Negotiations Update
We made exceptional progress at today’s meeting and are now literally one footnote away from completing all 23/24 reopeners. Read on for details about today’s meeting:
Article 15 (Compensation)- TAed
Vocational/CTE compensation
Previously completed (and future) trainings, licenses, and certifications can be counted towards grade advancement (71 hours of training = 1 graduate unit).
Each year (40 hours per week x number of contract months) of occupational experience beyond those required to meet MQs is equivalent to 7.5 semester units for grade advancement
PT Faculty Office Hours
Starting in Fall 2024, PT will earn DOUBLE the amount of paid office hours- now calculated at a ratio of 9 hours per 20% load per semester.
If the state’s reimbursement rate increases to 100%, PT office hours will be paid at a ratio of 16 hours per 20% load per semester (equal to FT office hours)
Faculty Senate PT Senator compensation
Instead of having a separate pot of money divided as stipends, PT senators will now be paid their non-instructional hourly rate for Senate meetings
Time and Effort Reports can now be used to compensate faculty for independent study course assignments
General language cleanup (outdated language, grammatical and punctuation edits)
Article 20 (Working Conditions)- TAed
Requires the District to outfit PT faculty office space with webcams and microphones
PT Prioritization (20.10)
All changes were made with an eye towards reducing errors in PN lists and making reports more efficient and timely
Removes the interruption in service clause
Calculates PN by department rather than discipline
PN will be calculated each semester rather than each year
Courses that are added to the schedule (ex: FT2) can be used to replace PT assignments that were lost due to cancellations or bumping
Course criteria should be in department bylaws
PT faculty who lose their PN cannot serve on District committees
TERB Coordinator is responsible for notifying HR of PT who receive Needs Improvement or Unsatisfactory ratings; department chairs should notify HR of PT who choose to stop teaching or otherwise lose PN
FT Faculty Assignments (20.11)
Clarifying language about the need to ensure department needs and faculty loads are addressed before the assignments are finalized (this was a win, as we succeeded in resisting the District’s initial interest in having deans approve each FT schedule)
Clarification on how canceled classes impact contract vs. overload and how shifts should occur
The District must provide faculty with at least five weeks advance notice of changes in operational hours.
General language cleanup (outdated language, grammatical and punctuation edits)
MOU (DRC Chair Pilot)- Signed
This MOU continues a pilot program to provide a DRC department chair with 40% reassigned time for the Fall 2024 semester.
MOU (ESL/CHDV Apprenticeship)- Signed
This MOU continues 20% reassigned time for Fall 2024 for an ESL professor to assist with a CHDV apprenticeship program.
MOU (Nursing)- in progress
This MOU presented by the District is related to an ongoing grievance. We expect to present a response at our next meeting on 5/9.
Appendix F (Reassigned Time and Stipends)- in progress
We are extremely close to finalizing negotiations on Appendix F. We are down to one last footnote- but it’s an important one that would clarify how PT faculty in reassigned time positions and FT faculty who take reassigned time positions as overload would be compensated. We will share the details as soon as this is TAed! While we did not get the new reassigned time positions we proposed in this Appendix in this round, we made good progress in clarifying our intent and interests with the District, and are optimistic for good progress in future rounds.
Discussion
Correction to Article 16 language to reflect a previously signed MOU- the corrected version of the CBA has been posted.
Calendars (specifically the Spring 25 and Spring 26 calendars) will be discussed at our next meeting.
The District is close to finalizing a draft of the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan to move through shared governance. We requested that we have access to that draft ASAP.
Our next meeting with the district is on 5/9/24–at that meeting we expect to finish negotiations on all 23/24 reopeners. This will allow us to get the reopeners out to PFF members for a ratification vote before the semester ends. As soon as the reopeners are ratified, they can be approved by the Governing Board (ideally at the June board meeting), and then we can sunshine our 24/25 reopeners with the District (ideally at the July board meeting) and begin negotiations later this summer.
In other negotiations news, we await resumption of the class caps negotiation process, which has been delayed by lack of District availability. We are also anticipating an MOU to negotiate faculty compensation for the Faculty Cultural Curriculum Teaching Institute. Additionally, we had a meeting this week with the CALM committee leadership and HRS in order to clarify how faculty compensation will work for the OER/ZTC implementation grants.