CSU Strike Monday | Preference Forms | Academic Calendar | COVID Sick Leave

Posted on January 19, 2024 by AFT 2121

CFA Members’ Historic Systemwide Strike Begins Monday

The California Faculty Association reached impasse in their contract negotiations with CSU management in August 2023 and has been making their way through the mediation and fact finding process since then. At the end of this long, laborious process, they were presented with a last, best, and final offer of only a 5% increase, despite the neutral PERB fact finder recommending 7% and the union demanding 12% to keep faculty salaries ahead of inflation.

Cal State Faculty have responded by deploying the ultimate leverage available to organized labor and have called for a system-wide strike to fight for a fair contract and livable wages for their members. See CFA’s press release here.

CFA members at California State University campuses will be on strike January 22-26, and will be joined in solidarity by Teamsters Local 2010 members. CFA members are striking for better salaries, working conditions, and learning spaces.

Fresh from our own struggle for a fair pay increase, we have an opportunity to join our CFA siblings on the picket line at SF State University (1600 Holloway, SF). Sign up for a shift HERE. Check out their website for more info on the strike and the issues.

Submit Your Preference Forms!

Your AFT Grievance Team has recently seen quite a few violations of our contract around assignments, especially in departments where preference forms are not in consistent use. Every semester, it is vital that all faculty fill out a preference form–even if your chair doesn’t ask you for one. It is in everyone’s interest to provide your chair with one and better not to assume your chair knows what you want. Preference forms apply to all faculty.

When you fill it out, write down your actual preference, even if you think those assignments aren’t available. Things can change quickly and this form is the official record that you have asked for an assignment.

More detail here.

Academic Calendar Update

The 24-25 Academic Calendar is almost settled! The District has agreed to the summer and fall portions of AFT 2121’s proposal. We are still waiting for a response on the spring 2025 portion.

Here’s the 2024 summer and fall schedule.

COVID Sick Leave

In 2020, AFT 2121 negotiated an agreement to award extra sick leave to faculty who worked in person during the COVID shut-down. When the District tried to unilaterally stop accruals, AFT pursued a long, drawn out grievance and filing for arbitration before we were able to finally reach settlement in July 2023. If you worked in person at any time from March 2020 – December 2022, you should have received 1.5x your normal sick leave accrual for the in-person part of your assignment. More detail here.

The District has finally posted our COVID sick leave in the Employee Dashboard. That means faculty can now take a look and see if the numbers shown there are correct. We know that some errors have been fixed but we suspect there will still be problems.

Please check your Employee Dashboard:

• Log in to MyCCSF
• Choose MyRAM Portal, then Employee, then Employee Dashboard
• You should see tiles at the top for the different types of sick leave you’ve earned. If the tiles aren’t visible, try clicking on “Full Leave Balance information” at the right-hand edge of the top section.

The different kinds of sick leave are administrative distinctions that are not important for you and the use of your leave. All sick leave can be used in the same way, no matter where it came from. (See this page for general information about sick leave.)

Two of the tiles refer to COVID leave:

• “Sick Leave Covid Hours in hours” = Sick leave hours. All faculty who work in non-credit, counseling, library, and non-instructional assignments earn sick leave in hours. All PT faculty earn sick leave in hours, no matter what our assignment.
• “Sick Leave Covid Days in hours” = Sick leave days. FT faculty who work in credit earn sick leave in days.

How can I tell if the numbers are correct?

• More detail about the calculations are here.
• You can use this calculator. There are separate tabs for FT and PT faculty.
• Your chair and dean should have reported your COVID hours to HR. You can ask them what they reported.

If the leave shown in the employee dashboard is not correct, report it right away on this form. The form will automatically send a copy to payroll and to AFT 2121.