After our one-day strike: What are the next steps and challenges?
Last week AFT 2121 and over 1,000 faculty, students and community allies went to the streets to join in our fight for the City College San Francisco deserves. Our administration now knows that we are willing to strike if needed. The next day, several dozen AFT 2121 members and supporters came to the CCSF Board of Trustees meeting to urge the Board to settle a fair contract and resist austerity.
One-day strike photo album
San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously pass resolution supporting our one-day ULP Strike!
Fact-finding: Myths and realities
There are a total of 4 dates for Fact-Finding. The process of meeting with the Fact-Finding panel will begin on May 27th and continue on June 6th, July 6th, July 14th. There are some common myths about Fact-Finding that we need to dispel.
- Myth: Fact-Finding will settle our contract dispute.
- Reality: Fact-Finding is NOT Binding Arbitration. We are taking fact-finding very seriously as another venue to make our case and continue negotiations with the administration. However, neither side has to settle for what the Fact-Finding report recommends. Ultimately, our contract will be settled by continuing to build our solidarity with students, community, and our own determination to strike if necessary.
- Myth: Fact-Finding settled the California Faculty Association(CFA)/California State University (CSU) contract dispute.
- Reality: The California Faculty Association had called for a five-day strike before settling a good contract. Although the California Faculty Association did have a sympathetic Fact-Finding report it was their solidarity combined with community support and their willingness to strike if needed that prevailed.
- Myth: Fact-Finding uncovers Facts that all agree on.
- Reality: Fact-Finding lets each side make its case with both sides mustering information that they believe support their claims. The Fact-Finding panel consists of one member from each side and one member that both sides agree to. In the CFA/CSU case the CSU panel member dissented from the report’s findings.
What are the challenges? FCMAT, cuts and austerity
When the CCSF Board of Trustees met the day after our one-day strike our members, students and community allies urging a fair contract were not the only ones there. FCMAT (Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team) was there too, urging the BOT to hold the line on faculty wages, especially an ongoing wage increase, and to keep cutting classes by 26% or more if needed. The plan to suppress faculty salaries into the foreseeable future and enact class cuts spells disaster for the College. CCSF will lose faculty and enrollment and in turn lose more funding–a downward spiral. We have shared our critique of FCMAT with the Board of Trustees, but FCMAT is a powerful voice of fiscal austerity whose narrow vision of public education must be challenged.
Report-backs
Our negotiating team will have a series of report-backs over the rest of the semester as we prepare to release our counter-proposals to the administration’s most recent offer before we begin fact-finding. Stay tuned. We will announce those dates soon.
AFT 2121 end-of-year party
Come celebrate all the organizing work that has occurred this year and the power we have built in the ongoing struggle for quality public education. The end-of-year AFT 2121 party is Friday May 13 in the Ocean Campus cafeteria from 3:30 – 6:00.
Last Delegate Assembly meeting of the semester
Our last Delegate Assembly of the semester is Tuesday, May 17th in MUB 238. We will discuss summer organizing, our Free City initiative, and the final stage of our contract campaign.
Summer organizing
Over the summer, our struggle will continue. Look for more information coming up about how to stay involved over the summer, a critical moment for us to build our capacity before next semester, as we prepare for another possible strike to settle our contract with the administration.
Our fight: In the news
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