Take Action Against the Over-Deduction of OPEB Funds

As faculty, we dedicate our lives to serving students, and from our leaders, we expect a commitment to supporting us as we work to fulfill CCSF’s mission.

That is why the college’s continued over-deduction of OPEB contributions from hundreds of full-time faculty paychecks stings so badly. These over-deductions are a violation of our contract and indeed represent wage theft. Yet, when AFT’s grievance team brought this issue to the attention of our administration, we received denial and stonewalling. CCSF faculty deserve better.

We are launching a petition to Chancellor Martin & the full Board of Trustees calling on them to immediately cease these over-deductions and make all affected faculty whole.

Share & sign the petition here.

As it stands, the District is choosing to challenge this issue in arbitration in May. This would be a gross misuse of college funds, and a slap in the face to the largest group of employees at CCSF. The District will lose in arbitration.

We urge CCSF’s leaders to avoid needless conflict and do the right thing for faculty and our college.

Background
Full-time faculty have a retirement healthcare benefit that involves participation in the Retiree Health Care Trust Fund (RHCTF). This shows up as OPEB on faculty paychecks, and the amounts that faculty contribute to this fund were negotiated by your AFT 2121 Bargaining Team in 2013. For faculty hired before January of 2014, the payroll deduction that the college takes toward OPEB should never exceed 1%. However, for many months, even years, the college has been deducting a higher amount (from 1.25% to 2%) from hundreds of full-time faculty hired prior to 2014.

Our contract has a process for obvious violations like this one, and your AFT 2121 Grievance team has been moving this violation through that process.

Working with affected faculty, AFT’s grievance team has brought the issue to the attention of HR, filed a grievance, and has now escalated the matter to arbitration. During this whole time, the District has simply refused to meaningfully engage.

Arbitration is expensive and slow. It is unconscionable that the administration would choose to devote our college’s resources to a needless legal fight.

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.

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/