Negotiations Update August 2025

After a long hiatus over the summer, we kicked off our three days of negotiations (Aug. 8, Aug. 11, and Aug. 15) with a very full agenda. Our ultimate goal is to close out our 24-25 reopeners so that we can start on our 3-year contract. 

📌Article 15 - our main event. We presented our proposal for the 24-25 Article 15 reopener. Our proposal included the following:

• Given that we haven’t had a raise in our contracts since 2016, we included a 6% raise for the 24-25 academic year (in addition to the 1.07% COLA from 24-25) to account for rising inflation that goes beyond what standard COLA can cover. 

• With current legal cases demanding part-time faculty be paid for their prep and grading, we included a new section with compensation for part-time and full-time overload prep pay.

• We proposed an increase to part-time faculty senate seats from 4 seats to 8 seats. This would not immediately result in additional part-time seats on Senate but would instead allow for some flexibility for Senate to vote on new seats in their bylaws in the future. Current language in the CBA limits paid seats to four. 

• For recently added language around vocational salary credits, we provided new language to allow for industry experts to help verify hours that aren’t otherwise documented. 

• Added clarification language for a few other sections as well. 

The District needs time to review the fiscal impact of our proposals and will counter in September.

 📌Article 16

• District’s proposal: the District presented their proposal for the 24-25 Article 16 reopener along with the updated tables for benefits in 25-26. 

  • Previously, missed benefit contributions were taken in full from your next paycheck; now, unpaid medical deductions will be spread out (1.5x your normal monthly deduction until caught up), while dental and vision deductions will still be collected in full from the next paycheck.

  • Benefit Options will remain status quo for 25-26 with a few exceptions we shared earlier in the summer:

    • Kaiser HDHP deductibles are increasing, so the District incentive will be increasing as well: Single: $3,500; 2-Party and Family: $7,000

    • Anthem PPO employee monthly contributions will be increasing: Single: $226; 2-Party: $445; Family: $627

• PFF Counter #1: we were able to counter pretty quickly with a few important asks:

  • In our counter, we separated the Medical Benefits Options table into a new Appendix to avoid timeline confusion and treat the Medical Benefits Options table like our salary schedule, which is adjusted each year regardless of the timeline for reopeners. 

  • We proposed language that would allow part-time faculty to average their loads across the Fall and Spring semesters to meet part-time healthcare eligibility requirements.

  • We also proposed language for emeritus faculty to maintain access to Office 365 and Adobe. 

📌MOU_Accessibility Remediation - with the deadline fast approaching to meet online accessibility standards, we presented a proposal for a temporary stipend to recognize the increased workload necessary for this remediation.

And now, a look at items that got the green light from both sides 🌱

✅MOU_Office Hours Parity extension - we were able to sign an MOU to extend parity in part-time office hours for another academic year 🎉

✅Article 12 - We were able to sign the second article we sunshined for the 24-25 academic year. 

• There was some pressure from the District to replace the following language: “Summer Duties (for the time period between Commencement and Plenary) and Winter Duties (for the time period between January 2 and the start of Spring semester)” and to instead tie these periods to the academic calendar. We are pleased to report that we successfully preserved the original language, which provides clear and consistent delineation of the summer and winter periods. This language continues to be protected from annual renegotiations tied to changes in the academic calendar. 

• We continued to advocate for reassigned time for discipline leads. While the District understood this request, they noted that these positions would be better served in Appendix F. We plan to include these in our proposal for Appendix F in the 3-year contract.

• The final piece to Article 12 is the adjustment to the stipends for SLO facilitators and SLO duties. We were able to successfully advocate for an increase to SLO stipends to account for the increased SLO workload associated with PLOs, CLOs, SAOs, and ILOs.

✅Other MOUs

• MOU_AB 1705 - as the funds are being spent down for these efforts, the reassigned time has been adjusted as well. This year, the Math AB 1705 coordinator’s reassigned time was reduced from 40% to 20% with a comparable reduction in workload as well.

• Tomorrow’s Water Technicians Grant - we signed off on reassigned time for two faculty members to work on projects funded by an NSF grant.

• Workbased Learning Grant - we signed off on reassigned time for one faculty member to work on a project funded by the Regional Strong Workforce grant.

Other Discussion Items:

• Dual Enrollment - we have been requesting negotiations around Dual Enrollment since February but were met with strong resistance from the District. We were finally able to have meaningful conversations around our intent for these negotiations and the concerns that have been brought to us. We will include a new article proposal in the 3-year contract for Dual Enrollment specifically, and the District committed to working with us on other specific concerns such as minors in the classroom without instructor consent. 

• Short-term hourly (STH) updates - the District shared that while they are committed to hiring more classified staff in lieu of a reliance on STH, they understand that this will take time. STH contracts that were previously only approved through September will be extended until December. This will allow more time for us all to review the STH needs in different areas without negatively impacting students in the Fall.  

• We discussed many other specific cases where faculty workloads have been adjusted or need to be adjusted. We resolved a few and continue to advocate for others. 

• Fall Dates - lastly, we are happy to report that we have our fall schedule for negotiations. We only have Article 15 and Article 16 open for the 24-25 academic year, so we hope to resolve those quickly to allow for more time to be spent on our 3-year contract. 

We look forward to continued collaboration with District as we advocate for all your compensation and workload needs 💪

Next Meeting: Thursday, September 4th

Signing off—but still here for every comma, clause, and cause.