From our Lead Negotiator, Jenny Fererro:
Hello fellow faculty!
We are happy to share our most recent negotiations update. After a very productive and efficient negotiations cycle, we were able to complete negotiations on the 2018/19 contract on Thursday 6/28. Our team (made up of half part-time faculty and half full-time faculty) continue to be very pleased with the pace, responsiveness, and communication of our negotiations with the District under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Norman, VP of Human Resource Services. Given the difficult financial situation for the District right now, we are proud to report that faculty did not lose anything in this contract, maintaining (and improving!) our District-paid benefits, and making some important gains to benefit faculty!
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
· SALARIES:
* A 2.71% COLA on all salaries and stipends (except SLO facilitator stipends, but see below for more information on those) that will be retroactive to July 1, 2018.
· BENEFITS:
* We signed an MOU that adds several incentivized benefits options. FT employees will have the opportunity to keep their same current health benefits (either Kaiser or Anthem PPO), or switch during open enrollment to one of 3 new options (Anthem FSA, Anthem HSA, and Kaiser HSA). The HSA options come with monetary incentives that can be rolled over year to year. More details about these options will be forthcoming from the District and there will be ample education and time for Q & A before open enrollment in October.
* PT employees will now be able to buy in to health benefits with a 45% load instead of the previous 50% load (16.10.5), and will have the option to buy in to vision and dental HMO benefits.
· SLO FACILITATORS:
* Increased SLO facilitator stipend to $1110.10 per semester for ALL SLO facilitators. This equalizes all of the SLO facilitator stipends, and removes the unfair discrepancies caused by having the SLO facilitator stipend differ in amount based on Department Chair release time. In order to negotiate this, we did agree that this stipend alone would be exempt from any COLA increase this year. Language was also added indicating that SLO facilitators must complete the duties listed in 12.9 in order to receive their stipend.
· EMERITI FACULTY:
* Emeriti faculty will have the opportunity to enroll in up to 6 units at Palomar per semester (given there is room in the class) at no cost to the retired faculty.
* Emeriti faculty will also have the opportunity to teach up to one class or .3 load per semester, to be assigned after FT overload, and before PT assignments are made.
· Classes with at least 15 students one week before classes start will be allowed to meet the first class to try and get enrollment up. If they do not have at least 20 by 48 hours after the first class, they may be cancelled. This gives those “high teens” classes a fighting chance!
· Release time for the Women’s Studies Coordinator, along with increased summer stipends for several positions in Appendix F.
· Release time to create ombudsperson positions at the Escondido, Fallbrook, and Rancho Bernardo education centers to help faculty connect with PFF and Faculty Senate before problems arise.
· Increased protection for faculty from District monitoring of emails and whereabouts.
· Other small language clean-ups, clarifications, date changes, and organization…
You can review all of the Tentative Agreements (TAs) and Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) that were signed with the District as a part of this negotiations process on the PFF website: https://www.palomarfacfed.org/contract/
As always, our goal is to protect our amazing benefits, faculty oversight, and strong processes, and to increase equity among part-time and full-time faculty. We are constantly pushing back when we see money being used in questionable ways, and we are committed to protecting and enforcing our collective bargaining agreement!
PFF members will be able to vote on whether or not to accept the negotiated 2018/19 contract via a SurveyMonkey link that will be sent out on Monday, July 16, 2018. Please check both your personal and Palomar email addresses for the email with the link to vote. The voting period will run from 7/16 to 7/30. If you would like to check your membership status, please reply to this email. If you would like to join the PFF to be able to vote, please fill out the membership commitment at https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/palomar-faculty-federation by 7/16. Now more than ever, your membership in PFF matters so that we can continue to show strong collective bargaining power in our negotiations on your behalf!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Lead Negotiator, Jenny Fererro at jfererro@palomar.edu
In unity,
Your Negotiations Team: Barbara Baer, Jenny Fererro, Teresa Laughlin, and Nicole Siminski