October 11, 1995

WELCOME

We'd like to welcome five new CCFT members: Ray Fredette (Language Arts), Jeff Jones and Pete Lagomarsino (Engineering and Technology), Marcia Scott (Nursing), and Pauline Wishart (Social Sciences). We're pleased that you are part of the CCFT family. This is an important period in negotiations: the stronger our membership, the greater our bargaining power at the table. We hope that other faculty will consider joining the union at this time. Believe me, in more ways than one, it's worth every penny in dues. The power and the protection that CCFT offers are priceless; it's the most important insurance you'll ever buy.

We are encouraged by the growing rapport and cooperation between the two teams as well as by the progress made at the last couple of negotiating sessions in September. We're very close to agreement on the very important Article V (Workload) and Article 12 (Personnel Files). We've begun discussions on evaluation, leaves, and conference and travel. The two most serious issues that remain are grievance (discussion in progress) and salary. We will come back to the membership if the negotiation team is facing a proposal from management that significantly differs from ours. Be alert to requests for recommendations/input from your divisional Council reps in the next week or two on academic calendar, class size/caps, and changes to the peer evaluation forms. We need your direction!

One issue, however, remains that is of serious concern to the negotiation team. In the nine scheduled negotiating sessions from September 25 through December 19, the faculty on our team have had to alter, cancel, or get substitutes for close to 40 classes while the district's team did not have the authority to cancel, get a substitute for, or miss even one Cabinet meeting. Management was also reluctant to schedule bargaining sessions at the same time as other meetings, such as Educational Council. We believe this does not speak well for management's support of educational quality at the college. Since CCFT understands that assembling a first contract takes a great deal of time, we have reluctantly agreed to the temporary disruption of our classes. We hope management would do the same with its meetings.

You most likely have been receiving periodic "Report[s]--Faculty Collective Bargaining Unit" from the college's "Human Resources" Office. Naturally, management can exercise its first amendment rights and communicate its perceptions to faculty. I would encourage you, however, to look to CCFT communications for bargaining news. Remember, as your Exclusive Representative on bargainable issues, we work for you.


We know that many of you are anxious for the ratification of Cuesta College Federation of Teachers' first contract; actually, no one is more anxious than the members of the negotiating team who have been working for close to three semesters to produce a contract that we can all be proud of. As you probably know, the first contract is the toughest; everything must be negotiated. But as the difficult contract work continues, we thought you might appreciate a recap of some of the union's first year accomplishments.

Ratified CCFT's constitution and bylaws

Elected an Executive Board and Council of Representatives

Established CCFT standing and ad hoc committees: Part-time Faculty, COPE, Grievance, Negotiations, Contract Development, and Academic Calendar

Established CCFT budgets for 1994-95 and 1995-96

Maintained the division chairs (and at 40% reassigned time)

Forced management to withdraw and revise its reorganization proposal

Organized and conducted a respectable Board of Trustees campaign in 1994

Met with Willard Osibin (Trustee) to discuss faculty interests and concerns

Agreed on Golden Handshake with guaranteed full-time faculty hirings and the placement of salary savings in the faculty salary pot

Re-established status quo in class size in two Language Arts classes

Achieved at the negotiating table the favorable settlement of a faculty member's grievance

Filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with PERB regarding management's reclassification of the division chair position in Counseling

Gained reassigned time for CCFT Executive Board

Established an emergency catastrophic leave bank for a faculty member in need

Revised staff development coordinator job description

Gained CCFT faculty appointments to Staff Development, Health Insurance, and Safety Committees

Determined placement of Spring Break 1996 through vote of membership

Coordinated a letter-writing campaign and mailed over 150 staff and student letters to Congress to oppose proposed cuts in federal aid to higher education

Last year I had a nightmarish experience with management and the grievance process. I'm relating it here not because I want to relive it, but because I think the faculty can learn from it.

The problem began with my own failure to fill out the required paperwork prior to taking a four-day leave of absence during final examinations. This was an inadvertent mistake on my part. I had communicated the relevant information to my colleagues and my division chair, though not to management through the proper forms, and I had arranged for substitutes.

According to Bob Evans, one or more faculty members from outside my building reported my absence to him and requested that Evans investigate. Eventually, Evans took two actions against me. First, he docked me one day's pay. This was always a secondary issue for me since I probably would have had to give up one day's pay even if I had submitted the required paperwork in advance. The primary issue for me was always the second action Evans took against me: the insertion into my personnel file of a letter impugning my professional integrity and damaging my professional reputation.

This action by Evans was absolutely unacceptable to me, so I filed a grievance with the Academic Senate for redress. CCFT has yet to conclude negotiations on the union grievance policy and the current Board policy was, and remains, the only one available. I quickly discovered the defects in that policy. To name just a few: it's ambiguous; it defers to administrative prerogatives; and it fails to protect faculty rights. And the problems I experienced were not limited to the policy's provisions but extended to its implementation as well. For example, the policy requires a formal hearing, but none was ever held. The committee constituted under the policy deliberated and decided my case behind closed doors. I was never allowed to speak in my defense or to confront management. Numerous appeals to management about the on-going violation of policy made no difference.

The findings of the grievance committee supported my position that management had failed to follow the relevant Board policy, 3077. That is, management had, by placing the derogatory letter in my file, initiated "discipline short of dismissal" without following the appropriate Board policy, thereby depriving me of any semblance of due process. The committee also recommended that Evans moderate the wording of his disciplinary letter. These findings did not meet my minimum demand that the letter be removed from my file. Furthermore, the findings are only a recommendation from the committee to management and are not binding on management.

Profoundly distressed by management's flagrant disregard of Board policy 3077 and the violation of grievance procedures, I turned to CCFT for redress. As CCFT prepared to file an unfair labor practice complaint on my behalf, Dick Hemann, the CFT representative and negotiator, took up the issue at the negotiating table. There CCFT obtained a written agreement with the District to destroy the letter from Evans.

Shortly thereafter I met with Burma Workman in her office accompanied by Marilyn Rossa and Mark Weber. The District, as required by the agreement, produced all extant copies of the letter and I shredded them.

The CCFT grievance proposal, currently being negotiated, will provide faculty with full protection through its clear procedures and through its inclusion of the neutral processes of mediation and binding arbitration. We are hopeful that fairness will prevail.

In the meantime, CCFT advises faculty to consult with Mark Weber before discussing a complaint with management and before filing a grievance. You can benefit from the experience that CCFT has acquired by working with the current policy. Once our own grievance policy is negotiated and in place, all members of the bargaining unit (CCFT members as well as non-members) will be effectively represented by CCFT.

Some managers believe that CCFT is soliciting grievances from the faculty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, if you contact Mark Weber, he might inform you that the complaint is not grievable or caution you that the case is not particularly strong. He might suggest ways to resolve the complaint outside of the grievance process. While CCFT does not solicit grievances, we do seek to keep faculty informed of their legitimate rights and to be ever vigilant in seeing that those rights are protected. CCFT seeks not an adversarial climate, but one of fairness and clarity.

Soon a CCFT grievance committee will be formed. If you are a CCFT member and are interested in serving, contact Mark Weber or your representative to the Council.

Kent Brudney
CCFT Vice-President

The union and the senate are currently drafting a working agreement. We are hopeful that this document will delineate each organization's roles and consulting obligations. Until that agreement is reached, we would like the senate and the faculty at large to rest assured that CCFT knows its Title V and other legal obligations. We have expert legal advice from CFT's Oakland office to direct us when we may have questions. Also, it is imperative, in the spirit of good working relations and a successful contract for all faculty, that if either organization has concerns about the actions of the other, the leadership of both groups should discuss those concerns without informing management. CCFT fully supports keeping faculty business within faculty ranks.

CCFT sponsored a letter-writing table on campus for 18 hours between September 7 and 14. As a result, we mailed 150 individually written letters to Washington DC, most of them to Congresswoman Andrea Seastrand, to oppose the drastic cuts in federal aid to higher education being supported by the congressional majority. Student loan and grant funds are among the specific targets for deep cuts. It was an opportunity to talk with students about how political policy decisions can affect their immediate lives. MECHA members took the informational handouts as well to distribute to other members in order to solicit more letters. If you haven't yet sent a note to Ms. Seastrand, she'd love to hear from you, and time is of the essence! (1216 Longworth House Office Building, Washington DC 20515) Many thanks to the CCFT members who staffed the table.

Nancy Culver
COPE chair

Editor's Note: I'd like to personally thank Nancy for coordinating this very successful effort. Individual political action can make a difference, and CCFT consistently works toward this end.

The Fall semester brings 38 new part-time faculty to Cuesta, several of whom have already expressed interest in joining CCFT; others will follow. One newcomer, Ray Fredette from Language Arts, has even volunteered to be one of the division representatives to the CCFT Council of Reps. So we're pleased at the show of enthusiasm so far.

Obviously, some part-time people don't need much convincing that it makes sense to join a union these days. They are probably aware that according to information from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, unionized workers on average earn 39% more pay than non-unionized ones. They also probably realize that a collective voice achieves more than an individual one can. And as more and more people across the nation are forced to work part-time jobs to support their families, joining ranks with others who share their misfortune can lead to tangible gains.

I am urging all my colleagues to get on board. Unfortunately, paying dues and sitting back waiting for others to succeed (or fail) on our behalf is not enough. Unfortunately, as proclaimed by Frederick Douglass, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." That's why we have to be organized.

Being organized means being vocal where it counts. Complaining behind closed doors achieves nothing. Being vocal means speaking as a united voice at the bargaining table. Being vocal means contacting your rep for information. Being vocal means attending meetings. Every time we say we have something better to do than attend a meeting (it's probably true!) or rail against those who are donating their time to improve conditions for everyone, we are weakening our own cause. Let's act now to make changes. Let's not wait or expect others to do it for us. It won't happen. Contact your division rep or contact me. Come to the following socials and meetings--or just give me a call at 3938 for any information, suggestions, or support. Good luck with the new semester.

Socials for part-time faculty: Fridays, October 27 and December 1, SLO Brew, Garden Street in SLO at 4:00 p.m.

Christine Marchant

In a vote at its September 21 meeting, CCFT's Executive Board voted to give a $200 stipend to John Fetcho, the union's part-time faculty rep to the negotiating team. We wanted to recognize John's unfailing attendance at and valuable contributions to negotiations sessions. CCFT recognizes the particularly difficult situations under which part-timers operate. The stipend for John's work is a small token of that recognition; we wish it could be more. We also hope that management will take the necessary steps to pay part-time faculty for all the work they do

I attended a CFT Local Leadership Training for Treasurers Saturday, September 30, accompanied by Ric Deschler of the CCCUE (classified union). The ambitious agenda covered all things new treasurers need to know and do. While we didn't quite get to everything, the excellent (as usual) CFT presenters gave us enough ideas and knowledge to ensure we will do our jobs well. In addition, it is always helpful to meet other union officers and exchange ideas. The overriding consensus was that union treasurers not only do a lot more than most people realize, but that there is a lot more to the job than we realized when we took the job! The following is an outline of a union treasurer's primarily responsibilities and, consequently, what was covered in the workshop.

Union treasurers, of course, are responsible for maintaining the local's checkbook and keeping the local within its established budget. This includes the following: drafting the budget; paying bills and reimbursements; paying dues to AFT, CFT, labor councils, etc.; depositing checks; researching costs; and other tasks. Most treasurers also maintain the local's membership database, and the workshop identified many potentially troublesome areas regarding how to handle active, non-active, and in-between members. A treasurer must constantly update member information. Finally, there are a myriad of reports due monthly, quarterly, and annually, including AFT membership data sheets, COPE reports, and state and federal tax filing.

For those locals who have agency fees ("closed shops," where all faculty pay dues), the reporting requirement is almost doubled. In agency fee locals, faculty can be dues-paying, but not union, members, and the treasurers are responsible for calculating, on a weekly basis, what percentage of union staff time and expenses are "chargeable" to all faculty and what percentage is "rebateable" to non-members.

Other topics at the workshop included formula-funded staff (where CFT partially pays for a local staff person), bi-annual union audits, AFT/CFT per capita reports, and PERB audits. Ric and I came back with armfuls of reading to get through and a sense that, although we are doing things right, we still have much to learn. It is excellent workshops like these that give us the tools to keep us on the right track.

Mark Tomes

Marilyn Rossa, President

Kent Brudney, Vice-President

Mark Tomes, Secretary-Treasurer

Mark Weber, Grievance Officer

Christine Marchant, Part-Time chair

Nancy Culver, COPE chair

John Fetcho, Council rep

Tony Rector-Cavagnaro, Council rep
(John and Tony were elected to these positions by the Council of Reps at its September 29 meeting)


CCFT Council of Representatives
Biology

Lonnie Belden
Business Education

Ruth Biering

Diane Lichty
Counseling

Pat Marum

Jack Sparks
DSPS

Mark Tomes
Engineering & Technology

Jeff Jones
Fine Arts

Marian Galczenski
Human Development

Mary Ann Vasconcellos
Language Arts

Vicki Bursey

Ray Fredette

Douglas Pillsbury

Tony Rector-Cavagnaro
Library

Linnaea Phillips
Nursing

Marcia Scott
Physical Education

Gary Meissner
Physical Sciences and Mathematics

John Fetcho

Jeff Grover

Pat Hughes
Social Sciences

Dick Hitchman

Dennis Judd

Every division is now represented.

Strength Through Unity

Unionews Editor: Marilyn Rossa

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