August 25, 2021 update to this story: During the last round of negotiations, the District refused to pass on the 2019/20 and 2020/21 COLAs. But, after many months at the table, the Federation negotiated into our contract a provision for a 2021/22 COLA, effective January 1, 2022. The 2021/22 state funded COLA is 5.07%, which is a combined and compounded 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 COLA. This COLA will be effective January 1, 2022. The Federation’s request to reopen the contract for the 2019/2020 COLA of 3.26% is still before the administration and BOT–we have not heard anything about their desire to reopen the contract to discuss the 2019/2020 COLA of 3.26%, which the district put in its reserves while our salaries lost ground to inflation. The District’s reserves are on track to grow from $28.5 million (2018/2019 actuals) to $46.8 million (2021/22 projected even after passing on the 5.07% COLA to all employees, not just faculty). Please get involved with the Federation so we can work together to address this problem.
At the May 17 Board of Trustees meeting, the Federation asked the District to reopen Article 10 in our Contract because of the improved budget conditions. We asked the District to pass on the planned state funded COLAs of 3.26% for 2020 and 2.31% for 2021. The 1.7% COLA for 2022, if funded, it is already in our contract.
The following provides some quick background for this ask: During the 2020-2022 Contract negotiations, the District contended that too much budget uncertainty prevented them from distributing state funded COLAs to its employees. When COVID hit, the District shifted to a narrative of budget cuts, deferrals, canceled apportionment payments, and even possible layoffs.
In the last eight months, the budget reality has changed dramatically. More than $85 million federal and state COVID-related dollars have flowed to El Camino to assist students (about half of that money) and the college during the pandemic.
At the state level, what was projected to be a budget deficit turned into a massive budget surplus. This surplus is now so great that the state outlined plans to fully fund the COLAs for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Deferrals too will be fully paid.
In light of the federal COVID assistance, improved state budget, and the District’s stated position at the bargaining table, we are asking the District to pass on the COLAs for 2020 and 2021. We believe, at a minimum, faculty deserve it and the District can comfortably afford the cost.
We are asking the Board of Trustees to support the reopening of Article 10 and the District to pass on the COLAs of 3.26% for 2020 and 2.31% for 2021 and would like to request your support on this petition to show our administrators and Board of Trustees that this is a serious and important issue for ECC faculty. See the email we’ve recently sent you.
We are currently in the early stages of gathering data on comparable community college districts that passed on state funded COLAs to their employees and have learned that our colleagues of the following community colleges received COLAs from their institutions: Cerritos College, Mt. San Antonio College, Los Angeles Mission College, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Pierce College, Los Angeles Trade-Tech College, Los Angeles Southwest College, and Los Angeles Harbor College. Additionally, adjusting for cost of living, comparative salary data shows that over the course of our careers, El Camino College faculty rank as the 15th lowest paid in the California Community College system.
Comparison of ECC career salary to four nearby college districts of similar size and all other CA 2 year college districts.
Furthermore, After adjusting for cost of living, faculty at ECC make the same amount as colleagues at Rio Hondo at the initial step, but our Rio Hondo colleagues make 12% more by step 13, and 13% more at the highest step. Colleagues at Long Beach City College make 24% more cost-of-living dollars at the initial step than we do! Faculty in the LA Community College system make 7% more than we do at the lowest step, and 20% more than we do at the highest step!
Initial step salary comparison shows ECC and Rio Hondo have the same salary which is lower that the other three colleges in the figure by as much as 24%.The same 5 colleges compared for step 13 salaries show ECC is far behind all others by a difference of up to 21%.Once again, at the salary comparison of the highest step, ECC is behind others on pay by a difference of up to 20%
The state distributes COLA funds to employers with the recommendation that these state funds be passed on to their employees to keep up with rising costs of living. The work of El Camino College faculty, especially through this harrowing past year, has not gone unnoticed, and we are urging the District to pass on these funds, as prompted by the state, especially given the healthy budgetary outlook announced with the May budget revise. We also ask that you write to each trustee and request that they support the reopener. After seeing this data, it is evident that inaction cannot be an option. You may be interested in readingthis CNBC article stating that prices have reached a 5% jump in a month.
In response to the May 20, 2021 Town Hall with President Maloney and Vice President Ingram, the Federation would like to provide you with additional information. The two major topics covered were planning for a return to campus and the May budget revision. After the presentations, those in attendance asked questions. We would like to provide further information and clarity in response to these questions.
Return to Campus Information
Those of you returning to campus in the fall may have many questions about your working conditions. Some of those questions may be answered in the Campus Reopening Safety Plan. You can find the extensive 139 page document here.
Please be aware that the currently proposed plan expects faculty and students to handle routine cleaning, using disinfectant wipes to clean areas used in the classroom at the end of every class. Prior to classes starting there will be a “deep cleaning” and any personal items a faculty member may keep in the classroom will be thrown away if not removed from the classroom prior to the “deep cleaning” (see page 36/139).
Remember that vaccinations will help bring the pandemic under control. They will not prevent someone from testing positive and getting sick. They will keep those vaccinated from needed hospitalization and from death. Therefore, we will inevitably have COVID-19 positive cases. There will be a need for multiple “deep cleanings” and that can only be done by trained personnel with special equipment.
The Federation encourages all members to be familiar with working conditions as agreed upon in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and current COVID MOU (expires June 30, 2021). Feel free to express concerns to us, your Division Dean, the Vice President managing the area of concern, and ECC Trustees. You may address the Board of Trustees by submitting public comments, which are presented at monthly meetings or by emailing each member individually. You may also contact facilities managerial staff if administration cannot answer your questions to your satisfaction.
Funding Information
There were many questions about COLA during the Town Hall. On Monday 5/17, during the BOT closed session meeting and open session meeting, the Federation submitted written requests to reopen Article 10 of our CBA, which outlines compensation, to reinstate the COLAs that the District felt financially unable to extend to faculty during the earlier stages of the pandemic. To read more on this matter see the latest AFT news post.
The state does not mandate that COLA be passed on to employees, but it does strongly recommend it. Ultimately, it is up to the district to follow through in using this money to account for the impact of rising prices of employee salaries. So far, we have not received COLA, which is not a raise, it is an adjustment to keep up with inflation, for 2020 or 2021. Effectively, by not getting COLA, we are taking a pay cut to increase the district’s revenue.
President Maloney mentioned that to maintain transparency there is a web page providing information on CARES Act funding and expenditures. You can find it here. Below is a summary of the funding thus far.
ECC COVID Relief
HEERF I Allocations for Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act- $11,659,979
COVID-19 RESPONSE BLOCK GRANT –$2,027,874
HEERF II Allocations for Pub and Nonprofit Inst under CRRSAA sec 314(a)(1)- $25,121,457
The May Revision stands in stark contrast to the budget of one year ago. Compared to a projected state budget deficit of $54 billion a year ago, the state now has a projected $75.7 billion surplus. Combined with over $25 billion in federal relief, this supports a $100 billion California Comeback Plan—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only speed the state’s recovery from the pandemic, but to address long-standing challenges and provide opportunity for every California family—regardless of their income, race, or ZIP code.
May revise summary on higher Ed apportionment for 2021-2022.
An increase of $185.4 million ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund to reflect a compounded cost-of-living adjustment of 4.05 percent, which represents a 2020-21 cost-of-living adjustment of 2.31 percent and a revised 2021-22 cost-of living adjustment of 1.7 percent.
Apportionment Deferrals—
An increase of approximately $326.5 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to fully retire deferrals from the 2021-22 fiscal year to the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Forums for Superintendent/President will begin 4/28 and end. All faculty are encouraged to be involved in the selection process by providing feedback before May 6th. The Board of Trustees will use the information gathered from this survey as part of their decision making process. Access the form here: Assessment Form
The part-time committee and CFT came together to provide the following information to part-time faculty. There will be two sets of workshops facilitated by CFT. Please help me send out this information to all of our part-time faculty.
Erin Conley and Grant Stover will facilitate the Student Debt Clinic on Friday, April 23 at 1 pm. Here is the zoom invite: https://elcamino-edu.zoom.us/j/98644025887 Meeting ID: 986 4402 5887
Valarie Bachelor will facilitate the Unemployment Benefits Clinic on Friday, May 28th at 1 pm. Here is the zoom invite: https://elcamino-edu.zoom.us/j/93296071082 Meeting ID: 932 9607 1082
The Federation is proud to announce that the Lab-Lecture Parity memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been ratified by 99.5% of those who voted. Anonymous ballot voting opened 3/29/21 and closed 4/2/21. The voter turnout was strong and we thank everyone who participated. The next step is for the Board of Trustees to vote to approve this MOU during the Tuesday April 19th meeting.
The Lab-Lecture Parity MOU takes effect Fall 2021. All 168 courses will be funded in perpetuity and no further application or negotiations will be necessary to sustain their designation and funding as extensive laboratory classes. For a list of approved courses see page 3 and on of the Lab-Lecture Parity MOU document.
If your course is not listed as an approved course and you would like to apply for consideration, you can find the application here. Please submit your application by October 15th. If you are unsure how this change will affect your load, you can use the formula in page 1 of the MOU document or this calculation guide on the AFT website (resource tab). For additional questions please send us an email at eccfederation@gmail.com or federation@elcamino.edu
Federation Statement Condemming Racist Attacks on AAPI Community (3/19/21)
The Federation’s Executive Board condemns discrimination, dehumanization, harassment, threats, attacks, and murders targeting Asians, Asian Americans, and people perceived as Asian.
We recognize that historical oppressive forces, xenophobia, and anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) sentiment, arising in part because of racist stereotypes found in our education, media, law enforcement, and statements by public figures, contribute to harmful rhetoric and deadly actions.
We also recognize that much of this behavior is part of a broader problem of white supremacy and misogyny in the United States. Asian hate crimes have increased by 114% in LA County in the last year. (LA Times). Victims of anti-AAPI hate crimes often experience gaslighting of their criminal complaints, remain unassisted by law enforcement and their communities, and live under duress. The sexaulization of AAPI womxn and the “Model Minority Myth” contribute to harmful stereotypes that hurt the AAPI community and need to be dismantled.
We must also be steadfast in our work to improve our hiring practices to employ and retain a body of both full and part-time faculty who are committed to equality and justice, and who reflect the composition of our community and the students we serve.
We are asking for advocacy, vigilance, and collaborative efforts to protect the AAPI community, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and all marginalized communities. The Federation joins the El Camino College, Statement Against Discrimination, “Thus, our Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities stand with our Black, Latinx, Indigenous, First Nations, Sikh, Muslim, and LGBTQIA+ communities who experience the daily negative conditions produced by our systemic biases and institutional racism.”
We stand in solidarity with our AAPI students, faculty, staff members, and administrative colleagues. Therefore, we urge the documentation and investigation of all reported hate crimes in order to promote respect and protection of the AAPI community.
The COVID MOU committee would like to update you on the current status of negotiations. A full agreement has not been reached because of several items as shown below.
Items to most likely remain the same as previous MOU:
Asynchronous Instruction requires DE Certification
Synchronous Instruction does not require DE Certification
Adjunct and Probationary Faculty teaching online will be evaluated in the modified format adopted December 14, 2020.
Required DE certification for flexible teaching format
Deans/directors able to change faculty’s choice of teaching modality
Stipends and more descriptive safety language
Details for items listed above:
The District requests mandatory vaccination for returning instructors. The Federation acknowledges that all vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 are currently available by Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). The Federation does support federal guidance on vaccinations but also supports its members’ autonomy, particularly in light of the vaccine’s current EUA status. Additionally, vaccination requirements should not exceed legal mandates by the state or federal government.
The District requests a requirement for faculty teaching the flexible format to be DE-certified. The previous three MOUs did not impose an additional DE certification requirement on flexible instructors. During the SP21 MOU negotiations, the District proposed that DE-certified flexible instructors were necessary to maintain quality of instruction and meet student needs. When asked to present data to that effect, the District was unable to do so, but is still adamant about the change. Lack of evidence-based decision making by the administration does not warrant the change in working conditions.The Federation has suggested the District engage in data collection to support their demand for the FA21 MOU.
The District requests giving deans/directors the ability to change a faculty member’s teaching modality choice. It’s not truly a choice if the District can ultimately decide the teaching modality. It further puts faculty at a disadvantage because faculty may make plans, such as childcare, based upon a chosen modality, only to have the District change that modality and uproot those plans. Changes would be especially impactful on PT faculty.
The Federation has requested additional stipends and more descriptive safety language for all of the additional faculty work and risk, respectively. The District has outright rejected these proposals.
Contact the Federation or ECC District with questions or input.
Dolores Clara Fernandez was born on April 10, 1930 in Dawson, a small mining town in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Her father Juan Fernández, a farm worker and miner by trade, was a union activist who ran for political office and won a seat in the New Mexico legislature in 1938. Dolores spent most of her childhood and early adult life in Stockton, California where she and her two brothers moved with their mother, following her parents’ divorce.
According to Dolores, her mother’s independence and entrepreneurial spirit was one of the primary reasons she became a feminist. Dolores’ mother Alicia was known for her kindness and compassion towards others. She offered rooms at affordable rates in her 70 room hotel, which she acquired after years of hard work. Alicia welcomed low-wage workers in the hotel, and often, waived the fee for them altogether. She was an active participant in community affairs, involved in numerous civic organizations and the church. Alicia encouraged the cultural diversity that was a natural part of Dolores’ upbringing in Stockton. The agricultural community where they lived was made up of Mexican, Filipino, African-American, Japanese and Chinese working families.
Alicia’s community activism influenced Dolores’ involvement as a student at Stockton High School. She was active in numerous school clubs, was a majorette, and a dedicated member of the Girl Scouts until the age of 18. Upon graduating, Dolores continued her education at the University of Pacific’s Delta College in Stockton earning a provisional teaching credential. During this time, she married Ralph Head and had two daughters, Celeste and Lori. While teaching, she could no longer bear to see her students come to school with empty stomachs and bare feet, and thus began her lifelong journey of working to correct economic injustice.
Dolores found her calling as an organizer while serving in the leadership of the Stockton Community Service Organization (CSO). During this time, she founded the Agricultural Workers Association, set up voter registration drives and pressed local governments for barrio improvements. In 1955 CSO founder Fred Ross, Sr. introduced her to CSO Executive Director César E. Chávez, a likeminded colleague. The two soon discovered that they shared a common vision of organizing farm workers, an idea that was not in line with the CSO’s mission.
As a result, César and Dolores resigned from the CSO, and launched the National Farm Workers Association in the spring of 1962. Dolores’ organizing skills were essential to the growth of this budding organization. The challenges she faced as a woman did not go unnoted and in one of her letters to Cesar she joked…
“Being a now (ahem) experienced lobbyist, I am able to speak on a man-to-man basis with other lobbyists.”
The first testament to her lobbying and negotiating talents were demonstrated in securing Aid For Dependent Families (“AFDC”) and disability insurance for farm workers in the State of California in 1963, an unparalleled feat at the time. She was also instrumental in the enactment of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. This was the first law of its kind in the United States, granting farm workers in California the right to collectively organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions.
While the farm workers lacked financial capitol, they were able to wield significant economic power through hugely successful boycotts at the ballot box with grassroots campaigning. As the principal legislative advocate, Dolores became one of the UFW’s most visible spokespersons. Robert F. Kennedy acknowledged her in helping him secure the 1968 California Democratic Presidential Primary just moments before he was shot in Los Angeles. Throughout the years, she has worked to elect numerous candidates including President Clinton, Congressman Ron Dellums, Governor Jerry Brown, Congresswoman Hilda Solis and Hillary Clinton.
As much as she was Cesar’s right hand she could also be the greatest thorn in his side. The two were infamous for their blow out arguments an element that was a natural part of their working relationship. Dolores viewed this as a healthy and necessary part of the growth process of any worthwhile collaboration. While Dolores was busy breaking down one gender barrier after another, she was seemingly unaware of the tremendous impact she was having on, not only farm worker woman but also young women everywhere.
While directing the first National Boycott of California Table Grapes out of New York she came into contact with Gloria Steinem and the burgeoning feminist movement who rallied behind the cause. Quickly she realized they shared much in common. Having found a supportive voice with other feminists, Dolores consciously began to challenge gender discrimination within the farm workers’ movement.
Early on, Dolores advocated for the entire family’s participation in the movement. After all it was men, women and children together out in the fields picking, thinning and hoeing. Thus the practice of non-violence was not only a philosophy but a very necessary approach in providing for the safety of all. Her life and the safety of those around her were in jeopardy on countless occasions. The greatest sacrifice to the movement was made by five martyrs all of whom she knew personally.
At age 58 Dolores suffered a life-threatening assault while protesting against the policies of then presidential candidate George Bush in San Francisco. A baton-wielding officer broke four ribs and shattered her spleen. Public outrage resulted in the San Francisco Police Department changing its policies regarding crowd control and police discipline and Dolores was awarded an out of court settlement. Following a lengthy recovery she took a leave of absence from the union to focus on women’s rights. She traversed the country for two years on behalf of the Feminist Majority’s Feminization of Power: 50/50 by the year 2000 Campaign encouraging Latina’s to run for office. The campaign resulted in a significant increase in the number of women representatives at the local, state and federal levels. She also served as National Chair of the 21st Century Party founded in 1992 on the principles that women make up 52% of the party’s candidates and that officers must reflect the ethnic diversity of the nation.
At 89, Dolores Huerta continues to work tirelessly developing leaders and advocating for the working poor, women, and children. As founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, she travels across the country engaging in campaigns and influencing legislation that supports equality and defends civil rights. She often speaks to students and organizations about issues of social justice and public policy.
There are thousands of working poor immigrants in the agriculture rich San Joaquin Valley of California. They are unfamiliar with laws or agencies that can protect them or benefits that they are entitled to. They are often preyed upon by unscrupulous individuals who take advantage of them. They often feel hopeless and unable to remedy their situations.
Dolores teaches these individuals that they have personal power that needs to be coupled with responsibility and cooperation to create the changes needed to improve their lives.
It is rarely practiced today because it is tedious and time consuming. However, the results are long lasting and while people are in the process of building organization, they are learning lessons they will never forget and the transformative roots are planted. The fruit is the leadership that is developed and the permanent changes in the community. In other words, this is how grass roots democracy works.
There are four elementary schools in California, one in Fort Worth, Texas, and a high school in Pueblo, Colorado named after Dolores Huerta.
She was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in March of 2013. She has received numerous awards: among them The Eleanor Roosevelt Humans Rights Award from President Clinton in l998, Ms. Magazine’s One of the Three Most Important Women of l997, Ladies Home Journal’s 100 Most Important Woman of the 20th Century, The Puffin Foundation’s Award for Creative Citizenship: Labor Leader Award 1984, The Kern County Woman of The Year Award from the California State Legislature, The Ohtli Award from the Mexican Government, The Smithsonian Institution – James Smithson Award, and Nine Honorary Doctorates from Universities throughout the United States.
In 2012 President Obama bestowed Dolores with her most prestigious award, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Upon receiving this award Dolores said, “The freedom of association means that people can come together in organization to fight for solutions to the problems they confront in their communities. The great social justice changes in our country have happened when people came together, organized, and took direct action. It is this right that sustains and nurtures our democracy today. The civil rights movement, the labor movement, the women’s movement, and the equality movement for our LGBT brothers and sisters are all manifestations of these rights. I thank President Obama for raising the importance of organizing to the highest level of merit and honor.”
Source: https://doloreshuerta.org/dolores-huerta/
Black History Month Labor Profiles: Bayard Rustin (1912-1987)
Bayard Rustin was one of the most important, and yet least known, Civil Rights advocates in the twentieth century. He was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania on March 17, 1912 and raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandmother, Julia, was both a Quaker and an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Quakerism, and NAACP leaders W.E.B. Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson, who were frequent visitors, proved influential in Rustin’s life.
Rustin attended Wilberforce University (1932-1936) and Cheyney State Teachers College (1936), in each instance without graduating. After completing an activist training program conducted by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), he moved to Harlem, New York in 1937. In Harlem, he enrolled at the City College of New York, began singing in local clubs with black folksingers including John White and Huddie Ledbetter, became active in the efforts to free the Scottsboro Boys, and joined the Young Communist League, motivated by their advocacy of racial equality.
By 1941, Rustin quit the Communist Party and began working with union organizer A. Philip Randolph and A.J. Muste, leader of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Together they organized the March on Washington Movement which protested segregation in the military and African Americans exclusion from employment in defense industries. Their protests resulted in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issuing Executive Order 8802 creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee.
Rustin along with FOR members George Houser, Bernice Fisher, and James L. Farmer helped create the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) which pioneered the civil rights strategy of non-violent direct action. In 1944, he traveled to California to help protect the property of Japanese Americans interned during the war. In 1947, he and Houser organized the Journey of Reconciliation, the first Freedom Ride testing the Supreme Court decision outlawing racial discrimination in interstate travel. After organizing FOR’s Free India Committee, he traveled to India to study nonviolence; and to Africa meeting with leaders of the Ghanaian and Nigerian independence movements.
As a pacifist, Rustin was arrested for violating the Selective Service Act and was imprisoned at Lewisberg Federal Penitentiary from 1944 to 1946. Throughout his civil rights career he was arrested twenty-three times, including a 1953 charge for vagrancy and lewd conduct in Pasadena, California.
Rustin was openly gay and lived with partner, Walter Naegle, at a time when homosexuality was criminalized throughout the U.S. He was subsequently fired by the FOR, but became executive secretary of the War Resisters League. He also served as a member of the AFSC task force that wrote one of the most widely influential pacifist essays in U.S. history, “Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence,” in 1955.
In 1956, Rustin went to Montgomery, Alabama and advised Martin Luther King, Jr. on nonviolent strategies of resistance during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. King and Rustin helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). However, in 1960 New York Congressman, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. forced him to resign from SCLC due to concerns shared by many black leaders about Rustin’s homosexuality and communist past.
Due to the combination of the homophobia of these leaders and their fear he might compromise the movement, Rustin would not receive public recognition for his role in the movement. Nevertheless, Rustin continued to work in the Civil Rights Movement, organizing the seminal 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with A. Philip Randolph.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Rustin remained politically active. Although he often shared their commitment to human rights, Rustin was a vocal critic of emerging black power politics. Toward the end of his life he continued to work as a human rights advocate, while serving on the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame. The year before he died he testified in favor of New York State’s Gay Rights Bill. Bayard Rustin died in New York on August 24, 1987 from a perforated appendix. He was 75.
From February 15-22, 2021, Federation members went to the electronic polls and voted 124 to 1 to approve a set of proposed amendments to our Constitution and By-Laws. For the one member who voted no, please get in touch with your Division Representative or Executive Board member to discuss your concerns with the changes.
Although the general structure of the Federation has not changed, the amended language in the Constitution will impact Federation Executive Board Officer elections. Each officer serves a two-year term and is elected in odd or even years.
President (Odd)
Executive Vice President (Even)
Part-Time Faculty Vice President (Annual)
Treasurer (Even)
Secretary (Odd)
Chief Grievance (Even)
Communications (Odd)
Organizing (Even)
In Spring 2021 (an odd year), for example, we will field nominations for the President, PT Faculty VP, Secretary, and Communications officer positions and then hold elections towards the end of the spring term. If you are interested in serving in one of these positions, please get in touch with the Federation.
If you have interest in helping the Federation without the demands of serving on the Executive Board, we have the following committees: research, PT Faculty, organizing, communications, and grievances. These committees are great opportunities to get more involved in the Federation and learn more about campus and state-wide issues related to our working conditions. To contact the chairs of these committees, you can go here.
Speaking of committees, the Committee on Political Education (COPE) is undergoing its own restructuring in response to growing participation among COPE members and COPE’s success at the polls in 2020. To learn more about COPE, you can go here.
Lastly, many of the recent changes in the Federation are designed to build our power as union. It is hard to believe, but we will return to the negotiating table in less than eighteen months. Please join us as we collectively prepare for those negotiations.
