by Karl Ewald
Welcoming Daniel Dodge
When I last wrote to you in December, we were preparing to interview candidates for CCFT’s Executive Director position. We had a strong group of candidates and were excited to invite Daniel Dodge to join our team. Daniel comes to us with a rich history in local politics including time as Watsonville’s Mayor, a member of Watsonville’s City Council, a member of several local boards, and, most recently, as a field representative for California Assembly member Luis Alejo. He is a former political director for the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council and has a long history in labor and community service.
A big thanks to Beth McKinnon, Tobin Keller, John Govsky, and Debora Bone for serving on the hiring committee. They really worked hard to get the word out, post the listing online, gather and read applications, prepare, organize, and conduct interviews, and then meet up to evaluate candidates… much of it during winter break.
Welcoming Dr. Matthew Wetstein
I’d also like to thank Dr. Matthew Wetstein for coming to visit our CCFT Council meeting on February 12th. Matt is a former faculty member at San Joaquin Delta College where he taught political science. He rose through the ranks and most recently served as their Vice President of Instruction. He talked a bit about his history serving in the faculty union and fielded questions from our council members. We appreciate this open dialog and I hope faculty members will take advantage of Matt’s generous open office hours schedule including times at both our Watsonville and Aptos campuses: http://www.cabrillo.edu/services/president/
Sharing Prosperity
2018 promises to surface challenges for our union, our college, and our community. I’ve written previously about the Janus vs. AFSCME case. In a nutshell, this case will be heard before the US Supreme Court on February 26th and will decide whether public sector unions, like CCFT, will be able to collect agency fees from employees it represents in collective bargaining that decide not to be members of the union itself. With the current makeup of the court, we expect the court to decide in favor of Janus and the United States will immediately become a “right to work” country. While one could see this as an abstract, lofty question on the nature of free speech, I believe it’s important to see this as part of a concerted effort to undermine the efficacy of unions in their collective bargaining role. It’s not complicated, it’s about money.
Soon after the court rules (assuming the court rules as expected), you should expect to receive mailers and other messages encouraging you to exercise your freedom, revoke your membership, and choose not to pay union dues. The message here is simple… The money they are concerned with is yours! There is a simple and straightforward truth behind this message: either dues or agency fees are coming out of your paycheck each month.
A quick aside…
When I visited Paris in 2011, there was a street scam running that was hard to avoid. It went like this. You’d be walking in a public place and someone would reach down and “pick up” a lost wedding ring. They’d ask you if you had dropped it… Of course, you hadn’t (because it was never on the ground in the first place). They would then ask if you wanted it. The first time this happened, I just said “no” and walked on. After the second time, I was curious what was going on, but still said “no”, and walked on. After getting back to my hotel, I googled it: the scammer will try to give the ring to you. Maybe because it is too small for them or because it’s a man’s (or woman’s) ring or because they are too busy to deal with it. No matter, they want you to have the ring and will eventually ask you for money, so you can both share in the good fortune together… They’ll contribute this “gold” ring and you’ll throw in some cash. Everybody’s happy right?
Ok, back to the topic at hand…
So, these mailers are coming from people that are looking out for you and your money. I encourage you to think through the other parts of their platform. It’s not hidden. It’s laid out right here on the Americans for Prosperity website: Energy, Healthcare, Labor, Limited Government, Spending, Education, and Taxes. It’s easy to see how they all link together… How can you cut taxes, limit government, and cut spending without tackling renewable energy incentives, the affordable care act, public education, and the labor unions that represent government workers?
I’m not trying to scare you. Nor am I trying to suggest that your union dues make no measurable impact on your paycheck. I am asking you to look a few steps ahead and consider the full impact this seemingly simple choice will have on our long-term pay, benefits, and pensions along with the cascading effects on our community. It’s true that your dues support the statewide efforts of CFT and the national efforts of AFT. Keep in mind that not every decision that affects your salary, benefits, and working conditions happens at the local level. The state budget has a tremendous effect on our local context for negotiations. We don’t even know how the shifts at the Department of Education will affect us, but we have already seen how changes in national immigration policy have affected our students and, in turn, our enrollment. What other changes will “trickle down” to our college and students? Where will the challenges to tenure, academic freedom, and pensions occur? Who’s at that table representing you?
Campus Updates
Enhanced Non-Credit: I wanted to let you know that CCFT and the District teams have come to a verbal agreement on faculty compensation for Enhanced Non-Credit instruction that will go into effect on June 1, 2018. Because we are actively developing curriculum and searching for instructors, I wanted to share the most important details with you immediately:
- Faculty compensation for Enhanced Non-Credit courses will be paid using a load factor of 0.75. Meaning that for each hour in class (for a full semester course) you will receive 0.75 teaching units. This is the how most laboratory classes are compensated (11.2.2.4).
- Using Appendix D.7 as a guide, this would mean that for each 60 minutes in class, you would be compensated for about 12 minutes of office hours and 32 minutes of preparation/grading.
- Contract Faculty will be able to teach Enhanced Non-Credit as part of their normal teaching load. That said, at least 50% of a contract faculty member’s load should be in credit classes. This is due to the way the state calculates the Faculty Obligation Number (FON).
- TUs associated with Enhanced Non-Credit teaching will include Flex and office hour obligations like all TU based teaching assignments. Contract faculty are still expected to help in college governance activities.
CPC/Board of Trustees:
- Fiscal Self-Assessment
- Governor’s January Budget Proposal:
- 51% COLA
- Fully Online College
- New Funding Formula (Performance Based):
- 50% apportionment (FTES)
- 25% low income students qualifying for waivers
- 25% for students completing degrees and certifications in three-years.
Guided Pathways:
- Website
- Program Mapping
