Anna
The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees holds its only May meeting tonight at seven in the boardroom at 333 E. Eighth St. Items up for trustee consideration include PFT’s tentative agreement (TA) with the district on contract reopeners, and the appointment of an interim VP of Student Services at CoA.
Four chancellor hopefuls addressed the public at a special May 11 forum at the DO; private board interviews are underway, but no decision is expected at tonight’s meeting. The finalists—Jeremy D. Brown, Portland Community College president; Andrew C. Jones, former Coast chancellor; Jowel C. Laguerre, Solano superintendent/president; and Elñora Webb, Laney president—are vying to take over from José M. Ortiz, who retires in June.
In other news:
*Approved by 93% of faculty members who cast ballots at the May 7 ratification meeting, PFT’s TA with the district would give faculty raises worth 3% overall for 2014-15, another 3% for 2015-16. The district would issue retro checks for 2014-15 this summer. Details of the TA are on the PFT website.
*Ballots for the election of PFT Executive Council members for 2015-17 must be received at the PFT offices by Thurs., May 14, at 4 p.m. To beat the deadline, it’s advisable at this late date to hand-deliver envelopes to the union offices at 500 E. Eighth St., Suite B, or to give them in person—and soon—to a current member of the Executive Council. Be sure to follow all ballot instructions carefully.
Matthew M. Goldstein, President
Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603
Three dozen faculty members turned out at the April 28 meeting of the PCCD Board of Trustees to call for quick settlement of the contract and fair compensation for full- and part-timers alike.
NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN
for the
PFT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
for the term of
July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2017
All dues-paying PFT members in good-standing are eligible to be elected to serve on the Executive Council. Members may nominate themselves or other members of the union for positions on the Executive Council. Please make sure your nominee is a dues-paying member of the union in good-standing and willing to run.
Members of the Executive Council have the overall responsibility of decision-making for the PFT. Elected members of the Council include the Officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer), the Campus Chairs (two from each college campus), and the Committee Chairs; Career and Technical Education Representative (CTE), Part-Timer Representative, and Diversity Representative. Each Council member is required to attend PFT Executive Council Meetings, which are generally on the first and third Thursday of each month in regular session (though extra or emergency meetings are sometimes called).
Officers have a variety of duties: the President makes staffing decisions and runs the PFT office, assigns tasks to the Officers and the Grievance Officer, assigns the Negotiations Team, and conducts the Council Meetings, as well as representing the Union on local, state, and national levels; the Vice President assists in all of these duties; the Secretary has the responsibility of overseeing meeting minutes, file maintenance, and membership rolls; and the Treasurer has the responsibility of overseeing the financial activities of the Union.
Aside from attending Council meeting, Campus and Committee Chairs are encouraged, but not required, to hold Chapter Meetings for their campuses or represented populations; Campus and Committee Chairs often are the first contact for faculty on the campus. They frequently serve on hiring and screening committees, and occasionally handle grievances. Campus Chairs can be either part-time or full-time, but should be on campus for most of their assignment; the Career and Technical Education Representative must be a CTE faculty member, and the Part-Timer Representative must be a part-time non-contract faculty member. Also, when it is time to vote on the nominees (in the election), only Part-Time faculty members will be allowed to vote for the Part-Timer Representative position and only CTE faculty will be allowed to vote for the CTE Chair Position.
Please be certain that your nominees wish to run for these positions. Please also be certain that your nominees are PFT members in good-standing and qualified for the positions. Be absolutely sure to sign this nomination form, as unsigned nomination forms will be disregarded.
NOMINATIONS ARE DUE BY 3 p.m. on THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2015
Click here to download a nomination form
Peralta faculty, students, and classified staff joined the district chancellor and a trustee—as well as leaders from surrounding community colleges—to listen to the stories of a deeply flawed accreditation process and to engage with two faculty members and a student from City College of San Francisco. Unfair accreditation is costing California’s community colleges dearly, we learned, and access to public education is under threat.
Thank you to Peralta TV for providing the video of the forum in its entirety.
The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees gets back to business tonight at seven in the boardroom at 333 E. Eighth St. Agenda items include consideration of the replacement of an administrative appointee to the chancellor-search committee with district payroll manager Fred O’Yang, a first reading of a fat stack of updated board policies, and miscellaneous bond-fund expenditures.
Elsewhere:
*Nine delegates represented PFT March 20-22 at the annual statewide convention of the California Federation of Teachers in Manhattan Beach. CFT President Josh Pechthalt cruised to re-election, as did Jim Mahler, president of the CFT’s Community College Council. Judges at the CFT Communications Awards named the Peralta Teacher, PFT’s hardcopy quarterly, the state’s premier six-page newsletter among large locals, and honored PFT with a Solidarity Award for its special fall 2014 publication Who Is Cynthia Mahabir?
*Save the date: PFT will hold its final general membership meeting of the school year Th., April 23, 3-5 p.m., in Room E 211 at Laney.
*PFT urges all faculty members to review their paystubs each month to make sure that they’re being paid properly, that all deductions are accurate, and that any changes to step or column placement are reflected. Please contact Anna Roy, PFT labor representative, at 510.763.8820 or anna.pft@gmail.com if you have concerns about your paycheck.
Matthew M. Goldstein, President
Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603
union@pft1603.org, 510.763.8820
Website: pft1603.org
Follow the union on Twitter @PFT1603. And like us on Facebook, too!
Tonight at seven the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees returns to the boardroom at 333 E. Eighth St. for a regularly scheduled meeting. Topping the agenda is the recognition of three faculty members granted tenure: Donald Moore and Bruce Lazarus, both of Laney, and Merritt’s Anthony Powell. Other notable items include Local 39’s public hearing to sunshine topics for upcoming contract talks, several Measure A and E expenditures, and the advancement of 69 probationary faculty members toward tenure.
In other news:
*Island faculty are encouraged to join CoA co-reps Ed Jaramillo and Bob Grill for a PFT chapter meeting, Wed., March 11, 12:30-1:30 p.m., in Room C 208. Get the latest on contract talks and bring comments, questions, and concerns. RSVP if you’d like lunch: 510-763-8820 or union@pft1603.org.
*Don’t miss Fair Accreditation and the Struggle at City College of San Francisco, an informational forum sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers, AFT 2121, and PFT, Tues., March 17, 3:30-5 p.m., Laney College, Room D 200. RSVP to union@pft1603.org or 510-763-8820. The event is free and open to the public.
*All Peralta employees are welcome to attend a Peralta Retirees Organization/PFT retirement workshop led by PRO board member/retired Laney math prof Bruce Jacobs, Wed., March 18, 12:15-1:30 p.m., Laney College, Room D 200. RSVP to union@pft1603.org or 510-763-8820 if you’d like lunch.
*In a unanimous March 6 decision, the PFT Executive Council appointed Helen Curry Laney College co-representative to fill out the term of Sonja Franeta, who is heading into retirement. Helen, a tenured member of the Cosmetology Department with a long history of engagement with the union, will work with co-rep Janell Hampton at the flagship. PFT thanks Helen for stepping up and looks forward to introducing her to Laney faculty in her new role.
*PFT urges all faculty members to review their paystubs each month to make sure that they’re being paid properly, that all deductions are accurate, and that any changes to step or column placement are reflected. Please contact Anna Roy, PFT labor representative, at 510.763.8820 or anna.pft@gmail.com if you have concerns about your paycheck.
Matthew M. Goldstein, President
Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603
Tonight at seven in the boardroom at 333 E. Eighth St., the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees will hold its first meeting of 2015. Trustees will consider the appointment of an interim deputy chancellor; hear a presentation from Peralta’s federal legislative lobbyist, Akerman LLP; and entertain changes to the board meeting schedule for February.
In other news:
*PFT is pleased to announce that it has settled the grievance it filed last fall on behalf of two longtime part-time faculty members. After intensive late-December discussions with the district, PFT agreed to a resolution under which the district compensated the two faculty members for the fall classes they lost and reinstated them this term. As a condition of the settlement, the union has agreed to have its attorney meet with the district’s attorney to negotiate improvements to Article 30.H, the language covering the part-time rehire pool. PFT thanks everyone, full- and part-time alike, who stood up for fairness and the rights of all faculty.
*Forms for nominating delegates to the 2015 CFT Convention in Manhattan Beach will go into faculty mailboxes this week and are due Feb. 11 at the PFT offices. (The nominating form is also available on the PFT website.) Formal mail balloting will follow the nomination process, with 10 PFT members eligible for reimbursement of up to $600 for documented convention-related expenses.
Matthew M. Goldstein, President
Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603
The 73rd Annual Convention of the California Federation of Teachers, “Organize, Fight Back, Win the Future,” has been called for March 20-22 at the Manhattan Beach Marriott. The Peralta Federation of Teachers can send as many as 25 delegates to this convention; in addition to the PFT president, the ten nominees who receive the most votes in the upcoming delegate election will be reimbursed up to $600 apiece for documented convention-related expenses (allocations have been made for five full-time and up to five part-time faculty members).
NOMINATIONS FOR THE DELEGATE ELECTION TO THE CFT CONVENTION ARE OPEN
Nominations are due Wednesday, February 11
CLICK HERE FOR THE NOMINATION FORM