City College’s enrollment has rebounded since COVID; our finances are stable; and our students, programs, and employees remain second to none. We change lives, and that mission deserves quality leadership at the top.
Unfortunately strong leadership and real accountability will not happen with billionaire dark money influencing who is elected to City College’s Board, the body entrusted with choosing the college’s leaders and holding them accountable. Make no mistake: a billionaire-backed majority on our College Board chose Kimberlee Messina. Students, labor, & community were clear in supporting a different candidate, Dr. Carlos Cortez, but the GrowSF-backed majority on our Board ignored the input of the people who make CCSF great.
That’s why it’s so important, whether you receive a ballot by mail next week or vote in person on November 3, that you vote for Leah Lacroix, Jeremy Lee, and Dr. Bunny McFadden for College Board. Endorsed by teachers and classified staff, Leah, Jeremy, and Dr. Bunny have the courage, vision, and commitment to bring real accountability to the top of City College.
Leah is a Black community leader with a long record of advocating for San Franciscan students. Jeremy is a Chinese-American financial manager of affordable housing. And Dr. Bunny McFadden is a Chicana professor and mother with a doctorate in higher ed teaching and research. All three went to community colleges (two of them to CCSF), and know firsthand what SF students need to succeed. They will demand real accountability from our leaders because they answer to the community who supports them. Not billionaires.
You can meet all three candidates at a mobilization and canvass with Supervisor Connie Chan, CongresswomanPramila Jayapal, and othersthis Saturday Oct 3 at Chan Kaajal Park 11am-2pm.RSVP here and find AFT 2121’s full voter guide for this November here.
Elect the Our City College Slate for CCSF Trustees
College Board candidates Leah LaCroix, Jeremy Lee and Dr. Bunny McFadden have come together as a pro-labor slate and have earned the endorsement of our faculty union because of their worker, student and community centered vision anchored in financial transparency and classroom investment.
Why is it so important to elect Jeremy, Bunny and Leah? The City College Board of Trustees are the elected decision-makers for our community college district – and trustee decisions have a lasting impact on our students, our programs and our work environment. Having a supportive board plays a big role in getting the college and the contract we want. Because you work at City College, your San Francisco friends and family likely look to you for information about these down-ballot races, so please share about our candidates. You can also share our AFT 2121 voter guide. And you can find more information about the Our City College Slate here.
Thursday at 5pm and Saturday at 11 AM: tell the billionaires SF elections are not for sale!
Will you join us to knock doors and talk to voters about the leaders that educators – not billionaires – want for education?
Thursday, October 1st, 5:00-7:00 at Argonne Playground (18th Ave & Geary)
Saturday, October 3rd, 11:00-1:00 in Chan Kajaal Park (17th & Folsom) Join the San Francisco Labor Council and special speaker, WA Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal plus Connie Chan, and the pro-labor slates for CCSF Trustee and SFUSD School Board.
English and Comms faculty door-knock to promote our Candidates and Prop 3
On Saturday, CCSF English and Communications faculty and members of our AFT 2121 Retiree Chapter joined SFUSD teachers to talk to Noe Valley voters about our endorsed slate – Leah LaCroix, Jeremy Lee and Dr. Bunny McFadden – Prop 3 for education funding and the labor-endorsed slate for School Board – Reina Tello, Ryan Hazelton and Virginia Cheung.
General Membership Meeting Tuesday, 10/13
All members should plan to join our General Membership Meeting on Tuesday, 10/13, 3 – 5 PM. Find the GMM Agenda here. We will be focusing our contract campaign including member discussion, a report on the campaign to date and what it will take to win at the bargaining table. See you there!
More bargaining dates
We’ve recently added more negotiation sessions with the District. Here are dates currently scheduled:
Monday, October 5, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, HBB 340
Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, HBB 398
Monday, October 19, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Monday, November 2 , 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Any union member is welcome to observe a bargaining session in person (click here to RSVP). And remember, you can see a full list of proposals exchanged so far on this proposal tracker. Don’t remember who is on your elected Bargaining Team? Click here! Check in with your precinct rep to get involved in the contract campaign – whether you are a member or not, there are actions each of us can take to support our bargaining team and push for a great contract.
Bargaining Priorities: Protect CCSF’s vital community programs, protect CCSF students from ICE, & invest in CCSF educators so we can afford the City we serve.
Dear Faculty,
Your elected bargaining team continues to make progress at the table – to date we have made proposals and counter proposals on 17 different sections of our contract that faculty have lifted up as areas to address, and we are approaching tentative agreements on a number of subjects. (See this proposal tracker for a full list of proposals exchanged so far.) On Tuesday, we presented a new proposal related to ICE enforcement on campus to support safety for faculty, students, and our whole college community. Video explainer here.
This back and forth at the table has also allowed the teams to establish a working relationship and good will that we can tap into as we move into the most difficult and important part of our contract negotiations, fair and competitive pay.
While neither side has yet put a compensation proposal on the table, based on how the District is presenting the college budget, we anticipate a low-ball offer, something our members will not accept. Our analysis of the college’s budget differs substantially from that of the District. While the college has been pointing to a structural deficit for years, AFT 2121’s analysis of the college’s budget has consistently pointed to surpluses – and we’ve been right! These structural surpluses have bloated our reserve funds to over $70 million while wait lists for high demand classes persist and full time faculty wages have fallen well below the Bay 10 median.
While flat funding is genuinely a challenge for the college, it’s simply not true that there is no money for raises. We look forward to sharing our analysis and proposals at upcoming bargaining sessions, especially as the frequency of these sessions picks up in October.
Here are dates for currently scheduled negotiations with the District
Monday, October 5, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, HBB 340
Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, HBB 398
Monday, October 19, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Monday, November 2 , 2026, 3PM-6:30PM, Location TBD
Any union member is welcome to observe a bargaining session in person (click here to RSVP). Check in with your precinct rep to get involved in the contract campaign – whether you are a member or not, there are actions each of us can take to support our bargaining team and push for a great contract.
AFT 2121 Voter Guide for November 2026 is here!
Yes, it is only September, but ballots will be mailed the first week of October and you are probably already starting to see campaign ads. San Francisco has become a petri dish for the billionaire tech movement to change the way government works. Cryptocurrency, AI and Venture Capital billionaires and their friends are not only buying seats at City Hall, they have their sights set on our public education boards, including CCSF’s Board of Trustees. Your union Committee on Political Education (COPE) has researched, analyzed and debated about candidates and ballot measures, including a democratic process to decide on endorsements. Here is the AFT 2121 Fall 2026 Voter Guide.
SF Teachers vs GrowSF
CCSF English and Communication Studies Teachers Join SFUSD Teachers tomorrow to Canvas for Candidates Running Against the Billionaire Agenda
Tomorrow, September 26, members of our English and Communication Studies Departments will be talking to voters about why we need to elect teacher-backed candidates to the City College Board of Trustees and the SFUSD School Board. This is the first of a series of AFT 2121 weekend Department Days to fight the billionaire agenda and elect pro-worker candidates.
Right now, billionaires behind dark money Super PACs like GrowSF are flooding San Francisco’s local politics with money and in fact have gained majority control over both SF’s School and College Boards. In response, teachers across the City have launched a historic campaign to fight back with slates of labor-backed candidates committed to fighting the billionaire agenda of class cuts and school closures.
Want to join in? We will gather at 10am tomorrow, 9/26 at the Noe Valley Playground, and then canvas the neighborhood. Stay tuned for upcoming scheduled days for Counseling, Social Sciences, Math, Library and more!!
Meet Your Endorsed Candidates for College Board–Labor-Backed Leaders Committed to Defending the Mission of our College
A longtime educator, Dr. Bunny McFadden earned her Doctorate in Education because as a mom and an educator, she’s experienced the difference an education makes. Thanks to her own local community college, she was able to graduate high school early and become the first in her family to earn a four year degree. Since then, she’s also taught at the high school and college levels and worked in nonprofit management, serving the community through her skills in everything from budgeting to marketing and communications. Bunny wants to protect Free City College for generations to come. Donate to Bunny’s campaign here.
Leah LaCroix is a public servant and policy advocate who has spent her career fighting for the youth of San Francisco, advocating for transportation, housing, food security, and student needs. She entered SF State as a sophomore thanks to CCSF’s high school dual enrollment program. As a Youth Commissioner, Leah championed Free Muni for Youth and worked to ensure it was permanently funded. She’ll bring the same fierce determination to defending CCSF for our students and employees. Donate to Leah’s campaign here.
Jeremy Lee is a third-generation San Franciscan who has spent a decade advocating for better housing in Chinatown. Thanks to City College, Jeremy’s parents were able to land good paying union jobs and provide a future for their family. His work in affordable housing has given him practical experience with budgets, audits, and regulatory compliance. Jeremy is running for City College Board to strengthen the college’s financial stability and grow it for the next generation of San Franciscans. Donate to Jeremy’s campaign here.
Window signs for the Our City College Slate are available and our candidates need your help to get them out where they can be seen! Will you put a sign in your San Francisco window? Will you take a sign or two and ask your favorite merchant to put one in their window? If you would like a sign, please reply to this email with your name, address you’d like the sign delivered to and phone number.
Teachers versus Billionaires COPE Vote
Teachers versus Billionaires is an independent expenditure (IE) set up with AFT 2121, SEIU 1021, UESF, and IFPTE 21 to help elect a pro-labor, pro-working families, and pro-student College and School Board. This is a historic moment in the San Francisco Labor movement with all three major unions representing SF Unified and City College, along with the public sector union IFPTE 21 working together in support of our two slates. This alignment of candidates and interests help to demonstrate the importance for labor and working families to stand together against the attempted billionaire takeover of San Francisco. Having pro-labor trustees will help us get the contract we deserve to continue living in one of the most expensive regions in the country while providing world-class education to our students. We are up against billionaire-backed candidates so we are pooling our resources and putting our people power to work.
Today, your COPE committee voted to recommend donating $29,000 from our COPE funds to the Teachers versus Billionaires IE. We strongly encourage all eligible voting members to vote YES in supporting this decision.
All AFT 2121 members are encouraged to vote in the next 48 hours. Voting is open to all members in good standing, including department chairs, members of the retiree chapter, and full-time and part-time faculty.
Why is there SO much money flowing through SF politics and what effect is it having?
Come and find out in person Tuesday 9/15 (Zoom link also available) about the handful of tech and real estate oligarchs leaving a trail of dark money through our political system. The Phoenix Project will share the results of their investigations in a one-hour presentation held in STEAM 104 at 2:30 today – Tuesday, 9/15. Also on Zoom. Students, faculty, classified and community members are all welcome.
Unmasking Billionaire Influence in SF Politics
All CCSF students, faculty, classified and community are invited
Presented by Keane Chukwuneta, Phoenix Project Secretary and AFT 2121 member, and Jeremy Mack, Phoenix Project Executive Director.
Since 2020, a network of political pressure groups, funded by a handful of conservative tech and real estate billionaires, are spending millions to move San Francisco to the right. Their lavish spending furthers an agenda that benefits the wealthy and large corporations at the expense of working San Franciscans. As the project’s website describes, “They hide behind feel-good names like GrowSF, the Abundance Network and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco…. To further enrich the already wealthy, they are willing to sacrifice government funding for essential services like public transportation and schools.”
Delegate Assembly meets right after: Tuesday, 9/15, 3:30-5PM
Wonder what is happening in bargaining? Want more information about endorsed candidates and causes? Want to know concrete steps YOU can take to get a strong contract? All this and more will be discussed in our September Delegate Assembly, open to all members. Join the conversation. Here is the agenda – join the conversations in person in room STEAM 104 or with Zoom hybrid link.
Bonus Sept COPE meeting, Tues 9/22, 2PM
The political season is indeed upon us, and we have a quick second COPE meeting this month. COPE is your union Committee on Political Education. AFT 2121 members are invited to attend, share, listen, express, reflect and decide on key matters of import to educators, our students and our community.
The CCSF Board of Trustees makes decisions that impact your programs, contract, and students – board members are the ones who determine the direction of our college. We need to make sure they’re listening to students and faculty, not outside billionaires with an agenda to downsize public institutions like City College and undermine the power of unions (including our contract).
That’s why educators across the city– and all three of the biggest unions at SFUSD and CCSF – are supporting the community-first campaigns of six homegrown candidates for CCSF Board and School Board. Why? Because billionaires behind Super PACs like Grow SF are flooding San Francisco’s local politics with money (ironically while they cry budget deficits and fight to prevent liveable salaries for educators)–this includes our College Board. We’re expecting GrowSF to spend big again this November to continue building their influence over our Board and college.
They have money, but we have commitment and strength in numbers. Step up to elect the candidates who listen to the people and not the billionaires.
Support the candidates endorsed by AFT 2121, UESF, SEIU1021 and Supervisor Connie Chan:
Dr. Bunny McFadden high school & community college educator, first gen college grad, Doctorate in education (EDD), nonprofit education board member, former PTA President, mother of two in SFUSD.
Leah LaCroix, President of District 11 Democratic Club, elected committee member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee 2016-24, served on the San Francisco Youth Commission’s Free Muni for Youth campaign, Assistant Commission Affairs Manager and Social Media and Content Development Analyst for the Port of San Francisco.
Jeremy Lee, third-generation San Franciscan, affordable housing advocate, professional experience with budgets, audits, regulatory compliance.
More information about the candidates at the Our City College slate website.
Unmasking Billionaire Influence in SF Politics
If you’ve been following the news for the last few years, you’ve witnessed tech billionaires exerting an increasing and outsized impact on national decision-making, and San Francisco is dead center for many of those efforts. On Tuesday, CCSF students, faculty, staff and community members have a chance to take a look at billionaire political influence with a one-hour presentation from the Phoenix Project.
Unmasking Billionaire Influence in SF Politics
All CCSF students, faculty, classified and community are invited
Presented by Keane Chukwuneta, Phoenix Project Secretary and AFT 2121 member, and Jeremy Mack, Phoenix Project Executive Director.
Since 2020, a network of political pressure groups, funded by a handful of conservative tech and real estate billionaires, are spending millions to move San Francisco to the right. Their lavish spending furthers an agenda that benefits the wealthy and large corporations at the expense of working San Franciscans. As the project’s website describes, “They hide behind feel-good names like GrowSF, the Abundance Network and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco…. To further enrich the already wealthy, they are willing to sacrifice government funding for essential services like public transportation and schools.”
Students, faculty, and staff are invited to join this informative, 1-hour presentation. Join the conversation and bring a friend.
Bargaining for the City College our Students Deserve
Our elected bargaining team has been busy putting together proposals on the top priorities cited by faculty:
Protect CCSF’s vital community programs and fight overwork by hiring the full time faculty our programs and students need
Protect CCSF employees and students from ICE
Invest in CCSF educators so we can afford the City we serve
– that means getting our salaries into the top of the Bay Ten for all faculty
We expect to address these priorities in our coming sessions on September 22nd and October 5, and we expect the District to respond by claiming the college does not have the money to invest in adequate staffing and competitive salaries (even as administrators say that we need respectable compensation to attract and retain talent).
The problem is that the District continues to pad its budgets. In August, the Auditor of the State of California cited City College as a District that consistently “Underestimated and Underbudgeted Funds Available for Use.” AFT has been tracking this problem for the past 6 years, and it’s unfortunately getting worse. The District was $14 million off in its projections last year according to its own still-distorted numbers (it was actually $20 million off). This is a new record in the District’s recent over-budgeting. And for next year, the District has again presented a budget that doesn’t add up, with millions set aside for vacant positions and unexplained spending increases.
In bargaining, we’ll be asking the District to show its work and pushing for sustainable agreements that give our programs, faculty, and students the support they deserve. We met last Wednesday with the District to negotiate remote work, discipline, and evaluations. We’ve been making progress on incorporating equity values and expectations into our evaluation process, strengthening assignment rights, and remote work. We believe all of these changes will be good for faculty and students. You can see the full list of proposals exchanged so far here.
To RSVP for our next session Wednesday, September 22, from 3:30-6:30pm, reply YES to 22to this email.
At a moment when Silicon Valley tech billionaires are having an outsized impact on the entire nation and the world, next Tuesday, students, faculty, classified staff and other members of the CCSF community have a chance to dive in and look at what’s happening right here in SF with a one-hour presentation from the Phoenix Project.
When: Tuesday, September 15, 2:30 – 3:30 PM
Where: In-person, Ocean Campus, STEAM 104 and via Zoom hybrid link
Who: All CCSF students, faculty, and staff
What: The Phoenix Project: Unmasking Billionaire Influence in SF Politics
The presentation will be lead by Keane Chukwuneta, Phoenix Project Secretary and AFT 2121 member, and Jeremy Mack, Phoenix Project Executive Director
Since 2020, a network of political pressure groups, secretly funded by a handful of conservative tech and real estate billionaires, are spending millions to move San Francisco to the extreme right. These groups have been spending lavishly to further an agenda that benefits the wealthy and large corporations at the expense of working San Franciscans. As the project’s website describes, “They hide behind feel-good names like GrowSF, the Abundance Network and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco…. To further enrich the already wealthy, they are willing to sacrifice government funding for essential services like public transportation and schools.”
So who are these groups and the funders behind them? The Phoenix Project exposes hard-to-trace money in local politics, combining research and analysis to inform voters of the forces exerting undue influence on the electoral system. They’ll give us a primer so we can, collectively, better understand these influences.
Students, faculty, and staff are invited to join this informative, 1-hour presentation. Join the conversation and bring a friend!
Delegate Assembly meets right after: Tuesday, 9/15, 3:30-5PM
Wonder what is happening in bargaining? Want more information about endorsed candidates and causes? Want to know concrete steps YOU can take to get a strong contract? All this and more will be discussed in our September Delegate Assembly, open to all members. Join the conversation. Here is the agenda – join the conversations in person in room STEAM 104 or with Zoom hybrid link.
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