Negotiations Update #4

Negotiations Update #4
April 2, 2019

The district negotiations team was joined by Laura Barroso (Director of District Human Resources). She replaced Mike Shanahan who left the district at the end of March. After introductions, we presented our proposals on Article 4 (Health Benefits), Article 5 (Workload & Assignments), Article 6 (Class Size), and Article 7 (Safety).

Although we were expecting proposals from management, they presented nothing. We hope this is a one-time occurrence since it is not possible to make progress in negotiations without both sides offering proposals.

Summary of AFT Proposals

Article 4 (Health Benefits) We proposed to:

• Increase enrollment in the part-time Kaiser plan from 81 to 100 PT faculty members.
• Reduce PT faculty contributions to $100 a month for the "high" plan and $50 per month for the "low" plan.
• Maintain current Anthem PPO plan and Kaiser HMO plan for FT Faculty.

Note: We stated that we are willing to continue to research CALPERS and other school based insurance pools, but made no commitment beyond participation in research.

Article 5 (Assignment) We proposed to:

• Eliminate the requirement to provide a written report upon completing instruction-related student support activities.
• Increase the load calculation for lab and lec/lab class to be the same as lecture classes.
• Allow colleges to hire FT faculty to teach extra hourly assignments and PT faculty to have assignments at other campuses if all FT and PT faculty at the receiving campus have been given their full assignment.
• Change extra-pay stipend for large classes to begin at 40 instead of the current 61 students.
• Allow FT faculty, with mutual agreement between Dean and the faculty member, to teach and hold office hours for less than 4 days a week.
• Permit faculty assignment to a class on a high school campus (dual enrollment) only by mutual agreement between the faculty member and the Dean.
• Reduce pre-longevity period from 4 semesters to 2 semesters.
• Promote greater transparency by requiring the district to post longevity, pre-longevity, and list of all faculty who have completed distance education training, on the my.vcccd.edu portal. (with redaction of employee ID numbers).
• Clarify existing summer session assignment practices.
• Fairly compensate all faculty who serve as a mentor to faculty interns.
• Fairly compensate peer evaluators who serve on evaluation committee.
• Fairly compensate all PT Faculty for office hours on a weekly basis.

Article 6 (Class Size) We proposed to:

• Limit enrollment in math classes to 35 to help address AB 705.
• Prevent cancellation of credit, and non-credit classes when there are 15 or more students enrolled.

Article 7 (Safety) We proposed to:

• Permit faculty to take immediate paid leave if threatened, intimidated, or suffer bodily harm related to their instructional duties, until their safety can be guaranteed.
• Require management to address safety issues and any unsafe working environments in a timely manner.

Summary of District Proposals

• As stated above, unfortunately, the district presented nothing.

Management Team Members Present: Draza “Merv” Mrvichin – District’s Chief Negotiator, Laura Barroso (Director of District Human Resources), Damien Pena (VC), Howard Davis (MC), Leah Alarcon (OC), Mike Bush (OC).

AFT Local 1828 Team Members Present: Steve Hall, Angela Wilkins (MC), Marnie Melendez (MC), Richard Williams (OC), Keith Johnson (VC/OC), Mary-Pay Huxley (VC), Leo Orange (OC), Michael Sheetz (Executive Director), Vivian Richmond (AFT Notetaker).

In Unity,
AFT Local 1828 Negotiations Team