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.

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.

Accreditation Report & Letter: The Work Continues

The expected has happened. City College has retained its accreditation, and the hard work of faculty leaders throughout the college is very clear in the Accrediting Commission’s report (see here).

There will be much negative sensationalizing around the warning letter (here) attached to this report, and that will be driven by those with external agendas. The truth is this report and warning letter confirm what we already knew: City College’s programs and services are a jewel in California’s public education system– thanks to the hard work of faculty and staff–but our institution is in need of stronger leadership.

Our college needs a new Chancellor who can work constructively and collaboratively with our constituency groups and Board of Trustees to ensure City College is meeting San Francisco’s demand for accessible higher ed degrees and workforce training. Our mission and future financial stability depend on it.

Departments with unmet demand should be expanded, and our new Chancellor should be an open and collaborative leader with a vision that puts students and the communities we serve at the very center. Cutting tenured faculty in fully enrolled programs from Chemistry, to Computer Networking, to English was a mistake.

It is time to move forward–to find a new Chancellor who can fully support our essential work of serving students.

Help Elect Pro-City College Candidates this Weekend

In seven weeks, a primary election will be occurring in San Francisco for the Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC), the governing body of San Francisco’s Democratic party. This election will have serious consequences for future Trustee elections and by extension the future of our college. In your recent contract negotiations, it was our Trustees working alongside your bargaining team who pushed the administration to recognize and meet the needs of faculty and programs.

We need to ensure that City College continues to have Board members who are similarly dedicated to faculty, to students, and to fulfilling our mission as a vital institution in this city.

Trustees Vick Chung and Anita Martinez, and former EOPS Counseling Chair Adolfo Velasquez, are three of the candidates running for seats on SF’s Democratic Committee, and this weekend, CCSF faculty are joining mobilizations to support their candidacies.  

We’ll be distributing literature in Excelsior, Bernal Heights, and the Richmond Saturday and Sunday at 10am. To sign up for supporting City College this weekend, enter your info here. A calendar of January events can be found here.

Join us for the AFT 2121 Flex Day Meeting Friday, January 12, 3:30-4:30pm

Get your questions answered about implementation of our new contract and join your colleagues in looking forward to our upcoming efforts for City College–in faculty working conditions, student experience, and community connections.  

Register for the online meeting here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvdeiqpz4jG9YVcWDbBbcROxrwmlOSjyau

Volunteer to Elect Pro-City College Candidates this Weekend

City College’s elected Board of Trustees play a pivotal role in governing the operations of our college.

In only 9 weeks, a primary election will be occurring in San Francisco that will have serious consequences for future Trustee elections. The defeat of incumbents and the election of new Trustees in fall 2022 has been instrumental in bringing hope to City College students, faculty, and community members, and made an instrumental difference in AFT’s ability to win our recent contract. The three new trustees won the election in no small part because of endorsements from the Democratic County Central Committee, the central governing body for Democrats in San Francisco and a key player in endorsements and policy in our predominantly Democratic city.

Right now, two of our Trustees, Vick Chung and Anita Martinez, are running for seats on this Democratic Committee, and this weekend, CCSF faculty are joining mobilizations to help them get elected. This Saturday and Sunday at 10am, we’ll be distributing literature in Duboce Triangle, the Inner Sunset, and Noe Valley. Volunteer here.

You can find a schedule of January’s events here.

Help us spread the word! Share the event and our volunteer form with your colleagues!

Happy New Year All,

City College’s elected Board of Trustees play a pivotal role in governing the operations of our college. 

In only 9 weeks, a primary election will be occurring in San Francisco that will have serious consequences for future Trustee elections. The defeat of incumbents and the election of new Trustees in fall 2022 has been instrumental in bringing hope to City College students, faculty, and community members. We won in this election in no small part because of endorsements from the Democratic County Central Committee, the central governing body for Democrats in San Francisco.

That’s why it’s crucial that AFT 2121 members volunteer now for the March election–to ensure we have a Board dedicated to standing up for our contract, our students, and our college.

“The Labor and Working Families” slate is starting the new year by hosting a campaign kick-off event on Saturday, January 6th. What is this slate? The Labor and Working Families slate is a pro-union, pro-public school group of candidates committed to standing up for San Francisco’s students and the educators who serve them. Come join the educators, unions, working families, and community organizers supporting this slate at 10am this Saturday (1/6) at the Panhandle Playground. 

If you would like to attend, please RSVP with this link: https://forms.gle/JVQYM9hhkYGhFJnq7

Check out their website to learn more about this slate: https://www.laborandworkingfamilies.com/

AFT 2121 Financial Planning Day – registration now open!!

The younger you are when you start planning your financial future, the brighter that future will be. One part of that future will be your retirement. Planning for retirement when you are 25 or 35 might seem far off but it isn’t.

Whatever your age, young or not so young, all members are invited:

Invest in Your Future: From New Hire to End of Career

15th Annual Financial Planning Day

Thursday, January 11, 2024
CCSF Independent Flex Day

Virtual Zoom event
Presented by AFT 2121 and AFT 2121R Retiree Chapter

The program includes six different workshops, speakers and opportunities to hang out and discuss retirement questions with our local’s retirement experts. Whatever stage of planning you are at, and wherever you are in your career at CCSF, you’ll find helpful information for planning ahead here.

Register here: tinyurl.com/fpdreg

Schedule is here: tinyurl.com/fpdsch

Start your new year’s resolutions early! Sign up now and plan ahead for your future!!

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When will I receive my retroactive raise & restoration for 21-22?

Payroll is working on implementing your retroactive payment for your new (9% higher) salary for this fiscal year (July 1 – June 30), but they have informed us that they have not been able to complete the changes needed for the new pay schedule to be implemented for December 2023 payroll. AFT 2121 is in constant touch with payroll to ensure this payment occurs as quickly as possible, and we hope that payroll is able to process the first round of retroactive payments in January.

The pay out for your salary cut in 2021-2 will take longer than these first retroactive payments. AFT 2121 is working with payroll on this matter and expects the payments to go out as direct deposits or checks in the spring.