MEMBERS CAN VOTE ON THIS AMENDMENT FROM FEBRUARY 15 TO FEBRUARY 22–CHECK YOUR EL CAMINO EMAIL FOR YOUR BALLOT. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU DID NOT RECEIVE A BALLOT AT eccfederation@gmail.com

As many of you know, a couple of years ago the Federation’s Executive Board began a series of steps to build our power and status on campus. We have improved relations with the Academic Senate. We restructured our office and operations. We believe our communication with members is strong, especially with our new website (aft1388.org), new duties for elected officers, and the initiation of division Federation Meet Ups. 

As part of these efforts, the Federation’s Executive Board examined our Constitution and By-Laws to see if changes might be made to improve the union (or at least improve some of the antiquated language and roles). After a collaborative process, we identified a number of sections of the Federation’s Constitution and By-Laws that we think are in need of revision. We are thus proposing to the membership a number of changes for consideration. Some of the proposed revisions will improve our union’s structure and organization, some will make the document more clear, and others will eliminate outdated language. 

The Executive Board has put together the following timeline:

1. Post proposed changes on website and email proposed changes to members today, February 4th. Members will have 7 days to review the proposed changes.
2. We will hold a general membership meeting on Thursday, February 11th from 2-3 PM (Zoom link on our Calendar on aft1388.org) to discuss the recommended changes, respond to questions, and consider suggestions. You may alternatively send any feedback that you have to eccfederation@gmail.com.
3. We will then conduct an electronic election February 15-22 on the proposed changes on a straight yes (accept all changes) or no (reject all changes) vote. 

Summary of changes in rough order of appearance (see proposed changes marked in red in this document)

1. Propose changing the name “the Executive Committee” (the elected union leadership) of the union to “the Executive Board.” This standardization will end general confusion in the document.
2. Propose using “The Federation” to refer to the union (aka, 1388, ECCFT) throughout the document. This standardization will end general confusion in the document.
3. There are a number of minor edits for clarity. For example, instead of “Part Time” we recommend using “Part Time Faculty.” If you see proposed language changes that are problematic, please let us know.
4. Eliminate the following two officer positions as voting members of the Executive Board.
   • LA Federation of Labor (county-wide labor organization) Officer. We will continue to send our delegates to the monthly meetings, but the officer position will be eliminated from the Executive Board.
   • The Committee on Political Education Chair. In other faculty unions, COPE has its own administration and is usually separate from regular union business. Our COPE will have its own chair. See aft1388.org/cope
5. Add the following officers who will be elected by the membership to the Executive Board. Two are new positions.
   • Chief Grievance Officer (An existing position, but currently appointed).
   • Organizing Chair (new position to lead member and non-member organizing efforts and outreach)
   • Communications Chair (new position to lead communications with membership, the administration, and the communities we serve)
6. Clarification of officer duties; also updating these duties for the 21st century. 
   • Adjust the timeframe for officer elections to Spring semester. New officers continue to start on July 1.
7. Clarification of committee duties; also updating these duties for the 21st century.
   • Add research, PT Faculty, communications and organizing committees as standing committees.
   • Eliminate editorial board (PROOF) (our website replaces old newsletter PROOF)
8. Clarification of special committees
   • Eliminate legislative committee (the COPE will do this work, see https://aft1388.org/cope)
   • Add audit committee

Welcome back colleagues!

What a year 2020 was! We are hopeful and excited about 2021. Here is the Federation’s January 2021 State of the Union.

Membership

Federation membership remains strong, though we have a few colleagues who are not currently members. Throughout the spring semester, the Federation will be directly reaching out to these colleagues to discuss the union and the benefits and importance of membership.

The Federation’s Financial Health 

The 2020 reorganization of our office and a renewed focus on trimming expenses have strengthened our union’s financial position.

The Executive Board has identified an issue with our current dues structure. We still use a flat rate, which is regressive in nature. A FT faculty member making $65,000 pays the same as a FT faculty member making $85,000; a PT faculty member with one assignment pays the same rate as a PT faculty member with three assignments. Later in the spring, the Federation will ask members to consider changing to a “percentage of income” rate to replace the flat rate. It will be more fair and we can use a percentage of income structure in a way that the majority of members would not see a meaningful difference in dues while a few folks on the edges will pay a little more or a little less every month.

Organizing for a Stronger Voice

In 2020, the Federation’s Executive Board launched a number of projects to strengthen our union and support our members. The new website has been useful for providing members with union-related information and updates.

In Fall 2020, we launched Federation Meet Ups in Humanities, BSS, NS, and for Part Time faculty on an experimental basis. These monthly meetings last about 45 minutes and provide an opportunity for members to get the latest Federation updates, ask questions, share ideas, and meet up. Participants appreciated these meetings and requested that the meetings continue. We see these meetings as crucial to building the kind of union culture necessary for a strong voice on campus. We would like to see these meetings happen in every division and program. We will help you get your division Meet Ups going if they are not happening already—just drop us a note.

We have activated several committees to build our union’s capacity. We have an active Part-time faculty committee as well as committees for organizing, grievances, communications, political education, and research. If you want to lend a hand to the Federation, these committees are a great way to get involved.

As you have seen, the Federation’s Executive Board is proposing changes to our Constitution to clarify officer and committee responsibilities and clean up the language of the document. The proposed changes are also part of a strategic restructuring of the Federation. Members will vote on these changes, which you can see at: https://aft1388.org/the-federation-executive-board-recommends-changes-in-constitution

In the political arena, Federation members revitalized the Committee on Political Education (COPE), which is a separate legal and financial entity that gets involved in BOT elections and local and state ballot measures. The COPE made significant progress in 2020, especially in building relations with the Trustees and community and political leaders in the South Bay.

In 2020 election cycle, we got two new trustees and we are hopeful about the new composition of the Board. The Federation is also stepping up its efforts to engage and work with the BOT to move the college forward.

Contract and MOU updates

Our current contract (BOT ratified in October 2020) will expire December 31, 2022; our current COVID MOU will expire June 30, 2021. We will begin negotiating another COVID MOU for Fall 2021.

When we do return to campus, full time faculty can create a schedule to be on campus three days a week. Prior contracts required being on campus for four days. In their December paycheck, FT Faculty should have seen an increase in the monthly health care contributions from the District. If you believe there was a mistake in this area, let HR or us know.

With our new contract, part-time faculty are eligible for 2 paid office hours every term and a $75 health care stipend.

We strongly encourage FT faculty to be more involved in PT hiring; if we are not involved, the deans will have a disproportionate amount of influence in the hiring of PT faculty.

We are already preparing for our next contract negotiations, which are set for 2022. We believe we will be in a better position at the bargaining table, but there is a lot of work to get us to that place. Please consider lending a hand to the union.

Member resources

On our website, we have our current contract, MOUs for working during COVID, information for filing for unemployment benefits, and more. Use the website to learn more about your rights and benefits as a union member. Want something added? Let us know.

Hong Herrera Thomas (HIST) put together a really helpful “faculty resource” guide. You can download the guide here:  https://aft1388.org/ecc-faculty-resources

Lastly, we really appreciate the work you do for our students, the college, and the communities we serve. If you ever have questions or want to lend a hand, please get in touch with us.

In unity,

The Executive Board

CFT is offering trainings on defending democracy this week. To register, you can sign up here: www.cft.org/training-schedule

Whereas, the American democracy has been overtly threatened through voter suppression, misinformation, scare tactics, and other actions limiting the full voice and will of the people; and

Whereas, Donald Trump’s presidency has been defined by a series of attacks on democratic institutions and fundamental norms of our government and civil society, including assaults on the rule of law, an independent judiciary, a free press, the separation of governmental powers, the right to protest, equality under the law, the freedom of association of working people, the rights of Black, indigenous, and people of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQ people and believers in minority religious faiths, and more; and

Whereas, in the final weeks leading up to the 2020 Presidential Election, in the midst of a surging coronavirus pandemic, and as Americans are voting, Donald Trump and his supporters have mounted an offensive attack on the very foundation of democracy — the power of the people to choose their government through free and fair elections; and

Whereas, American democracy is based on a peaceful and an orderly transfer of power and Donald Trump has refused to state he will accept the results of the election; and

Whereas, democracy is a defining principle of our work as educators and classified professionals and a core value of who we are as unionists and citizens; and

Whereas, our vote is our voice and sacred right upon which freedom depends; and

Therefore, be it resolved, that the California Federation of Teachers will adopt the four propositions from AFT’s resolution titled, “Protecting American Democracy.”

• Every American citizen registered to vote must be able to vote. In the context of the current pandemic, voters must have the ability to cast their ballot in ways that do not endanger their health, such as mail ballots and early voting, as well as sufficient ways to vote on November 3. There must be sufficient numbers of polling stations and election officials for all voters to vote. Intimidation of voters must not be allowed to stand.
• Every vote must be counted. Given the unprecedented numbers of votes that have been cast early and by mail, the final tally will not be known on election night. Indeed, there may not be enough of a vote count available on November 3 to project who has won. Counting must continue until all votes have been counted.
• The electoral verdict of “we the people” must be respected. It is not the right of those in power — whether they be in the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court, or in state capitols and local governments — to decide who governs us. It is the right of the people, and the people alone. The reins (or leadership) of government must be transferred peacefully to the choice of the people.
• We will not be intimidated. AFT members have a proud tradition of engaging in the peaceful struggle for American democracy. In the tradition of our teachers, Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph, we will organize and participate in peaceful, nonviolent mass protests against any efforts to thwart free and fair elections and to undermine American democracy. When democracy is in danger, we will be in the streets and in our workplaces with our colleagues in the labor movement and allies in the community, defending it against its enemies—foreign and domestic.

Therefore, be it further resolved, in the coming days, CFT will do everything in our power to support our fellow citizens in the effort to exercise their democratic franchise and cast their votes. We will remain engaged with fellow democracy defenders to see that those votes are counted and the will of the people reflected in the peaceful transition of power to the legitimate winners of our free and fair elections; and

Therefore, be it finally resolved, CFT will accept the legitimate outcome of the election regardless of the victor, but we will do whatever it takes to stand by our commitment to reject election interference, threats, tampering, stealing, acts of violence or other actions that undermine the will of the people in this exercise of Americans’ democracy.

Passed by the Executive Council on October 30, 2020
Source: https://www.cft.org/resolution/defending-american-democracy?fbclid=IwAR0kx2kEcNCaaxIxFgU2o6ID11-FMLqk6gljbaw1WcjYD7HOR1ndLooW0Xk

The Federation annually holds an Adjunct Equity Week to recognize and address the disparities that exist between adjunct and tenure-track employment. This week is a time for faculty, students, and staff to participate in engaging and informative activities to make progress toward closing the equity gap that persists as a result of the two-tiered employment system that exists across colleges. CFT says this about the importance of Adjunct Equity week:

Campus Equity Week is a time of education and activism that draws attention to the working conditions of faculty working on temporary, low-paid contracts. In general, the time to plan actions is during the last two weeks of October. What’s even more important is for campus communities (faculty, students, staff, and administrators) to get the word out this fall before the budget and legislative process begins.

Adjunct Equity Week 2022

Events and Activities:

Share Your Story!

Working From Home Ergonomics: Setting up a Remote Office

Landing a Full-Time Faculty Position

Friday, October 30,

2020: Spooky Trivia Night

Additional Resources

What is campus equity week?

At the October 19, 2020 BOT meeting, the Trustees approved the 2020-2022 Tentative agreement between the District and Federation. The new contract is in effect until December 31, 2022. We will post the new contract and relevant pages on our website once the final formatting is done.

For a summary of the proposed contract changes, you can refer to:  https://aft1388.org/negotiations-update-8-17-20

We cannot emphasize enough how this is not the contract we deserve. We will be back at the table in less than 2 years. With your help, we can be in a stronger position at the bargaining table next time. Please get involved and lend a hand. See the different committee options below. Have other ideas? We would love to hear them. 

There are two action items this fall that we wanted to tell you about. With the new contract, there will soon be a committee to review labs, studios, supplemental instruction classes, and other classes that are not paid hour for hour. Known as lecture-lab parity, any lab that requires extensive instruction can now go through a review process and be reclassified. Instead of getting 75% credit towards your teaching load per hour, you can get 1 for 1 credit if your application is approved. We encourage you to review your program course offerings and get your application in before the deadline. If you miss this year’s deadline, departments and programs can also submit applications in Fall 2021. The deadline for 2020/2021 is November 16th. Deadlines and application requirements can be found in Article 8, Section 5 and Appendix O of the new agreement.

The other pressing action item is a campus-wide push to reactivate Division Load committees. Division Load committees review the student course caps and course workload to ensure fairness. Here too there will be an application process, reviewed first at the Division level and then at the campus level. For many programs, this process of review has not happened in a long time even though the demands of our work have changed with technology and new policies. For example, we are now expected (even pre-pandemic) to be more available to students with email and, if you chose to use it, Canvas. Student caps for some classes were set in the days before the establishment of SLOs, but the new SLOs might require faculty to evaluate extensive writing assignments and teach critical thinking skills that they did not do in the past. If you have courses in this category, you can make an appeal to lower your student course caps. 

In unity,

Your Executive Board

Part Time Committee

• Focuses on improving part time working conditions
• Co-chairs: Selene Torres, storres@elcamino.edu and Juli Wolfgram, jwolfgram@elcamino.edu
  

Grievance Committee

• Handles grievances and trains grievance officers
• Chair: John Baranski, jbaranski@elecamino.edu
  

Committee on Political Education (COPE)

• Focuses on BOT elections and legislation
• Chair: Juli Wolfgram, 2388COPE@gmail.com
  

Membership Organizing

• Works on member education and organizing
• Chair: Hong Herrera Thomas, hherrera@elcamino.edu
  

Communications Committee

• Handles website, social media, press releases
• Co-chairs: Kelsey Iino, kiino@elcamino.edu and John Baranski, jbaranski@elecamino.edu
  

Contract Research Committee

• Works on gathering data for contract negotiations and other union projects
• Chair: Troy Moore, tmoore@elcamino.edu
  

The results of the September 13 to September 19 contract ratification vote are in. 184 members voted yes to approve the tentative agreement while 16 members voted no.

The next step is for the BOT to vote on the tentative agreement at their October 19, 2020 meeting. If the BOT approves the agreement, then our new contract will be in effect. We will then post the new contract on the website and update the relevant pages.

We will be back at the table in less than 2 years. With your help, we hope to be in a stronger position at the bargaining table next time. Please get involved and lend a hand.

As we wait for the BOT vote, here is a summary of the proposed changes in the tentative agreement: https://aft1388.org/negotiations-update-8-17-20

The specific tentative agreements themselves can all be viewed at

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iBHi4BXG7erVnEPwEXujc4BADT6HpFrP?usp=sharing

For questions on the tentative agreement, please write us at eccfederation@gmail.com

Contract Ratification Vote: Sept. 13 to Sept. 19

The Federation has scheduled the ratification vote from 8:00 AM September 13 to 8:00 PM September 19. The vote will be done with Election Buddy, which is a secure online voting platform. Federation members will soon receive a secure link in their email.

Only dues paying members of the Federation can vote on the proposed contract and all votes are confidential. If you do not receive your ballot, please send us an email at eccfederation@gmail.com

As a member, you will have the option to vote no, vote yes, or abstain. A simple majority of votes will determine the results.

A “yes vote” will ratify the contract. It will then be sent to the BOT  for ratification. At that point, the contract will be in effect from January 1st, 2020 through December 31st, 2022.

A “NO VOTE” will constitute a rejection of the proposed contract. If we do not approve the contract, this will further delay the contract negotiations process and the related gains in health benefits and non-monetary improvements in our working conditions. Additionally, if we end up in mediation, it likely will be a long process and any recommendations from the mediator are not binding. Accordingly, the District will be free to offer the same contract, or worse.

Again, we strongly believe that ratification of this agreement and avoidance of the impasse/mediation process is in the best interest of all faculty on campus. We will be back at the table in less than 2 years and with your help we hope to be in a stronger position than we are now.

A summary of the proposed changes can be found at https://aft1388.org/negotiations-update-8-17-20

The specific tentative agreements themselves can all be viewed at 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iBHi4BXG7erVnEPwEXujc4BADT6HpFrP?usp=sharing

For questions on the proposed contract, please write us at eccfederation@gmail.com

At 3 PM on Friday, August 28, the Federation will have a general membership meeting to allow members to vote on language to amend our Constitution so we can vote online (electronically) for contracts. Given the need to focus on safety in the age of COVID and the significant improvements in electronic voting platforms, the Executive Board proposes changes to Articles VIII and XIV of our Constitution to permit online voting.

To see the current AFT 1388 Constitution, go here. To see the proposed changes to Articles VIII and XIV, click here.

The Executive Board recommends a YES vote for the proposed changes to Articles VIII and XIV in our Constitution. Without these changes, we will not be able to vote on our 2020-2022 contract.

Our general membership meeting will begin at 3 PM. Members can join the meeting via Zoom by using the information below. When we have quorum, we will motion to approve the proposed language changes. If we have a second to this motion, we will discuss and vote on the changes. This will be the only item on the agenda. Executive Board members will be available after deliberations for general questions and updates.

Special General Membership Meeting

Friday, August 28⋅3:00 – 4:00pm

Meeting ID: 826 5826 7948 Passcode: 814684

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82658267948?pwd=TVZMUWEwckFRSGRkYlNBbmdNM3MwUT09

Meeting ID: 826 5826 7948

Passcode: 814684

Monday, August 17, 2020

Dear colleagues,

We have reached a tentative agreement with the District. 

Unfortunately, it is clear that the VPs, President, and a majority of BOTs do not fully value what we do. Furthermore, the ongoing global pandemic and economic contraction have led to delays, budget tightening, and reduction of funding for education at every level. Amidst these challenges, we believe we have negotiated the best possible contract that will substantively improve pay and working conditions for all faculty while simultaneously providing the best security of employment possible. Below is a summary of the past year at the bargaining table.

In March, when the administration delayed closing campus despite the growing scientific evidence that remaining open posed a threat to everyone on campus, the Federation pushed for the closure of campus to protect the safety of all employees and students while maintaining some semblance of continuity of education. 

When we abruptly transitioned to remote instruction with minimal time to prepare, the District made it very clear that the mountain of work associated with the transition to working from our homes should be done for free. We put safety and meeting our students’ needs first and for the rest of the term supported our students and did the work of the college. Once everyone was safe, we set to work rectifying this pay inequity for the additional work that we all had to do by negotiating a pair of memoranda of understanding (MOU) to further protect safety and provide some compensation for the extra work.

When the administration received federal CARES funding in the spring, they only offered to allocate some of the CARES funding for the following stipends for the transition: 

• $600 – For Non-Instructional Faculty
• $800 – For Instructional Faculty who converted one class
• $1000 – For Instructional Faculty who converted more than one class
  

As you know, we worked hard to achieve more adequate compensation and negotiated the following on our behalf: 

• $600 – For Part-time Non-Instructional Faculty
• 1000 – For Full-time Non-Instructional Faculty
• $1000 – For Instructional Faculty who converted one class
• $1400 – For Instructional Faculty who converted more than one class
• $1000 – For technology/instructional supplies for all Faculty
• $650 – For instructional faculty who complete SPOCK. 
  

In that second MOU, we negotiated substantial job and safety protections as we did in the first COVID MOU. 

For the 2019-2022 Contract negotiations, here is a summary of the proposed changes in our contract. 

Non-monetary changes

• Reduction of required weekly on-campus days from 4 to 3. 
• Improvements to the part-time faculty Rehire Priority List (RPL)
• Improvements to the ease of understanding and implementation of evaluations (Article 20)

Monetary changes

With this contract, we continue to fall behind our peers in overall compensation. But we did make some significant and groundbreaking gains.

Health care 

Full time

• Single: District contribution increased from $590 per month to $717
• 2 Party: District contribution increased from $1022 per month to $1231
• Family: District contribution increased from $1328 per month to $1542
  

Part time

• District health care stipend of $75 for ALL part-time faculty, per semester
• Two paid office hours at the D-1 Step 1 Lecture rate for ALL part-time faculty, per semester
  

Salary

The District received 3.26% COLA for 2019/2020 and is fully funded in 2020/21. Funding for 2021/22 is unknown at this point, though it does not look promising. The District’s negotiating team explicitly said they and the President and Board of Trustees will not agree to any raise for the duration of this agreement. By the end of negotiations, after months of discussions, we even asked for a 0.5% raise and the District’s team remained firm in their position.

Lab/lecture pay parity process: This may positively impact workload and pay for faculty whose classes qualify and are granted this status (currently laboratory hours are paid at 75% the rate of lecture hours instead of 100% as they are at other colleges).

We have tentatively scheduled the contract ratification vote for September. We strongly recommend that you approve the agreement with the District. While this contract may not encapsulate every improvement that you wished to see, we sincerely hold that this is the best agreement achievable and, as outlined above, there are tangible monetary and non-monetary improvements provided to every faculty member on campus.

Additionally, we strongly recommend that you get involved in your union. We have the opportunity to change 3 of the 5 Board of Trustee (BOT) seats in November. The BOT has the power to set the priorities in our budgets and hire and release our administrators. 

The Federation’s Executive Board has a two-year plan to build our union’s power. We encourage you personally to be involved in this process as well as the upcoming BOT elections. For more information, please see our website: aft1388.org

If we do not approve the contract, we will likely go to impasse and then mediation. This will further delay the contract, and the related gains in health benefits and non monetary changes. Additionally, the mediation process is not binding, nor will our tentative agreements hold. Accordingly, the District is free to offer the same language, or worse language, 6-12 months from now. Again, we strongly believe that ratification of this agreement and avoidance of the impasse/mediation process is in the best interest of all faculty on campus.  

We will have general membership meetings to discuss the contract on Tuesday August 18, 2020 from 3-5 and Wednesday August 18, 2020 from 3-5. To join either meeting, here is the Zoom info:

Meeting ID: 856 4753 9567

Passcode: 649470

For members, we want to remind you that we will have a member-only Zoom meeting on Friday, August 28, 2020 to vote on a much needed change in our Constitution to allow electronic voting and ratification. It will likely be in the afternoon, please mark your schedule. 

In unity,

John Baranski, Troy Moore, and Laura Saldarriaga 

Federation Contract Negotiation Team

LOS ANGELES – UTLA and LAUSD reached a tentative agreement late Sunday night that meets UTLA’s top priorities of protecting the health and safety of staff and students; closing the digital divide through a “smart start” to the school year and technology support; strengthening crisis distance learning to maintain daily school routines; expanding socio-emotional support during this period of trauma; and ensuring educator discretion and flexibility in recognition of the unprecedented circumstances in which we are living.  “When LAUSD school campuses closed in March, educators, parents and students had to adapt to an emergency moment, and over just a few days. This time, it was important to think through the challenges and to incorporate feedback from that experience — using information from a parent and member surveyand feedback from members — which is reflected in this final agreement,” said UTLA Bargaining Co-Chair Arlene Inouye.

The agreement will next go to the LAUSD School Board for a vote as well as a vote of UTLA members next week. If ratified by UTLA members, the agreement will remain in force until December 31, 2020, or until students physically return to LAUSD schools for regular instruction. UTLA and LAUSD will continue bargaining the necessary conditions for a physical reopening of schools. Some key highlights of the TA: Daily live interaction. An average school day from 9 AM to 2:15 PM. The defined schedule meets the requirements of state law (SB 98).  Targeted small group instruction, as well as time to focus on social emotional needs of our students. 

Opportunities for ongoing projects, small group work and independent work. Mondays are instructional support days; student instructional days are Tuesday-Friday. Office hours where students and families can connect with teachers. From Aug 20-28, a “Smart Start” to the school year to set the stage for teaching and learning,including using instructional time for walk-through sessions on technology to be used in class and time for outreach to students and parents. The afternoons of August 17-18 shall be used for planning and preparation for the beginning of the Academic Year. The afternoon of August 19 shall be used to make initial contact with students and families to make introductions and to explain procedures. A flexible work schedule for non-classroom educators and Early Childhood Educators,  to meet the needs of students. “This agreement will be brought to life by educators, students and parents.

This MOU is not an end point — it’s a beginning,” said UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz. “We must invest more resources to create healthy and safe schools and to build on this MOU with responsiveness to feedback from educators, parents, and students.”

Source: https://www.utla.net/news/utla-and-lausd-reach-tentative-agreement