AFT and the District have finally agreed on a process for addressing the fiscal crisis without unilateral imposition of a wage cut as the District had threatened. Now, no concession will take place without approval by union membership in a ratification vote, which will be scheduled to occur immediately after return to work in August. AFT 2121’s Executive Board and Delegate Assembly will weigh in, and AFT will inform all faculty through notifications during the summer and Flex Day presentations, followed by an all-faculty ratification vote on August 21-24, 2012. Implementation of any agreed-to and ratified wage cut would begin with the August 28 paycheck, although the giveback would be retroactive to July 1, 2012.
The AFT 2121 Executive Board met last week and gave the approval to move forward with this plan for negotiations and ratification, which also includes the 6-month extension of the 2009-12 contract that AFT sought.
The target date for reaching a tentative agreement is this week, and the Union and District have two negotiations sessions scheduled. There has been considerable tension at the bargaining table over the Union’s need for objective data to define the faculty “contribution” to the fiscal crisis and minimize a salary giveback by faculty, and the District’s concern that it has little margin for error in achieving the savings needed to close an unprecedented budget gap.
Though a process has been agreed to and significant progress has been made, full details of a tentative agreement have not yet been reached. The AFT 2121 negotiating team has been exhaustively engaging the District over cost-outs of increases for salary steps and health care premium hikes, and assessing the savings attributable to faculty through attrition (retirements) and program cuts in 2012/13.
Based on these numbers, the salary giveback necessary to help close the $14 million deficit faced by the District for next year will be significantly less than the 7.17% maximum figure threatened by the District last month.
Faculty and all District staff have sacrificed for years now—since the start of the recession. With the state budget almost finalized and a significant gap in next year’s budget, all employee groups at the college are expected to contribute.
As we have repeatedly said, the real solution is new State and Local revenues that will enable the District to support employees and serve students; we have lost what amounts annually to tens of millions of dollars. The CCSF parcel tax is going forward and will be on the San Francisco ballot in November. Together with SEIU and other supporters, we’ve kicked off the campaign. You can join by attending the next planning meeting on Tuesday, June 19, 6:00 p.m., at the SEIU hall at 350 Rhode Island between 16th and 17th streets.
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