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.