 Negotiations Update
12/14/23
We made some exciting progress at our negotiations meeting today! As we work through negotiating our 2023-24 reopeners, we were able to tentatively agree (TA) on three more CBA reopeners, sign an important MOU, and make progress towards resolving a long-awaited compensation issue:
Article 4 (Workload and Calendar)- (TA forthcoming)
Clarifications on load calculations for all faculty
Clarifications on:
Work expectations for full-time faculty during non-instructional times like winter intersession
When full-time faculty are off-contract
What duties count as institutional responsibilities vs. unscheduled preparation
Requirements for full-time faculty related to commencement and plenary
Added instructional designer workload
General language cleanup
Article 8 (Course Maximums)- TA
Although both the District and PFF made some significant proposals in this article, we could not reach agreement in either direction and so agreed to keep Article 8 as is for now. We made a few minor language changes, but no significant changes were made to this article in this round of negotiations.
Appendix C (NEW- Faculty Responsibilities)- TA
Similar to our agreements in Article 4 above, we heard the feedback from faculty through Faculty Senate and PFF about the desire for more clarity around workload and expectations and the value of a shared understanding for evaluations and discipline. Thus, we agreed with the District about their proposal to add a new appendix outlining faculty responsibilities. We were able to simplify and generalize the District’s initial proposal to include duties that all faculty are responsible for and those specific only to full-time faculty.
MOU: DRC Department Chair pilot- SIGNED
This MOU allows for a Spring 2024 pilot of a DRC department chair. This was a request of the DRC faculty, and we are pleased to make movement in the right direction, with the hope that the MOU can be extended until we can negotiate a permanent chair when Article 12 is next open (if the pilot is successful).Â
MOU: Large Class Stipend- IN PROGRESS
We are close to reaching agreement on this MOU for a pilot program to compensate faculty teaching classes with large class caps. We hope to have a signed MOU to share in January.
CLASS CAPS:
We met with the District this morning and made some progress towards clarifying caps for Physics, Chemistry, and Math. We have two more meetings scheduled in January, and hope to finalize all MSE course caps, including the above mentioned departments, Computer Science and Biology.
Next Steps:
Our team will be meeting multiple times beginning the week of January 2 to continue negotiations with the District (two class caps and two contract negotiations meetings on the calendar). Outstanding reopeners include Article 15 (Compensation), Appendix F (Reassigned Time & Stipends), and Article 20 (Working Conditions). We plan to bring our proposals for Article 15 and Appendix F to the District in January.Â
As we enter winter break, we would like to thank our members for their support and trust as we negotiate an equitable and protective CBA for all faculty!