Your paycheck: Correct OPEB deductions this month!

This week’s paychecks mark real progress and show that our collective work has borne some fruit. The District has agreed to correct the ongoing OPEB over-deductions. As we’ve previously reported, City College has been over-deducting for OPEB (retiree health benefits) from hundreds of faculty for years in violation of our contract. AFT 2121 has an arbitration date set for May with the District, but, through our petition and ongoing advocacy, we have been encouraging the District to settle the matter and make faculty whole now. The alternative is to move forward with the arbitration process and spend even more college resources on legal bills.

Tenured and tenure-track full-time faculty should see the following starting with your February paycheck. The deduction should be marked OPEB or RHCTF.
– If you were hired FT in January 2014 or after: The deduction should be 2% of salary.
– If you were hired FT before January 2014: The deduction should be 1% of salary.

OPEB is a retirement benefit available to full-time faculty, and is not available to part-time and categorical faculty. Part-timers and categorical faculty should not have an OPEB deduction on your paycheck.

Ending the over-deductions is a great start, but we need to keep up the pressure and insist that the District make full repayment of past overdeductions to all impacted faculty. If you haven’t signed on yet, please add your name to the petition calling on our Board of Trustees and the Chancellor to do the right thing for faculty and our college: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/ccsf-leaders-we-urge-you-to-end-wage-theft

If your current OPEB deduction is not correct, you should report the problem to AFT and HR here: https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/report-payroll-problems

This progress is another example that when we work together, we can fix issues at this college. Let’s keep working on building a college where all groups work together for the good of our students.

Thursday, 2/29 last day to join Sick Leave Bank

The Voluntary Sick Leave Bank or VSLB is a union benefit that AFT 2121 fought for and won through collective advocacy. VSLB provides income protection for up to 100 days for faculty who experience catastrophic illness or injury. Both full- and part-time faculty are eligible, and we encourage everyone to participate.

You should have received notice a few weeks ago in your ccsf.edu email that you have an opportunity to join the Voluntary Sick Leave Bank (VSLB). Faculty can choose to join VSLB and contribute small amounts of sick leave to the bank to protect yourself and provide vital support for colleagues. Only faculty who have joined VSLB are eligible to apply for VSLB benefits.

• All faculty are eligible to enroll in VSLB, although there are only a few times that enrollment is possible. This call for contributions is one of the rare chances to join.

• Faculty working full-time can receive up to 100 days of half-pay sick leave. That can run concurrently with Partially Paid Sick Leave (17.D) to provide full pay.

• Faculty working part-time can receive up to 100 days at your current load. That can supplement your SDI benefits and fill in the waiting period for SDI benefits, to provide full pay.

• If you are already a member and want to stay a member, do not fill out the form. Your contribution will automatically be deducted from your sick leave. No need to respond to the email.

• To find out if you are a VSLB member, email aft@aft2121.org

• To join or quit the VSLB, use the membership form. It looks like the only way to access the form is from the link in your ccsf.edu email, sent 2/8/24. The last day to submit the form is 2/29/24.

More detail here.

Keenan Data Breach

Many of us have recently received worrying letters about a data breach at Keenan & Associates. Your union has been working to gather more information about this breach. The letters say there was a “cybersecurity incident” in August 2023. The breach reportedly affected 1.5 million people, and we have verified that it includes CCSF faculty, faculty dependants, classified staff, and administrators. We know that CCSF uses Keenan for the SERP and some other financial services, but it is unclear to many faculty why they have received these notices. Faculty need to know what data has been released. AFT 2121 has made multiple information requests asking the District what information they have shared with Keenan, but so far we have not received a definitive answer.

We have recently learned that Keenan is facing a class-action lawsuit because of this breach. We’ll share more information when we can, but in the meantime it is a good idea to check your credit report and consider putting a freeze or additional monitoring on your credit.

AFT Leadership Elections Coming Soon

Elections for AFT Leadership are coming up this spring. All AFT 2121 members in good standing will be getting elections information and nomination forms via email in the next week. The nominations process will conclude at our upcoming General Membership meeting at 3PM on March 19. Voting for precinct reps, officers, and delegates to the national convention and more will take place online April 15-29. Stay tuned for more information!

Register now for the COCAL Conference

August 8 -10, 2024

The XVth COCAL conference will focus on the many challenges facing contract academic staff as contingent academic labor, and the means we can use to mobilize and address them. You can learn more about the conference and COCAL here. Conference Flyer

California Labor: Yesterday & Today

Sunday Forum with Fred Glass | March 10 – 9:30 am

In person with breakfast at 9AM @ First Unitarian Universalist, 1187 Franklin Street, SF, Thomas Starr King Room or at 9: 30 on Zoom.

Zoom Link Here

You can phone in at +1 669 444 9171. Meeting ID: 917 5963 9495, Passcode: 740890

This talk is being given by Fred Glass, author, labor historian, former communications director for the California Federation of Teachers and retired CCSF faculty.

Vote on COPE Endorsements!

AFT 2121 members met today as part of your union’s Committee on Political Education to hear from a variety of candidates and discuss issuing recommendations on potential endorsements. Now is the time for voting!

All AFT 2121 members are encouraged to vote on whether your union will make the following endorsements. You have 48 hours to vote, and voting is open to all members in good standing, including Chairs, members of the retiree chapter, and full-time and part-time faculty.

Cast your vote here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZiYDuwMBv81usJTXQU21zd8W3_X-YiALe89b24SLSP8mIew/viewform

As faculty at a public college, political advocacy is an essential means by which you can fight for the competitive contract and strong college that you and your students deserve so be sure to show up and vote!

All Faculty Should Sign the OPEB Petition

City College has been over-deducting for OPEB from hundreds of faculty for years. Sadly, Chancellor Martin and his administration have decided to fight affected faculty rather than making them whole, as our contract and the laws of California dictate. Though it sounds stark, this is a straightforward case of wage theft, and we’re calling on CCSF leaders to fix the issue.

If you’re full-time faculty and were hired before Jan 1, 2014 check to make sure your OPEB deductions are no more than 1%. If they are, it’s a violation of your contract (see Article 21.F.1.1 here), and you should report the problem to AFT and HR here: https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/report-payroll-problems

And whether you’re directly affected or not, all faculty should sign the following petition calling on our Board of Trustees and the Chancellor to do the right thing for faculty and our college: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/ccsf-leaders-we-urge-you-to-end-wage-theft

The administration should not be using public funds to pick needless fights with its employees. Sign this petition, share it widely, and let’s keep working on building a college where all groups work together for the good of our students.

Join the Voluntary Sick Leave Bank

You should have received notice in your ccsf.edu email that you have an opportunity to join the Voluntary Sick Leave Bank (VSLB). The VSLB provides extra sick leave in case of catastrophic illness or injury. Faculty can choose to join VSLB and contribute small amounts of sick leave to the bank to provide vital support for colleagues. Only faculty who have joined VSLB are eligible to apply for VSLB benefits.

• All faculty are eligible to enroll in VSLB, although there are only a few times that enrollment is possible. This call for contributions is one of the rare chances to join.

• If you are already a member and want to stay a member, do not fill out the form. Your contribution will automatically be deducted from your sick leave. No need to respond to the email.

• To find out if you are a VSLB member, email aft@aft2121.org

• To join or quit the VSLB, use the membership form. It looks like the only way to access the form is from the link in your ccsf.edu email, sent 2/8/24. Fill out the form by 2/29/24.

More detail here.

March in March is Back!

Many faculty remember organizing bus-loads of students to actively participate in the democratic process through meeting with lawmakers in Sacramento and participating in the March in March. Put this on your calendars, more info coming soon!

Dear City College Community,

City College is a beacon of hope for working families, immigrants, and people of color in San Francisco. And the good news is that after years of attacks, we are bouncing back thanks to your work to elect new leaders for our college in the November 2022 election. Those leaders are fighting to restore and expand City College, so we again are able to meet demand for accessible high-quality programs in Nursing, English, ESL, Firefighting, & so much more.

Today, however, we are writing because City College is at risk. Our city is at risk.

The right-wing super rich are pouring money into San Francisco’s March 5 election. They’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to take over the Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC), the governing body for Democrats in SF, because they know the DCCC is important, and they want to use it to take over School Boards and our Board of Supervisors in order to cut public education and social services in our city.

Take Action:

1. Vote & use the following Voter Guide to make sure you’re supporting leaders who fight for your housing, your schools, and your streets.
   
   

2. Join us Thursday, February 15 from 5-7pm at El Rio (3158 Mission St.) for an essential fundraiser for pro-City College candidates Anita Martinez, Vick Chung, and Adolfo Velasquez, all running for seats on the Democratic County Central Committee. RSVP here: https://forms.gle/HeJtBk7dwN4zYNFj6

Make no mistake: the right-wing super rich want to cut schools and layoff educators so they can get richer. But we have numbers, and now is the time to use them.

Show up, vote, volunteer, and join us on Thursday so we can fight for the fair, just, and equitable city our students deserve.

In Solidarity,
AFT 2121 (The Teachers, Counselors, & Librarians of City College)

Take Action Against the Over-Deduction of OPEB Funds

As faculty, we dedicate our lives to serving students, and from our leaders, we expect a commitment to supporting us as we work to fulfill CCSF’s mission.

That is why the college’s continued over-deduction of OPEB contributions from hundreds of full-time faculty paychecks stings so badly. These over-deductions are a violation of our contract and indeed represent wage theft. Yet, when AFT’s grievance team brought this issue to the attention of our administration, we received denial and stonewalling. CCSF faculty deserve better.

We are launching a petition to Chancellor Martin & the full Board of Trustees calling on them to immediately cease these over-deductions and make all affected faculty whole.

Share & sign the petition here.

As it stands, the District is choosing to challenge this issue in arbitration in May. This would be a gross misuse of college funds, and a slap in the face to the largest group of employees at CCSF. The District will lose in arbitration.

We urge CCSF’s leaders to avoid needless conflict and do the right thing for faculty and our college.

Background
Full-time faculty have a retirement healthcare benefit that involves participation in the Retiree Health Care Trust Fund (RHCTF). This shows up as OPEB on faculty paychecks, and the amounts that faculty contribute to this fund were negotiated by your AFT 2121 Bargaining Team in 2013. For faculty hired before January of 2014, the payroll deduction that the college takes toward OPEB should never exceed 1%. However, for many months, even years, the college has been deducting a higher amount (from 1.25% to 2%) from hundreds of full-time faculty hired prior to 2014.

Our contract has a process for obvious violations like this one, and your AFT 2121 Grievance team has been moving this violation through that process.

Working with affected faculty, AFT’s grievance team has brought the issue to the attention of HR, filed a grievance, and has now escalated the matter to arbitration. During this whole time, the District has simply refused to meaningfully engage.

Arbitration is expensive and slow. It is unconscionable that the administration would choose to devote our college’s resources to a needless legal fight.

Pro-Public Education Voter Guide Now Online

The March 5 primary election is just around the corner, with vote-by-mail starting on February 5.

As faculty, it’s important we vote for pro-City College causes and candidates at the local and state level. We need leaders in City Hall and Sacramento who will listen to educators and stand up for our students.

We encourage all faculty to review CFT’s Educators Choice Voter Guide for recommendations.

March Elections are Coming–Help Get Out the Vote

This weekend the Democratic County Central Committee’s pro-education Labor and Working Families slate will be mobilizing in four areas across San Francisco. On Saturday at 10am, join the slate at Dolores Park or at Rossi Playground where you’ll hear from Supervisor Connie Chan. Sunday at 10am, you can find the slate at Garfield Square with Supervisor Candidate Jackie Fielder, or at Inner Sunset Farmers Market!

Delivering campaign literature, aka “lit dropping,” doesn’t require speaking to voters, merely old fashioned shoe leather. This is a great opportunity to help elect pro-City College candidates, get your exercise and get to know parts of San Francisco in a whole new way. Talk to your colleagues and get a department group to come out together!

Sign up for mobilizations here: https://forms.gle/AnouPZWvtxs2Gg216

Pay Raise and 9% Retro Pay in Jan Check

This week, your paycheck should have included the 9% raise we won for this year in our recent contract campaign. Because that raise was retroactive back to the start of City College’s fiscal year, it should also have included a lump sum payment of the 9% increase for July-December pay. Our new contract also includes repayment of the concessions that faculty gave up in 2021/2022, but that payment is still to come and was not part of your January paycheck.

There are a few ways to check your check, and faculty are strongly encouraged to do so. Our contract toolkit on the AFT 2121 homepage has calculators that can help: https://www.aft2121.org/. If you believe there may be an error, please reach out to aft@aft2121.org.

Free Access to Student Loan Repayment Resources for AFT Members

As you probably know, after a pause in the collection of student loans because of the COVID-19 pandemic, loan payments resumed the past fall.

The AFT has developed resources to help our members navigate repayment and available savings opportunities, including our web resources and our student debt clinics.

In addition, the AFT has partnered with a public-benefit corporation, Summer, to help members find the best repayment options to fit their individual circumstances. It’s free to all AFT members.

If you have student debt, you should at least look into this AFT member benefit. For example, Summer is helpful if:

• You are just entering repayment.

• You have been in repayment and want to take advantage of more-generous repayment options.

• You need to know the new rules to count your hours for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

• You need to consolidate older loans to enable loan forgiveness or reduction.

AFT – both locals and national – will keep fighting for student loan forgiveness. The progress made so far on student debt relief is a prime example of what it means to be a union member and why elections matter.

Check your Check! 9% Raise & Retro Pay in Your January Check

Next week in your January paycheck, the 9% raise we approved in our recent tentative agreement will be implemented, and you will also receive a retro payment for this new salary dated back to July 1st of 2023. This is what collective power and working together feels like. For further details on your new contract, see our contract toolkit on the aft 2121 homepage: https://www.aft2121.org/

Vote for & Help Elect Pro-City College Candidates this Weekend

You may have already received your ballot for San Francisco’s March 5 election. It’s essential that you vote for pro-City College leaders for San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC), a key body for setting the political tone of our city.

We need local leaders who understand the value of our work, our college, and our students. For more info on pro-public ed candidates and causes, enter your address here: https://www.cft.yourvoter.guide/#/search

And this weekend, join your colleagues and neighbors this Saturday and Sunday throughout the city to help elect pro-City College candidates to office. Trustees Vick Chung and Anita Martinez, and former EOPS Counseling Chair Adolfo Velasquez, are some of our endorsed candidates running, and we’ll be distributing campaign literature on doors to help them win. This is essential work for ensuring our students and college get the support they deserve.

 Sign up here!

Student Opportunity: Summer Labor Internship

We’ve all witnessed the growing resurgence of the labor movement and the power of collective action to achieve fair wages and productive working conditions.  

The San Francisco Labor Council and the UC Berkeley Labor Center are sponsoring summer internship opportunities for students to train to become the next generation of labor and community leaders.

This eight-week paid internship will place participants at a labor organization in addition to providing training.  Community college applicants must be rising graduates (aka on track to graduate from community college next spring). The program is open to all students at a college or university in the United States.

Please pass this opportunity along to students in your classrooms and other students in your life who may be interested!

The deadline to apply is February 9th. Program dates are June 17th-August 9th, 2024.