Dear Peralta Community,
Second Tuesday? Get ready for the PFT e-Communiqué! Every second and fourth Tuesday the PFT rounds up issues, events, and ideas of note to the wider Peralta community. This is the final e-Communiqué of 2009—we’ll be back on top of your inbox on Jan. 26, 2010. See you soon!
*Don’t miss the last PFT general membership meeting of the calendar year, Tues., Dec. 8, 3:30-5 p.m., in Room A 266 on the Laney campus. On the agenda, among other items: the budget crisis, retreat rights for managers, and new threats to free speech. Snacks will be served.
*The PFT urges faculty, staff, and students to attend the Tues., Dec. 15, meeting of the Peralta Board of Trustees, set for 7 p.m. in the district boardroom (333 E. Eighth St.). The 2009-10 budget, a source of much controversy over the past several weeks, will again be brought to the trustees for approval, and the Peralta community should continue to insist that the district get its priorities—i.e., students and education—straight.
*Join the student-led No Cuts to Education group before the Tues., Dec. 15, board meeting at 5 p.m. on the Laney College quad. The group will march to the district offices and demand that classes, faculty, and staff not be axed in any adopted budget. For more information, email no.cuts.laney@gmail.com or check out the No Cuts Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oakland-CA/NO-CUTS-PERALTA/181387322082?v=wall.
*Be sure to sign and pass around the PFT petition now circulating. The petition urges trustees to scrutinize the proposed budget and to commit to making students and education the district’s top priorities. To get a copy of the petition, see your campus reps or send an email to union@pft1603.org. Return completed petitions to campus reps or the PFT offices (500 E. Eighth St., Ste. B) by noon on Tues., Dec. 15.
* Part-time faculty should attend an hour-long information session on AB 381/SDI, the recently passed State Disability Insurance law for community college part-time faculty, Thurs., Feb. 4, 2010, 12-1 p.m., in A 266 at Laney College. Both the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges and the Employment Development Department will send speakers to the event. For more information, contact PFT part-time rep Cynthia Mahabir at cmlaney2003@yahoo.com.
*Submit your nomination ballots for PFT Diversity Chair and for delegates to the annual CFT Convention to the PFT offices by 4:30 p.m. on Mon., Dec. 14. Ballots arrived in faculty mailboxes just after Thanksgiving.
*Check your mailbox for a special finals-week issue of the Peralta Teacher. Look for an update on the union’s fight against the cuts, a detailed piece on AB 381/SDI and its likely effect on part-timers, and a reminder for contract faculty about the importance of updating Faculty Service Areas with the district.
In unity,
Debby Weintraub, President
PFT, AFT Local 1603
For more about the Peralta Federation of Teachers—contract information, contacts, downloadable forms, updates, etc.—visit pft1603.org or write PFT1603info@gmail.com.