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Table Talk

The Newsletter of the United Faculty of Contra Costa Community College District

September 14, 2010

News at a Glance

•  Stalled State Budget Delays New Agreement

•  Evaluation Training Available for New Forms and Procedures

•  UF Elections Scheduled for October; Nominations Open Now

•  Governing Board Elections:  UF to Sponsor Candidate Forum

•  Academic Calendar under Discussion

•  New STRS Rules May Affect Future Retirees

•  Know Your Contract: Banking Lab Hours as Load has Risks

•  UF Contributes to Martin Padilla Memorial

•  Article 25, Staffing Preference Agreement, Re-Opens

•  Flex Reporting Review to Begin Sept. 21

•  Information Campaign and Vote Planned for Part-Time SDI

•  President’s Message: Resources and Professionalism

Stalled State Budget Delays New Agreement

The UF and District negotiating teams met August 20 and nearly concluded 2009/10 negotiations, but the lack of a State budget has stalled talks on faculty compensation and part-time parity, at least until October.  We are now more than 75 days into the fiscal year, and the State Legislature still seems hopelessly deadlocked.  Many analysts are predicting that a deal may not be reached until after the November elections or even until January, when a new governor is sworn in.  Meanwhile, the District presented its “Adoption Budget” to the Governing Board on September 8, and the UF/CCCCD Compensation Workgroup has agreed to resume work on a salary formula and parity plan in October, regardless of what the State does.  But with millions of proposed growth dollars in the balance, not to mention new categorical cuts or backfill (depending on which proposal one reads), it is hard to plan or conclude financial agreements.

Many districts are also facing a severe cash-flow crisis, but fortunately CCCCD has substantial assets deposited with the County (including  bond money and funds set aside for retiree benefits); this allows the District to borrow money in an emergency and should ensure that the District will meet payroll obligations and other financial responsibilities until the State agrees on a budget.

The non-financial aspects of the 2009/10 agreement, though not yet formally approved for release, have largely been described already in Table Talk:  a banked-load agreement that will limit the District’s future liability by capping the load one may bank or use at one time, while still preserving the core benefit and grandfathering in those with substantial load already in the bank; and a related plan to allow faculty to be paid A/C for overload during the day so long as they articulate a plan for completing professional obligations outside of class.  We have a plan to extend Family Leave and a plan to allow part-time faculty to donate and receive Sick Leave.  We have clarified that future retirees who seek to be reimbursed for Medicare Part B must sign up for coordinated plan with Kaiser or HealthNet.  We have agreed to add a Vision Plan for part-time faculty.  We will make all of the details available as soon as the financial piece on compensation and part-time parity is complete.  As of today, our goal is a ratification vote in November (maybe sooner if the State legislature produces a budget).

Faculty Step Up for Evaluation Training

The UF has been leading Evaluation Training Workshops throughout the District in August and September, and we’re glad to report that faculty have been taking full advantage of the opportunity to be trained in the updated procedures and forms.  In addition to well-attended meetings on every campus, we’ve arranged trainings for individuals and departments as needed.  Our goal is for 100 percent of our full-timers and as many part-timers as possible to be trained this semester, so if you have not yet made it to a workshop, please email the UF at uf@uf4cd.org to arrange for training.  The new forms are available in both electronic format and as PDFs for printing on the UF web site: www.uf4cd.org.  The new guidebooks are there as well.  We have arranged to re-open Appendix X with the District this spring, so if you notice anything that could still be improved, please let us know.

Nominations Now Being Accepted for UF Leadership Posts

This fall marks the end of UF President Jeffrey Michels’ second two-year term, and nominations are now being accepted for any who would like to run for the UF’s top post.  Michels has announced his intention to run for one more term, but if more candidates step forward, then an election will be held in October.

In addition, there are full-time E-Board members from every campus whose terms expire at the end of the fall semester, and we have openings for part-time reps from CCC and DVC.  Any  member who would like to serve on the UF Executive Board may submit a nomination form (printed on the back of this issue of Table Talk) by noon on October 11, 2010.  The form requires 10 signatures of support.  If we have more candidates than we have spots from any college, we will hold an election in October.

The E-Board meets approximately every other Thursday from 2:15-5pm, usually at DVC.  (We currently meet once a semester at CCC and once at LMC.)  Part-time representatives are compensated $150 a month.  The UF covers travel expenses to and from meetings for all E-Board members.  The President  receives 100% release-time plus a monthly stipend.  For details about any UF post or how to submit your nomination, contact the UF Office: 925-680-1771 or uf@uf4cd.org.

Oct. 7 Forums for CCCCD Governing Board Candidates

Three of the five trustees who serve on the CCCCD Governing Board have terms that expire this year.  Of these, Board President Anthony Gordon (Ward 1: Richmond, El Cerrito, San Pablo, El Sobrante) has decided not to run again.  He will be replaced by retired CCC Adjunct Professor John Marquez, who was the only candidate from Ward 1 to file (and will therefore not need to be elected).  Marquez has served as Vice Mayor of Richmond in addition to many years on the Richmond City Council.  He taught La Raza Studies at CCC on and off since 1971 and also attended CCC as a student.  In 1993, he retired as State Deputy Labor Commissioner/Labor Standards Investigator.

In Ward 4 (Alamo, Blackhawk/Tassajara, Byron, Clayton, Danville, Discovery Bay, San Ramon, Walnut Creek), Board Vice President John Nejedly is being challenged by middle school English/History teacher Denise Tully.  And in Ward 3 (Concord, Martinez, Pacheco, Pleasant Hill, western Bay Point), incumbent Sheila Grilli is facing two challengers:  Greg Enholm, a high school math teacher and political consultant; and Evelyn Javier Centeno, a former middle-school math teacher and educational consultant.

The UF has scheduled a Candidate’s Forum for October 7, 2010, from 3:30-5pm at DVC in the Trophy Room.  We have invited all of the candidates to speak and to answer questions from our panel.  All faculty, staff, students and managers are encouraged to attend.  We will also be inviting each candidate to publish a brief statement in a future issue of Table Talk.  The UF has not yet decided whether we will endorse or contribute to any candidate this year.  We welcome your input.

Academic Calendar Under Discussion

The Academic Calendar is a negotiated item, and as we do every year at this time, the UF is now reviewing the current calendar to determine if we want to make any changes for next year.  If you have suggestions or concerns about the calendar, please share them with an E-Board member or contact the UF at uf@uf4cd.org.

New STRS Rules May Affect Future Retirees

Faculty planning to retire soon should be aware of new laws that affect one’s ability to return to work part-time in a STRS institution (K-14).  For retirees in the STRS Defined Benefits plan (which includes all full-timers and some part-timers), if you take “early” retirement (before the age of 60), you may no longer return to work in a STRS institution for six months from your retirement date.  For example, if you are 59 years old and retire June 30, 2011 (regardless of years of service), you may not return to work for CCCCD until after Dec. 30, 2011.

STRS currently has legislation pending that would extend the six-month prohibition to ALL retirees, regardless of age.  Right now it only applies to those under 60.  These prohibitions are to conform with federal legislation that states that there needs to be a “significant break in service” from the time of retirement to returning to work.

For Cash Balance retirees (some part-timers), there is currently a one-year prohibition from returning to work after retirement and taking a monthly pension payout.  STRS is working on changing this to six months as well, but the current law is one year.  One difference with the Cash Balance Plan is that it can be cashed out or rolled into an IRA, 403(b) or other retirement plan.  The STRS one-year prohibition applies only to receiving a STRS monthly annuity.

Know Your Contract: Risks of Banking Lab Hours

Banked load refers to any load beyond the standard 100-percent “A load” that a full-timer has worked for which he/she has not been paid.  By electing to bank the load, the full-timer gains many options, including working reduced load in the future (by using the banked load as A-load), supplementing a full-year sabbatical, for which the District pays 70% (banked load can make up the other 30% so the member earns full pay), taking a semester off with pay (if one has banked enough load), or even retiring early (if one has banked enough for a pre-retirement year).  But problems can arise if one elects to “cash out” banked load prior to retirement, especially for lab professors.

The problem is easiest to see in isolation: if a member works 4 lab hours as overload, she may decide to be paid at her hourly A/C rate, or she may opt to put the load in the bank.  If she banks, then the hours are converted to load using the lab formula: 4 hours = 20%.  However, if she never uses that load and decides to cash it out prior to retiring, the load must be converted back to hours so she may be paid at her hourly A/C rate.  And for this, the District uses the standard lecture rate for all faculty: 20% = 3 hours.  The professor in our example will only be paid for only 75% of the hours she worked!

For some faculty –English Comp– the formula works to their advantage (since 3 hours = 25% going into the bank), and for almost everyone, reality is more complex than in our example.  Most faculty bank a mixture of lecture and lab and use some load prior to retirement, so it’s hard to isolate banked lab load.  Still, the UF will work to fix this problem, which doesn’t seem fair to lab professors.  In the meantime, members should be aware that it’s almost always a better deal to use banked load than to cash it out.

UF Contributes to Martin Padilla Memorial

Martin Padilla, who served for many years as the evening and Saturday program monitor at Contra Costa College, was killed on Aug. 28, 2008, at the age of 51 when a car thief involved in a high-speed chase crashed into him.  Since that time, the College has been looking for a way to honor him publicly.  A proposal to rename CCC’s Student Center after Padilla was rejected at the District level for failing to conform to current policies. Now the College is seeking private funds to build a statue of Padilla in front of the Student Center.

Faculty remember Martin as exemplifying the highest degree of professionalism; he saw his role as supporting students and faculty, and he often went out of his way to solve problems where others might have shrugged.  No one who taught nights or Saturdays at CCC was untouched by Martin, because he travelled the hallways cheerfully letting everyone know that he was there to help however he could.

To honor Martin Padilla’s dedication and work ethic, his love for students and for the College, and particularly for the role he played in supporting faculty, the UF has agreed to contribute $500 towards the sculpture, pedestal and plaque CCC plans to erect.  With our contribution, the College will have raised about $3500 towards the $7500 cost of the project.  Individual faculty, staff and managers are also  encouraged to donate by contacting the CCC Foundation.

District and UF to Review Article 25: Staffing Preference

Article 25, the Part-Time Staffing Preference Agreement, re-opens automatically this year, and we have agreed to begin discussions soon on ways to improve it.  The UF is interested in creating protocols for notifying part-time faculty of the various stages involved.  We need a better system for responding to faculty who have applied for staffing preference, or who lose that status, or when a department is unable to offer a member his or her historical load.  We’re also working on a Department Handbook to clarify what sorts of questions should be answered by department bylaws, and this may lead to negotiated changes as we work through different scenarios.  If there are aspects of the Staffing Preference Agreement that you think should be changed or clarified, please send us an email at uf@uf4cd.org.

Flex Reporting Review to Begin September 21

After some disturbing email exchanges at Contra Costa College last year (wherein the College alleged that some faculty were not fulfilling their Flex obligations and threatened to dock their pay), the UF has requested a complete review of current procedures related to Flex and Flex reporting.  Our own assessment has revealed that none of the colleges are in compliance with the contract and that each college treats Flex a bit differently from the other two.  We have planned a preliminary meeting with staff development personnel and the college vice presidents on Sept. 21.  And we expect this work will ultimately lead to collective bargaining and negotiated changes down the road.  We also expect that a new on-line reporting system may also be in the works, one that would allow faculty to more easily track their flex obligation and activities.  We will keep you posted on developments.

Information Campaign and Vote Planned for P-T SDI

We are planning an informational mailing and meetings on each campus to inform part-time faculty of details related to State Disability Insurance.  We hope to hold a vote in late October asking whether or not part-timers would like to participate in SDI.  Look for details soon.

President’s Message

I attended “Consultation Council” at the State Chancellor’s Office for the first time, and I was struck by the fact that for all the groups at the table representing administrators, trustees, faculty and classified staff, the core issues seemed to be the same: funding; accreditation; job equity; student success.  My question is whether the colleges are leading the conversations or just reacting to ideas coming from the legislature.  We clearly need change in key areas.  But as educators, faculty need to be a driving force behind educational reform.  I recommend Diane Ravitch’s new book: The Death and Life of the Great American School System.  Ravitch stresses “professionalism” (and resources) over “accountability,” and she’s right.