CCFF Dues Increase Proposal
Good Afternoon!
I hope that everyone is having a fabulous semester! Or, that at least everyone has a decent supply of caffeine flowing in their bloodstream to last them until the end of the day.
If you’ll remember, my first email of the semester indicated that our grandparent and parent unions—the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the California Federation of Teachers (CFT)—made a small dues increase that will be automatically passed through to part-time and full-time faculty, on a national and state-wide level. It was also indicated in the same email that the CCFF has found it necessary to request an increase in membership dues and agency fees, to keep up with the heavy-duty workload we take on on behalf of our dedicated faculty.
The proposal is to increase dues gradually over this academic year and the next. We believe a gradual increase would be the most sensible approach. For part-time faculty, the increase per month (for ten months of the year) would be $1.59 for 2017-18, and then another $1.59 for 2018-19. For full-time faculty, dues would increase $5.75 per month for ten months of the year for 2017-18, and another $5.75 in 2018-19.
Voting begins tomorrow (Thursday, Oct 12).
As the union does not receive funding from Cerritos College to perform its duties, we are considered an independent entity working for the benefit of Cerritos College faculty. This is why we look to our members for their support in us.
Current fees and dues go directly to the day-to-day operations that the union performs on behalf of fellow faculty. With this revenue, union officers are trusted to carry out their offices to the best of their ability. Accordingly, and as one of our duties, the union had fought hard in the last academic year for a new contract, which not only secured health benefits for full-time faculty, but also won increases in salaries and wages for all faculty, as well as increases in the number and amount of hourly compensation for office hours for part-time faculty. These wins were among the many others our negotiations team used their talents to argue for. And, further, these negotiation efforts and successes are among the numerous other responsibilities and accomplishments performed by every CCFF officer on a regular basis.
The cost of such hard work was and is high. Now that we are facing yet another season of long, hard hours—including imminent, tough negotiations for the next three-year contract—our operations will consume more than our previous level of dues will allow. Not only will the process of negotiating require brutally long hours for our negotiations team, it will also require that the team regularly consult with legal counsel. Also, CCFF officers anticipate an ever-growing workload. This includes summer work to support and adequately represent faculty teaching during this interim. It also includes attending leadership and organizing trainings, throughout the state of California, for current and future officers. This is in addition to the ongoing grievance work that will need to be done from year to year. Also, with our new contract, the grievance team has even more faculty rights to defend.
Not only is it important to ensure that members will be able to receive the current level of service from their union, now and in the future, but it is essential that the union spend their efforts to recruit new and dedicated officers to sustain a strong leadership.
These are the reasons for our proposed change of member dues and non-member fees.
We hope we have your support.
Veronica Miranda
Your Communications Chair