regarding statewide salaries. According to this data, Peralta's Contract Faculty rank 42nd (out of a total of 70 reporting) in the state with an average salary of $63,295 in Fall 2001. Not long ago, we ranked 71st out of 72 community college districts. While we have made progress in terms of contract faculty salaries over the last few years, we remain in the lower half of community colleges reporting, and it's important that we continue making progress in this area. If our average annual salaries increased by just $2,000, our rank would jump to 32nd, putting us in the upper half in terms of Contract salaries in California.

The Board and Chancellor have said that increasing Faculty salaries is one of their highest priorities. Faculty salaries should and could increase to keep up with the Administration salaries here at Peralta. There is no logical reason for the disparity between the low salaries of Faculty at Peralta and the high salaries of Peralta Administrators. For instance, the average salaries for educational administrators in the state was $95,479 last year…at Peralta, the average educational administrator salaries totaled $105,756 and ranked 14th in the state. Classified administrators in the state averaged $55,719, and Peralta ranked 10th in the state with an average salary of $84,855. Classified support staff in the state average $35,653. The average salaries for Peralta's classified support staff came to $41,044 and ranked 25th in the state. Classified professional staff salaries in the state averaged $61,897, and here the classified professional staff salaries average $48,083 and ranked like the contract faculty in the lower half of the state at 42nd.

In the 2000-2003 Agreement, Faculty salary increases were tied to the growth earnings of the District. In 1999, the Faculty automatically received 60% of the growth monies the district received from the state. While the PFT tried to negotiate a similar formula with the district in the current Contract, the District would only agree to reopeners for growth. Last year, the Peralta unexpectedly received about $600,000 in growth money; when the PFT learned that the District did earn growth monies, we requested reopeners. If we had a formula for growth in the current Contract, the Faculty would have automatically received a share of this money.

 

Part-time Faculty Medical Benefits through PCCD By Joanna Beck, PFT Staff

Under the current PFT-PCCD Agreement (Article 22), the District provides partial payment of medical benefits for hourly faculty members working in the Peralta Colleges. If you are eligible, the PCCD will pay 50% of your monthly premiums for one of the District health plans (Kaiser, Blue Cross). If you are already enrolled in one of these District group plans and have maintained your eligibility, you do not need to reapply this semester.

Who is eligible? If you are currently a Peralta hourly faculty member maintaining at least a .40 load (6 teaching units or two separate courses), and have already worked at Peralta with such a minimum load for 3 consecutive semesters, and are not covered by another employer's medical plan, you qualify for these benefits. Your spouse, domestic partner, or other dependents may also be covered.

Coverage for this semester starts October 1st. By now you should have received the District's green, two-page information sheet and eligibility form in your faculty mailbox. Please read it carefully ASAP. Questions? Call Karen A. Anderson in the Office of Human Resources. Her phone number is 510-587-7838. Still have questions? Call or email me at the PFT Office.

 

Contract Development During Fall '02 By Rick Greenspan

This Fall, the PFT will be putting together our contract proposal for the next PFT/PCCD Contract, which will extend from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2006. If you are interested in proposing any changes in the contract, you will have a number of opportunities to communicate your concerns to the PFT Executive Council and the Negotiating Team.

As you can see in the Contract Development Schedule (below), meetings will be held at each college in September (or early October) to discuss your concerns at the college level. Along with your college Chapter Chairs, members of the PFT Negotiating Team will also attend those meetings. In addition, you can send in your suggestions using US Mail, District mail, email or fax.
If you want to know what is in the existing Contract, visit the PFT Contract Online at the Peralta District Homepage.

 

PFT/PCCD Contract Development Schedule

September/October: Contract Development Meeting at each college. Solicit Contract Development suggestions via fax, email, phone
October: Proposal discussed, modified and approved by PFT Executive Council. Proposal distributed to Faculty. Proposal discussed, modified and approved at PFT Membership Meeting
November: Proposal presented to PCCD Board for two-week "sunshine" period. PCCD Response presented to PCCD Board for two-week "sunshine."
January: Negotiations begin
 

FSAs and You By Kathy Bauer

Every regular contract faculty member should be knowledgeable about Faculty Service Areas (FSAs) and what the term means. Basically you can only teach in disciplines within FSAs for which you qualify. You may qualify in more than one FSA. Since the elimination of the credential system, the Faculty Service Area system has been in effect in California. Contract faculty are registered into FSAs for which they are both minimally qualified and competent. (They are not the same as minimum qualifications, which are handled by the academic senate.) This governs those disciplines into which a contract faculty member can "bump" during a layoff. According to the Education Code, only those FSAs registered by February 15 in a given year may be recognized for that academic year.
FSAs really come into play only during layoffs. As I reported in the last issue of The Peralta Teacher, the PFT does not anticipate layoffs this year, and would actively work to prevent them. But we do live in very uncertain economic times. Given the shortfalls in the state budget, and the growing likelihood of funding crises, faculty layoffs remain a possible threat. Because faculty FSA status may be in error or out of date-and because it is often time consuming to correct these mistakes, it is imperative that every contract faculty member checks the status of his or her list of FSAs.
As with most areas with your work life, it is vital that you be proactive. Before this semester gets much older, check with your dean to verify the accuracy of your FSA list. Give yourself time to verify any FSAs for which you believe you qualify, but which are not currently approved on your list. Article 24 of the PFT-PCCD Agreement (the Contract) goes into more detail on FSAs. A little prudence and preparation now could make a huge difference in your future teaching options-and income.

 

Membership News By Robert Lew, PFT Staff Secretary

Do you know what benefits you can receive with your PFT Membership? The AFT-Plus Benefits of Belonging booklet describes all of the numerous and useful discount programs available to you from our national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, and provides contact numbers and addresses so that you can take immediate advantage of your Union membership. We have a limited number of these booklets available, as well as information on other membership benefits, so please contact the PFT Office to request your own booklet or other information. You can also visit the AFT website for this and other important information.

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