Standing against Janus
Our San Francisco labor movement was out with community allies and elected leaders today speak out against Janus vs AFSCME, a case funded by the wealthy 1% to weaken the power of working people. The Supreme court began hearing this case today. A recent study shows that so-called right-to-work laws cost Clinton the states of Michigan and Wisconsin — and have given Republicans more power all the way through our Senate, House, state governors and state legislatures. Resistance is union. We will continue working together to keep our movement strong. We urge you to join us in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.
Have you signed a new membership form?
Making a commitment to each other and our collective power by becoming and staying members has always been crucial for our success. And now , in the face of right wing attacks on the working class, sticking with our Union and other institutions working to protect working class people is an act of resistance. The bottom line is clear: we are all much better off with strong union membership. If you have not done so this school year, please help us keep the momentum going and sign a new AFT 2121 membership form.
Grievance news
Grievance Win: EOPS Program Director to be filled as a faculty position
Late last week, in a meeting with the Department Chairs’ Council (DCC) and AFT, Vice-Chancellor Dianna Gonzales responded positively to our Union’s united call with EOPS faculty to immediately fill the vacant EOPS Program Director position as a faculty position. EOPS faculty had gone above and beyond to get the new job announcement out last semester while going without a permanent Director for several semesters.
AFT challenges full-time faculty categorical hirings
AFT is challenging the District’s hiring of several full-time hires as categorical employees rather than tenure-track. Categorical employees, including those hired full-time, lack many of the benefits and job security of permanent, tenured faculty. State law allows full-time temporary employment under prescribed conditions where funding is of an “indeterminate nature.” However, the District has expanded this in recent years to include programs funded under separate categories of the community college budget. However, where these programs are mandated by the State, e.g EOPS and DSP&S, or where the funding is otherwise clearly ongoing, such as with SSSP funding, the faculty hired must be tenure-track. The same logic applies to Student Health Services, where a categorical full-time hire occurred even though this is mandated service of the College. The District also opens itself to the charge of disparate treatment since some faculty hired under these funding sources were tenure-track. AFT is calling on the College to immediately convert these positions and job announcements to reflect tenure-track employment.
Administrative progress on step placement needed
In our current contract, we won new step placement provisions for new faculty beginning in Fall 2016. Administration has been slowly working to implement this. But now that we’re working towards growth, more faculty have been hired. And a position that has not yet been filled is in HR – there’s only one person to do all the work of onboarding new faculty and evaluating all the transcripts and records. There are 28 faculty whose records are hard to read or hard to interpret, who have not yet been placed. In addition, there are 123 faculty whose records have not even been looked at. Stay tuned for action steps in the near future.
College for All: Race to gather signatures
Imagine if all of our California colleges were free! We’re working with CFT, SF Rising, the CCSF Solidarity Committee, and others to put a measure on the November ballot that would create an estate tax on the wealthiest 0.2% of Californians and make tuition free at all the Community Colleges, CSUs and UCs statewide. Do you want to help us make California Higher Education free?
- Drop by our College for All table at Ram Plaza between 11-1pm on Tues. 2/27 to sign the petition.
- Make an announcement in your classes or invite a student to present in your classes. Contact Celi Tamayo-Lee at SF Rising (celi@sfrising.org / 415-336-0615).
- Join a petition gathering training led by the CCSF Student Solidarity Committee at our Delegate Assembly on Tuesday, 2/27 at 4:35 PM on Mission Campus in room 201.
Petitions are at at our AFT 2121 office. Reach out to AFT 2121 Organizer Athena Waid (awaid@aft2121.org / 406-531-0503) if you need some.
(Tuesday, February 27) Delegate Assembly
The AFT 2121 Executive Board is proposing changes to our Union Constitution and By-Laws.
To be more in line with national practices we propose a significant change in the role of retired Union members in the Local’s decision-making structures. These changes are being discussed by the AFT Executive Board and the AFT Retiree Chapter and all members are invited to join this discussion at the Delegate Assembly meeting. Any changes that the Delegate Assembly approves will be subject to a vote of the membership in April.
We will also discuss contract negotiations and our upcoming leadership elections.
Tuesday, 2/27, 3-5pm
Mission Campus, room 201
Proposed constitution changes
AFT 2121 Leadership Election timeline
UPDATED meeting agenda
(Wednesday, February 28) Open negotiations
We negotiated for open bargaining sessions so that our members can observe and understand the negotiations process, so we encourage members to attend, observe, and caucus with the team. More people attending open negotiations give us more power at the negotiations table.
We start with a team caucus at 1:00 pm, convene with Admin’s team around 1:30 or 1:45 and continue until about 5:00 pm. Members may attend part or all of a given session. Our Open Negotiations sessions continue this Wednesday February 28th in MUB Room 238 from 1:30-5 pm. All faculty are urged to attend.
(Friday, March 2) Support the San Francisco Archdiocesan Federation of Teachers
Join our Union in standing with the high school teachers at the Archdiocese of San Francisco, including teachers at Riordan and Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep. They have been in contract negotiations since October. Major issues are salaries and a proposal from the employer to weaken job security rights.
Friday, March 2nd, 1:30-2:30pm
Riordan High School (across the street from Ocean campus)
Wear red or your AFT 2121 t-shirts in solidarity
AFT 2240 event flyer
(Tuesday, March 6) FLEX Day Workshops
AFT 2121 will have two workshops on our Contract Campaign and Negotiations, pending approval by the Professional Development committee. Discussions will focus on how we can make our union stronger in the face the looming Janus Supreme Court case decision and our Contract Campaign.
Doug Orr, retired CCSF Economics professor, will also present on the contract negotiations using his Interactive Salary Analysis Tool that have helped guide much of the discussion at the Negotiations Table.
More details to follow.
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