Governing Board Meeting Attendance
PFF is so appreciate of the amazing faculty turnout we've had at the Governing Board meetings this school year. Although the Board will not be meeting in person, it's still just as important that we show a strong faculty attendance at the Board meetings via Zoom. High faculty turnout shows the Board that we care, we are paying attention, and we are strong and united. The next Board meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, 4/14 at 5pm via Zoom https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/pccd/Board.nsf/Public. Please plan on logging into the meeting - you can stay on mute and camera off, but we'd like to show a presence. To that end, please consider:
changing your profile picture (which will show with your camera off) to the attached PFF logo
using the logo as your virtual background if your camera is on during the meeting
wearing your PFF t-shirt
This will make it evident at a glance how many of us are present at the meeting!
PFF Executive Board Election Results
Thank you to every member who voted in our Spring 2020 Executive Board election! Results for the 2020-22 terms (effective May, 2020) are as follows:
FT Co-President: Teresa Laughlin (uncontested)
Treasurer: Joel Glassman (uncontested)
PT Executive Board: Barbara Hammons (uncontested)
FT Executive Board: Ben Mudgett
At-Large Executive Board: Martin Japtok and Michael Lundell
We want to express our deep thanks Lawrence Lawson, Peter Ovwiovwio, Elvia Nunez-Riebel, and Chris Sinnott for their time on the Executive Board. Thank you also to all of the nominees who ran and were willing to join the PFF team!
There are two PT Executive Board vacancies (one with a one-year term through May, 2021, one with a two-year term through May, 2022). If you know of any part-time faculty who might want to help PFF work to support faculty, please reach out to PT Co-President Barbara Baer at bbaer@palomar.edu.
Committee Calls
There are vacancies for PFF reps on a few campus governing committees. If you are interested in serving on any of the following committees as a PFF rep, please email Jenny Fererro at jfererro@palomar.edu.
IPC (2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 2:30-4:30pm, & as needed)
Distance Education (1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 2:30-4pm)
Faculty Service Area Review (1st & 3rd Tuesdays, 2-3:30pm)
A formal call for TERB Coordinator (two-year term with release time) will be coming soon, so please watch for that email if you are interested in the position.
Negotiations Update
Your PFF Negotiations Team has been hard at work. We have regular meetings with the District, as well as weekly Zoom calls with CFT to keep abreast of negotiations-related challenges and changes due to COVID-19. While we anticipated difficult negotiations this spring due to Palomar's specific fiscal crisis, our efforts to maintain our contract's status quo will likely face additional new obstacles posed by the anticipated budget difficulties caused by COVID-19.
We expect that the state budget will negatively impact Palomar's budget, and these tight times will compound our District's already difficult financial outlook. We are actively negotiating with the District over potential District-proposed changes to benefits and compensation to help mitigate the budget shortfalls and help address the administrative mismanagement of the past several years. We are committed to minimizing the negative impacts to faculty, and also recognize that we may be unable to avoid changes that we would not have anticipated even a few months ago.
Your support in creating a united faculty front helps the Union in negotiations! We appreciate you logging in for the Governing Board meetings and showing your support for faculty colleagues in other ways. We remain strong in our resolve to protect faculty while being realistic about the need for change.
We can help
During these extremely stressful times we want you to know that PFF is here for you in many ways. We are dedicated to protecting faculty working conditions and compensation to the best of our ability. Additionally, we have several direct ways to help our members navigate these difficult times, including PFF emergency funding and resources from the American Federation of Teachers, California Federation of Teachers, and the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council. An overview of these benefits are here, and they are available to PFF members. If you are not yet part of the faculty majority supporting each other, join here! Your unity counts.
In health and solidarity,
Jenny Fererro, Lead Negotiator
Barbara Baer, PT Co-President
Teresa Laughlin, FT Co-President