Each October, CFT chapters around the state hold a Campus (formerly “Adjunct”) Equity Week. The purpose is to shed light on the precarious working conditions of adjunct (part-time/contingent) faculty who make up the majority of college instructors. At El Camino College, the Federation’s PT Faculty Committee will host a series of events. Please join us.
Author: admin
Members and BOT ratify the 2022-2025 Contract!
10/18/23 Update: The membership voted overwhelmingly (99% in favor) to approve the tentative agreement with the district. The ratification vote concluded Sunday, October 8 and the Federation notified HR of the vote. On October 18, 2023, the BOT approved the tentative agreement. The district will work to implement the new contract, including new salaries and hourly rates, new health care changes, and retroactive checks. As always, thanks for the support and patience during this extended negotiations process.
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The Federation is holding a vote from Monday, October 2, 2023, at 12:00 AM to Sunday, October 8, 2023, at 8:00 PM to ratify our current tentative agreement (TA) with the District so that it can be implemented as our new contract.
Important notes:
- This vote will be conducted via ElectionBuddy, our secure, secret ballot platform.
- If you are a dues paying member, you should receive your electronic ballot in your @elcamino.edu inbox on Monday, October 2, 2023.
- If you are a dues paying member and do not receive a ballot on Monday, please immediately contact us at eccfederation@gmail.com.
- A comparative summary of the District’s last, best, and final (LBF) offer, presented in March 2023, the TAs reached in mediation, and the TAs reached during negotiations prior to mediation are all available on our website for your consideration. The Federation strongly encourages you to review this TA thoroughly before casting your vote.
- The Federation and the District support ratification of this TA.
The Federation E-Board is available for questions at eccfederation@gmail.com. If you want to be with a human for your questions, scroll down on the home page to the calendar and click on the black dot for the day you are interested in to see the office hours/location this week.
If the tentative agreement is ratified by the members, the tentative agreement will then go to the El Camino College Board of Trustees for ratification.
In unity,
The Federation
#TogetherTuesday #RedforEd
Remember to wear UNION RED every Tuesday!
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Email: eccfederation@gmail.com
Website: aft1388.org
Twitter/IG: @eccfederation
FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/eccftnegotiations/
Not a member? Join here, or update your contact info here
Contract Negotiations: Why Faculty and Allies are Marching
LACCD, Long Beach, Cerritos, SMC, North Orange County, and Rio Hondo, to name just a few of our peers, have settled their negotiations for 2023-2024. Our contract expired December 31, 2022. We are now in mediation, with a state appointed mediator.
Until we have a contract, ECC faculty and our allies will be marching on campus, showing up to administrator office hours, and speaking before the Board of Trustees. And probably taking a strike authorization vote if the District tries to impose a subpar contract like the one faculty accepted in 2010.
Why are we and our allies marching?
From 2010 to 2020, the ECC salary schedules, salaries, and health benefits have eroded compared to our peers and in terms of the actual cost of living (housing, food, insurance, transportation, utilities, etc.). Are our colleagues at other colleges doing better work than us? Is that what the District is telling us?
In the 2020 contract negotiations, the District’s negotiating team delayed negotiations for months, offering uncompetitive benefits packages, and repeatedly proposing zero COLAs during the life of the contract. At the time, the District’s team stated that the ECC budget, the state budget, and the economy all presented conditions where ECC might have to apply for high interest loans to keep the lights on because ECC’s income and reserves would not meet operating expenses. The Federation’s leadership team asked administrators for evidence to support these claims and received none.
At the height of the pandemic, the District’s negotiating team ground faculty down at the bargaining table month after month until our members, uncertain in the middle of a pandemic and working with an expired contract, accepted a contract that continued to put us on a trajectory to fall significantly farther behind our peers. Then, predictably, during the life of the 2020 contract, ECC’s unrestricted general fund grew from $34,231,353 (actuals at end of FY 2019-2020) to $56,597,101 (actuals at end of FY 2021-2022) while the proportion of ECC’s budget going to faculty salaries and benefits decreased. While we understand that some of the increase in reserves was derived from one-time money, the District’s predictions from the 2020 negotiating table were nonetheless wildly inaccurate. The faculty at ECC largely bore the burden of the District’s inaccurate budget predictions at the 2020 negotiating table in the form of significantly lower pay and uncompetitive benefits. Even after accounting for the hard-fought increases that the Federation achieved in the 2021 reopener, which still did not recover the state-funded COLA amount during that period, ECC faculty now find ourselves even farther behind their peers.
In the 2023 contract negotiations, we have repeatedly asked the District’s team how other districts manage their budgets in such a way that offering COLA (or more) to the salary schedules, competitive healthcare programs, and progressive mid- to late-career salaries is possible while maintaining a healthy reserve and functioning college. (By the way, the proposed 2023-2024 Cerritos budget will add to their reserve.) Generally, our experience has been that the District’s team recycles the same unsupported arguments from 2020 about an unknown but financially devastating future. The District’s team has not expressed what makes us different from other colleges and districts, just that it would be financially imprudent for ECC to be like them.
Taking the District’s concerns at face value, in addition to substantially reducing our proposal to well below what many of our peers have already secured in ratified contracts, we are currently proposing a shorter contract duration, ending June 30, 2024, which would allow the District’s administration and faculty the benefit of more data to better understand our budget and funding. This approach also locks the District in for a lesser total financial obligation over the course of this shorter contract. Members of the District’s negotiating team have instead decided to repeat the 2020 approach at the table with the goal of grinding us down into accepting a contract that faculty are unable to ratify. This is doing irreparable harm to faculty morale, recruitment, and retention.
Our members, tired of historic inflation gobbling up their household income, are tired of hearing how ECC can’t do what other districts do while simultaneously hearing reports of how we are hitting our enrollment goals and adding substantially to our reserves. Our members are tired of working without a new contract, and the improvements in compensation and working conditions that it would bring. Finally, we are extremely disappointed by the District’s refusal to discuss the Federation’s collaborative solutions at the table and further disheartened that the District pivoted to a final offer after presenting few, and in some cases singular, proposals on some items.
Until we have the contract we deserve from the District’s team, please lend a hand when you can, show up to actions, and speak your mind about how you feel about the current state of negotiations. Sign up here.
Support CFT Campaign to Secure Healthcare for PT Faculty (w/ 9/5/22 update)
September 5, 2022 update
Because of the mobilization of faculty, family, friends, and allies across the state (see original story and ask below), the California legislature allocated $200 million for PT health care benefits. This historic victory means that community college districts can be reimbursed from this $200 million fund to provide PT health care benefits to their employees, but districts are not obligated to do so.
That means that across the state, local unions need to negotiate with their employers to ensure these funds are used on our campuses. Such a deal seems like a no-brainer. However, in many districts administrators will resist using this money to provide a basic human right.
At El Camino College, the Federation will be negotiating this new benefit for PT faculty and will need your support and help. To get involved in the campaign, please contact the chair of our PT committee, Laila Dellapasqua at vespa250cc@gmail.com
Below is the original story published February 23, 2022.
Far too many part-time faculty in California do not have access to affordable quality healthcare. The lack of healthcare access for many part-timers, a reality made all the more pernicious and conspicuous during a pandemic, is symptomatic of the far-reaching exploitation of contingent faculty. A majority of part-time faculty across California have deemed the creation of a healthcare pool important.1
In response, CFT launched a state-wide campaign in October 2021 to secure healthcare funding for part-time faculty. This campaign has already achieved a foundational win. In January 2022, Governor Newsom allocated $200 million for part-time healthcare to the state budget. This is significant as it represents an increase of almost 400 times the existing funding for part-time healthcare!2
But, we have more work to do. We need guarantees that this funding will remain in the state budget. Part-time faculty deserve quality healthcare that is affordable, and we must continue the work for a more equitable higher education system. We are asking our colleagues to please support this effort in the following ways:
- Send a letter to the state legislature to support part-time healthcare now!
- PT faculty across the state will be testifying before state legislators on April 5th. Please reach out if you are interested in providing testimony: email erussell@elcamino.edu or sign up directly at https://www.cft.org/pt-hearings-april-5. CFT will provide speaker training.
- Additionally, CFT recently launched a survey to better understand the healthcare needs of PT faculty. We encourage all current PT faculty to complete this important survey: https://www.cft.org/pt-survey. The survey will take about 15 minutes and the results will provide critical data that will strengthen our advocacy efforts.
1In a 2020 survey, 73% of CFT respondents thought the creation of a healthcare pool was important or very important for part-time faculty. https://www.cft.org/article/cft-launches-campaign-secure-healthcare-part-time-faculty
2You can read more about the campaign here: https://www.cft.org/article/member-action-leads-governor-pledge-200-million-toward-part-time-faculty-healthcare
Welcome back
Dear friends and colleagues,
We hope you and your family and friends are well. It is hard to believe that the summer is winding down and classes are right around the corner. It has been a strange year, for sure. We have been working hard over the summer. We have nearly completed the reorganization of the front office, created a new set of policies and procedures to improve the accessibility and transparency of the union, and, as you can see, launched a new website. We also continue to bargain with the District. We will be sharing details soon, but we are already planning and organizing for our next contract in 2023. In the meantime, please be safe and get involved with your union. We have a long list of things to do for the 2023 Contract negotiations and we would welcome a hand.
In unity,
Your Executive Board
CFT believes that Black Lives Matter
June 17, 2020 Whereas, CFT is a Union of Educators and Classified Professionals representing more than 120,000 employees working at every level of public and private education from Head Start to Universities of California, many of whom come from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, specifically Black racial and ethnic backgrounds; and
Whereas, CFT condemns those building blocks of racial oppression, anti-Black racism, and unconscious biases that provide the structural support for America’s historical foundation of systemic racism;
and Whereas, CFT maintains that America’s systemic racist ethos has not been sufficiently addressed in greater society, given that such racism has engendered far too many incidences of unjustified killings of unarmed Black lives, especially by law enforcement, the most recent being George Floyd;
and Whereas, Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, kneeled on the neck of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man lying face down while handcuffed, for nearly 9 minutes while Mr. Floyd begged for his life saying, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,” as three other officers prevented bystanders from intervening;
and Whereas, the senseless, dispassionate killing of George Floyd is just one in a long line of killings of Black lives who incessantly face police violence, prosecution, and incarceration in far greater — and disproportionate — numbers than other citizens in America, causing severe harm and heart-break, primarily to Black communities, but also to the collective society;
and Whereas, in 2016 CFT recognized the intense and overwhelmingly toxic effects of systemic racism at that time, partly as a result of the killing of a Black, male youth, Trayvon Martin, in 2012, adopted a resolution establishing its Racial Equity Task Force to educate itself and its members about America’s systemic racism against people of color, specifically Black men, its history of racial oppression, and to acknowledge, give space to, and confront the difficult topic of racial bias;
and Whereas, CFT is working toward cultivating its own consciousness regarding systemic racism via its Racial Equity Task Force, and has begun assisting Black lives in becoming more integral parts of an education system that can only be strongest when all students have an opportunity to be positively influenced by a racially diverse group of Educators and Classified Professionals;
and Whereas, the Executive Council of CFT adopted a Code of Conduct to acknowledge a need to correct its own actions related to racial discrimination to prevent and prohibit discriminatory, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior in the workplace at any CFT activity, event, or meeting, even if conduct does not rise to the level of legal violation;
and Whereas, the Code of Conduct adopted by the CFT strives to provide a work environment that is free of discrimination and harassment, that is positive and respectful of an individual’s race, ethnicity, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, gender identity or expression, ancestry, pregnancy, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law;
and Whereas, although, CFT is doing its utmost to change its own consciousness with regard to systemic racial prejudice, CFT acknowledges that very little has changed with regard to America’s progress toward ensuring the protection of the rights, liberties, and overall value of Black lives;
and Whereas, America has far exceeded the time necessary to act decisively to end anti-Black sentiment, discrimination, macro- and micro-aggressions that are unconsciously engaged through white ethnocentric biases;
and Therefore, be it resolved, that CFT states emphatically its position against systemic racism in all of its forms and ardently state that Black Lives Matter;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT states emphatically that ALL Black Lives Matter — men, women, all those along the gender spectrum, trans, queer, disabled, undocumented, lives with record;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT reaffirm its commitment and duty to eviscerate systemic racism, which has been long known to erect barriers between the advancement and freedoms of Black lives, specifically our Black Educators and Classified Professionals, while simultaneously intensifying our efforts to seek out, listen to, and amplify the voices of our Black members and all who support them;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT reaffirm its effort to diversify its staff at all levels through the implementation of its affirmative action policy;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT actively and strategically engage locals and employers where we have affiliates to address systemic racism in their policies and implementation decisions that affect the education system we serve;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT continue to actively lobby against budget cuts that will result in massive layoffs of mostly classified jobs, which will disproportionately impact the Black community;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT partner with and support efforts of other organizations and/or groups aligned with the movement for defending Black lives against systemic racism, especially those organizations and/or groups that are Black-led, and 1) share the goal of gaining liberation, reparations, access, and equity for Black lives in California; 2) remain focused on addressing and ameliorating the economic issues facing Black communities; and 3) are committed to reforming law enforcement and the criminal justice system at all levels (partner organizations or groups might include, but are not limited to: educational, labor, non-profit, civil rights, health, justice, religious, community, grassroots, local, state, national, and international, etcetera);
and Be it further resolved, that CFT champion efforts ensuring economic and democratic liberties for Black lives by achieving such ends as the 1) reinvestment in social services and education; 2) access to living wages and family-supporting jobs; 3) access to universal healthcare; 4) right to vote safely without barriers; 5) right to home ownership in neighborhoods they may have been formerly denied access to; and 6) right to a safe and secure livelihood free of fear from unnecessary violence from law enforcement;
and Be it further resolved that CFT advocate for efforts at all levels, including our local, state, and national Labor Councils and Coalitions, for example: The King County Labor Coalition, which demands that law enforcement unions immediately enact policies that actively address racism in law enforcement and hold officers and agencies accountable for policy violations against citizens and that they are removed from the Labor movement for such violations;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT advocate for efforts of the labor movement that further the cause of racial and economic justice;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT refrain from working with or supporting law enforcement departments, organizations, and labor organizations that support anti-Black policies and/or engage in activities that bolster the implicit racial bias known to exist;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT refrain from working with or supporting law enforcement departments that utilize: 1) the choke hold and carotid artery hold; 2) racial profiling; and 3) the use of the stop-and-frisk style programs;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT advocate for efforts to reform police policy, which may include the following: Eliminate all uniformed police officers from school and college campuses; Redirect these funds to social services, mental health services, health care, and other school and community building programs; Drastically reduce the funds for city and county police forces; Defund the militarization of the police force at the federal level in order to end the dissemination of military equipment and tactics to state and local police departments; Implement mandatory training on de-escalation and implicit race bias; Create civilian review boards with power to implement real accountability measures for law enforcement officers and departments that violate their oath to protect and serve; Create a national law enforcement database to record and track behavioral misconduct; Join in discussions regarding bail and drug law reforms;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT commence action on this resolution immediately upon its passage by identifying and appointing leaders who will make significant strides forward with regard to the issues mentioned herein;
and Be it further resolved, that CFT hold a press conference with partner organizations and leaders informing the public of our commitment laid out in this resolution to actively engage the dismantling of systemic racism that affects primarily ethnic minorities, but specifically Black lives;
and Be it finally resolved, that CFT fully engage all of its resources to achieve the goals as laid out in this resolution.
Passed by CFT Executive Council on June 17, 2020
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2007 - 2024
El Camino Federation of Teachers, AFT 1388