Dear colleagues,

What a year 2021 was! We are hopeful and excited about 2022 despite the continued challenges of COVID. Here is the Federation’s 2022 State of the Union Address.

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 our non-member colleagues to discuss the union and the benefits and importance of membership. Strong membership numbers and engaged members will be crucial to negotiating a good 2023 contract.

The Federation’s Financial Health and Discussion of Changing Dues 

The 2020 reorganization of our office and a focus on trimming expenses have strengthened our union’s financial position. Our reserves continue to grow and, according to our accountant, we are much closer to reaching an appropriate level of reserves for a union our size. As a reminder about how our dues are spent, some of our dues go to the California Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers who provide support and benefits. Our dues also go to local expenses such as professional services and maintaining our office. Union Officer stipends come from release time paid for by the District (much like Senate or other special assignment release time), not our dues.

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

Organizing for a Stronger Voice

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 divisions across campus and for Part-time faculty on an experimental basis and in 2021 the number of Federation Meet Ups expanded. These monthly meetings last about 45 minutes and provide an opportunity for members to get the latest Federation and work updates, ask questions, share ideas, and meet up. 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.

In February 2021, the Federation’s Executive Board proposed to the membership some major changes to the structure of the union with the goal of building our union’s capacity. When the members voted to approve the changes, we added officer positions, clarified officer roles and responsibilities, and created a number of standing committees (part-time faculty, organizing, grievance, communications, research, and social). Angela Simon has organized a retiree committee. If you want to lend a hand to the Federation, these committees are a great way to get involved.

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 El Camino College BOT elections and local and state elections. The COPE made significant progress in 2020, especially in building relations with the Trustees and community, labor, and political leaders in the South Bay and across the state.

In the 2022 election cycle, the COPE will be active in the BOT elections (2 seats are up this year) and we encourage you to lend a hand. Who our bosses are matters. The Federation is now meeting regularly with 4 out of 5 BOT members as well as the ECC President. These relationships were crucial to the successful reopening of our contract to recover nearly all of the 2020 COLA that the previous BOT and administration refused to pass on to its employees. 

All things Contract: Contract Reopener, MOUs, Pay, and Negotiations

Because of the efforts noted above, the Federation led a successful campaign to convince the BOT and administration to reopen our contract with the goal of recovering the state issued COLAs in 2020. The efforts with the help of Federation and community members eventually led to a combined 7.2% COLA, effective December 1, 2021, for all salary schedules and pay rates. 

Since March 2020, amidst the global pandemic, the Federation negotiated a number of MOUs and held a number of meetings with the district to ensure a safe, equitable workplace, whether we were working remotely or returning to campus. 

The Federation also continues to field questions and handle grievances from members and monitor and enforce our contract. One of the bigger issues we have worked on is ensuring accurate and timely payment for our labor. You should always check your contracts and paychecks for accuracy and if you have questions about your pay, please reach out to us.

Our current contract, which the BOT ratified in October 2020, will expire December 31, 2022. We have sent out a survey to see what is important for our next contract. Please fill it out. We believe we will be in a better position at the bargaining table this time around, but there is a lot of work to get us to that place. Please join your colleagues and step up your participation in the union. The most important determinant of our success in contract negotiations is the attention and active engagement of our members.

Member resources

On our website, we have our current (and older) 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. The resources for calculating correct load and pay will be available soon on our website. 

The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) has launched a statewide campaign to urge the legislature and the Chancellor’s office to fund part-time faculty health care. After a few years of hard work, including the recent petition campaign, there was movement in Sacramento. In his 2022 state budget, Governor Newsom has included $200 million to help community colleges pay for part-time health care benefits. The next step is to lobby the legislature to accept and even expand on Newsom’s proposal in the May revise. We will keep you posted and may ask for help for this basic economic right to be funded. By the way, the state budget is looking very healthy for the next year or two. 

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 to the Federation, please get in touch with us.

In unity,

The Executive Board

A RESOLUTION of the El Camino College Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1388 (ECCFT) to declare the lives of Black, Indigenous, and all Peoples of Color (BIPOC) matter; and

WHEREAS, we uphold the ideals of equal justice under the law, racial justice, and human dignity for all of our students and faculty; and

WHEREAS, allowing injustice to go unchallenged violates our principles; and

WHEREAS, racial inequality has always been a favored tool of those who wish to weaken and divide working people; and

WHEREAS, the Black Lives Matter movement has gained powerful traction in conjunction with recent tragic events involving, in particular, police brutality and institutionalized racism that target the BIPOC community; and

WHEREAS, we also believe that the growing divide between “haves and have nots” in American society undermines the realization of the belief that BIPOC lives matter in the actual workings of the criminal justice system, our schools, and workplaces; and

WHEREAS, we experience the toxic impact of the intersection of racism and poverty in too many of our students’ lives and in our classrooms; and

WHREAS, while we profoundly believe and insist that the lives of our BIPOC students and faculty matter;

WHEREAS, we express solidarity with the thousands of protesters throughout the Nation who are peacefully expressing their outrage and frustration at the deaths of unarmed Americans; and

WHEREAS, we support and express solidarity with the El Camino College Academic Senate’s resolution, to declare that the lives of Black students matter; and

WHEREAS, the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubrey, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and too many others are indicative of a growing social-economic division that threatens the current and future well-being of our academic community;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the ECCFT affirms its commitment to support policies and practices designed to dismantle structural racial inequality; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT will continue to fight for equal opportunity in employment, housing, education, and the funding of public services, and to ensure that all citizens are treated with the due process that is their legal right; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT will continue to support the Black Lives Matter movement and other racial justice organizations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT will confront and work to eradicate racial prejudice, bias, aggression and structural inequality in our colleges and workplaces; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT will work to tackle the inequities that result from institutionally racist policies and practices in our colleges and workplaces, including hiring practices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT will oppose policies created to marginalize BIPOC communities. We choose not to accept these conditions, as they exist, but to accept the responsibility for changing them in our colleges and workplaces; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT encourages members to add to their curricula concepts of equal justice under the law, of racial and social justice, and of institutional racism in their classrooms and other academic spaces; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT urges our members to engage in intentional learning spaces to organize for racial justice with recognition of the interconnected nature of racism coupled with systems of oppression that impact people based on class, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability and language; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the ECCFT recognizes that the fight for civil rights and equality is as real today as it was decades ago and urges members to take initiative in collaboration with local and national organizations fighting for racial justice against the harsh racist practices to which many BIPOC people are exposed. No matter who you are, Black lives matter, and a system of fair, transformative, and restorative justice that is accountable to communities is something to which each of us has a right; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, the ECCFT will join with other labor and educational groups to call for the creation of a national model for community policing and well-funded, thoughtful programs that divert marginalized young people into academic and career programs and for an end to systemic and institutionalized racism.

Adopted by the AFT 1388 Executive Board June 9, 2020.

The El Camino College student newspaper has published a series of articles on the Federation’s efforts to recapture COLA for faculty. Most articles were authored by journalism student Elizabeth Basile, who attended every on-campus event we hosted from start to finish.

We believe it was a collective effort on the part of faculty, Federation leadership, and supporters that helped us reach an agreement. We thank The Union for its attention to our fight. Below is the complete list of articles published in October.

Negotiations on COLA leads to more negotiation and campaigning

Written by Elizabeth Basile. Published October 6, 2021

El Camino College has enough in reserves; pay faculty what they deserve

Written by Editorial Board. Published October 6, 2021

El Camino College Federation of Teachers holds second educational campaign on campus

Written by Elizabeth Basile and Jose Tobar. Published October 9, 2021

The El Camino College Federation of Teachers reaches agreement with District over COLA

Written by Elizabeth Basile. Published October 14, 2021

El Camino College Federation of Teachers gathers in response to agreement reached on Oct. 13
Written by Elizabeth Basile. Published October 20, 2021

On Thursday September 30th faculty gathered on campus to focus on COLA negotation efforts. Student journalists were there to cover the event. See the article published by The Union on October 3, 2021.

In addition to the article, we have a video for you to watch about the event. The Federation leadership was please to see the degree of support we had from faculty, staff, students, community members, faculty family, and even a trustee from a local K-12 Unified School District. Contact us for information on our next event.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @eccfederation or join our facebook group.

The Federation has worked for several months to reopen Article 10 (Compensation) of our 2020-2022 contract with the goal of negotiating the 2019/2020 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 3.26%. We are pleased that President Thames and the Board of Trustees (The District) have agreed to re-enter negotiations.  

During the 2020-2022 contract negotiations, the District’s negotiating team contended that it had already spent the salary portion of the 2019/2020 COLA on other expenses and that massive budget shortfalls were impending. In response, the Federation’s members voted to forgo a salary increase in 2020 in support of the El Camino College community. 

The District’s reserves (savings in the bank) are on track to grow from $28.5 million (2018/2019 actuals) to $56.2 million (2021/22 projected) after accounting for the Federation-negotiated 5.07% COLA that will take effect January 1, 2022.   

The Federation proposed a retroactive 3.26% COLA increase to our salary schedules, effective January 1, 2020. This is estimated to cost the District about $4.4 million. However, the District’s offer was a one-time payment significantly less than the District has received from the state. 

The Federation’s negotiating team did not accept this offer because it is drastically less than what faculty at nearly every other campus in the state have received–most have received the full 3.26% COLA. 

Another negotiations meeting is scheduled for Monday 10/4/21. Please get involved with the Federation so we can work together to address this problem.  

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.

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!

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 reading this 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 
•  2021 Immediate Action Budget Package Emergency Financial Assistance Allocations- $1,750,220 
•  2021 Immediate Action Budget Package Student Retention and Outreach- $335,886 
•  2021 Immediate Action Budget Package CalFresh Outreach- $47,753 
•  HEERF III Allocations for Public and Nonprofit Institutions under ARP section 2003(a)(1)- $44,463,468 

Total: $85,406,637 

May Revise– http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/ 

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.  

http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2021-22/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/HigherEducation.pdf 

Apportionments Cost-of-Living Adjustment— 

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

For complete details on the selection process visit this page:  ECC Presidential Search webpage.

For candidate pictures, and links to biographies and recorded forums, see email sent by Marketing & Communications on 4/28/21

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