Cerritos College Faculty Federation > Bargaining Update #5

Bargaining Update #5

Dear colleagues,

Last Thursday, November 5, the CCFF and District bargaining teams met, and the union offered two new proposals:

  • a Memorandum of Understanding regarding salary, and
  • the Assignment article.

The union also presented counterproposals for the following three articles:

  • Health and Welfare
  • Academic Freedom
  • Reassigned Time
  • Salary
  • Raises Over the Next Three Years

The Union has proposed salary increases for every member of our unit. Given the current state of the economy and budgetary prospects, we have proposed the largest increases for 2015 and 2016 and a smaller increase for 2017. Any increases we negotiate will be retroactive to July 1 of 2015. Our goal is to win back some of the purchasing power we have lost over the last seven years. We also seek to close the gap between part-time and full-time faculty salaries, so all of our proposals include an extra 1% for part-time faculty members.

Erasing Steps From the Part-Time Salary Schedule

As you know, part-time pay at Cerritos College is low. It’s so low that new hires are paid less than anyone working in our 9 peer districts.  Not only does Cerritos College lose talented part-time faculty members to neighboring districts every year, but such low pay also contributes to the degradation of the cultural regard for educators.

We’ve proposed erasing the first two lines of the salary schedule for part-time faculty so that all new faculty will be hired at step three and that faculty currently working on steps one or two will be immediately bumped to step three. We did this for full-time faculty in 2001, which helped make our District’s salaries more competitive and attractive to new hires.  Although small, this is an important step toward closing the gap between part-time and full-time salaries.

Adding Steps to the Full-Time Salary Schedule

Our proposal adds three steps to every column of the existing salary schedule, which means faculty members would continue to receive step increases for three additional years.  We have also proposed that the wait for longevity step increases will be 2 years rather than the current 4.  In our research, we discovered that we are one of three colleges among our peers where faculty have to wait 4 years for longevity increases.

Assignment

The Assignment article describes the work we do, how that work is scheduled, and how work is compensated.  It has taken the CCFF over a year to write this article because members of the negotiating team met with and talked to faculty members across the campus to make sure we represented the work we do accurately.  Our main goals for this article are to document our current practices so members and management have a shared understanding of our work – even as faculty and management come and go.  We have also taken the opportunity to try and rectify problems with the current system that have been brought to our attention by union members.

You’ll hear more about the Assignment Article as we continue our negotiations this year.  Here is a list of what is included in this article:

  • work week, work year ,and assigned hours
  • Faculty Service Areas
  • assignment & scheduling of classes
  • office hours
  • overload
  • load banking/balancing
  • reassigned time
  • intercession
  • associate faculty status for part-time faculty
  • Adult Education
  • coaches
  • counselors
  • librarians
  • Success Center instructional specialists
  • department chairs – including proposals for compensation
  • program directors – including proposals for compensation
  • Distance Education
  • Health & Welfare Benefits

The Union still seeks that the District cover our health benefits as it has in the past and cover costs of any administrative fees associated with our healthcare. We have proposed that the District pay those administrative fees plus up to $22,065 for all three years of this agreement. As it currently stands, the District will not have to pay more than $20,808 for 2016, and we believe that if the District covers healthcare costs up $22,065 for the remaining two years of this agreement, we will be assured that we can keep the same benefits that we currently have.