Negotiations

Academic Year 2020-21

Negotiations Update – Friday, March 12, 2021

The District has been negotiating in good faith with the CCFF. At the same time, there are some items we would like to keep our eye on, such as Department Chair release time and compensation. Please continue to review our negotiations updates in case there is a call to action for important issues.

Article 3, Union Rights – The Union proposed language that will allow part-time faculty, like full-time faculty, to be paid for union work by the District on the relevant salary schedule. The Union has also re-proposed more timely response time for requests for information (RFIs), which would allow for more streamlined grievance and negotiations work.

Article 9, Compensation and Workload for Extensive Labs – The District countered with including the deans in the Extensive Lab application process and limiting participation to 6-10 faculty with no more than two from any division. The concern with this language is it does not follow our current practice when a senate appoints faculty to a committee. And the inclusion of the Deans in the application process is a deviation from past practice of the committee.

Article 11, Department Chairs – The Federation provided a counter to the district with proposed increased release time and summer stipend for increased workload. Federation proposed language to define summer duties for Chairs, which mostly include emergency/urgent matters.

Article 14, Office Hours – The District proposed offering part-time faculty an increased number of “Student” (Office) hours. The District wishes to call office hours “student hours,” and ensure that part-timers hold student hours at regularly-scheduled weekly times. The District rejected the Union’s proposed increase in “student” hour compensation to the instructor’s regular rate.

Article 16, Evaluation – The District agreed to remove its proposal to require “respectful and professional” conduct of evaluation meetings. The District continued to propose changing the term from “remediation plan” to “performance improvement plan” for faculty who receive an unsatisfactory or needs improvement evaluation. Based on Senate consultation, the CCFF countered with the term “professional improvement plan,” as faculty jobs are not solely performance based, but encompass a wide range of professional duties.

Article 17, Student Evaluation – The District again proposed that all student evaluations be conducted online; the Union countered that faculty teaching face-to-face classes be allowed a ten-day window to opt-in to paper evaluations for those classes.

Article 29, Reduced Workload Prior to Retirement – In the District’s counter they removed the current procedural language in the CBA to align with Education Code and CalSTRS. The Federation will counter to include language for faculty with PERS as their retirement system.

Article 32, Access to Personnel Files – We reached tentative agreement on the proposed changes: faculty may dispute derogatory language before it’s placed into one’s personnel file and the District must give faculty a written notification before any language is placed into one’s file.

Article 38, Working Conditions, Safety and Welfare – The Union made a counter-proposal to strengthen notification of faculty of safety procedures, ensure faculty are informed when students present a threat to faculty, and allow faculty to be compensated for damage or destruction to personal property in the event of an on-campus emergency.

March 5, 2021

Your union met with the district on Friday, March 5 for further negotiations on our next contract.

Article 3 Union Rights – The District rejected the CCFF’s proposals to decrease the timeline of 30 days to 10 days for timely response to requests for information, and to increase union reassigned time for union work, such as negotiations and grievance, to 50 from 35 units.

Article 7 Academic Calendar- The Union proposed that the campus transition to a 16-week calendar that includes 16-week Fall and Spring semesters, along with a winter intersession and two summer sessions. This pattern, recommended by a joint faculty-administration committee in 2015, would improve student equity and completion rates, but has not yet been implemented by the District.

Article 9 Extensive Labs – CCFF countered with language from the ELC Co-Chairs. This language reflects what happens in the status quo and allows an approved course to maintain its status as an extensive lab indefinitely.

Article 11 Department Chairs – The District rejected the CCFF’s proposal to increase compensation for chairs due to increased workload. CCFF will counter this article with improved compensation for department chairs.

Article 12 Program Directors – The District rejected the CCFF’s proposal to increase compensation for Program Directors. The District also countered with an “informal annual evaluation process” where the administrator could assign a Program Director a “Needs Improvement” and be able to remove the Program Director and then step in as acting Program Director. CCFF will bring this issue to the Senate for consultation.

Article 16 Evaluation – After consultation with the Senate we countered with language proposed by Senators. Instead of the District’s proposed term of “performance” plan, we proposed the term “improvement” plan. The CCFF also included the language “provide examples of observations” and “offer” recommendations during evaluation meetings. The union has rejected the district’s unnecessary language that evaluation discussions be “conducted in a respectful and professional manner.”

Article 17 Student Evaluation- After consultation with the Senate, we countered with language proposed by the Senators to make online Student Ratings of Instruction (SRIs) the default, but allow faculty teaching in person to opt for paper SRIs.

Article 29 Reduced Workload – CCFF proposed to keep procedural language to apply for reduced workload in the CBA, while the District would like to remove language listed in the current CBA.

Article 32 Personnel Files- The District countered and we agreed on most of the language changes. CCFF has asked the District to ensure that the written notice is provided to faculty prior to placing information of a derogatory nature into the personnel file.

Article 38 Working Conditions, Safety, and Welfare – The District accepted many of the CCFF’s proposals to ensure better communication and safer working conditions. However, some proposals were rejected. The CCFF will counter with language that enhances the safety of faculty and students on campus.

Update- February 22, 2021

On Friday, February 19, the union met with the district in their second meeting of the negotiations for the 2021-2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Both teams have reached a tentative agreement on Article 2 – District Rights.

Article 3 – Union Rights: The district is still reviewing the union’s proposal on union rights, which includes more units of released time for union work, and better union access to new employee orientation as provided under AB119.

Article 9 – Extensive Laboratories: The union and the district have exchanged proposals that would streamline the Extensive Laboratory Committee and its work without jeopardizing the ability of faculty to gain approval for extensive labs.

Article 11 – Department Chair Compensation: The union proposes increasing chair reassigned time and summer stipend, to (1) ensure that chairs receive at least 20% LHE release, enough to reduce their load by one 3-unit class; and to (2) take into account the growing number of tasks and bureaucratic responsibilities chairs must fulfill.

Article 12 – Program Directors (Compensation): The union proposes parity with department chairs in program director reassigned time and summer stipend.

Article 14 – Office Hours: The union proposes increasing part-time faculty office hours allocated per semester to increase student access to their instructors when their courses are taught by adjunct faculty.

Article 32 – Personnel Files: The district and union have exchanged proposals regarding minor changes to ensure faculty access to their own personnel files.

Article 38 – Working Conditions, Safety and Welfare: The union has proposed enhancements to the article on working conditions, safety and welfare in light of the pandemic and recent issues during a bomb threat in 2019, that would better enable faculty safety, ensure access to necessary materials (e.g. PPE), appropriate trainings, robust communications during emergencies, and expanded district-union/faculty collaboration on safety rules and programs.

The district has yet to respond to the union’s proposal for a much-needed Just Cause article, which would provide all faculty due process rights when under investigation, or when facing adverse actions short of suspension or dismissal.

The union will respond to district proposals on the following after consultation with the Academic Senate on these areas where we have joint responsibility:

Article 16 – Evaluation: The district wants unnecessary language stating that faculty evaluation meetings “shall be conducted in a respectful and professional manner.” They also propose changing terminology from “remediation plan” to “performance improvement plan.”

Article 17 – Student Evaluations of Faculty: The district proposes eliminating paper forms for Student Ratings of Instruction. In the past, the union has protected the right of faculty to choose paper or electronic SRIs for in-person instruction.

Article 34 – Academic Rank: The district has proposed revisions to clarify the qualifications for the ranks of Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor.

February 2021

Congratulations to the CCFF Negotiations team for successfully reaching an agreement with the District on the MOU: COVID 19 (Feb. 03, 2021).

What’s in the MOU: COVID 19 (Feb. 03, 2021)?

Faculty who will complete the full DE certification in the spring term will still get $500!
Covid-19 sick leave: if you have sick or personal necessity (PN), you have to use your own leave balance first. If you run out, the district will kick in 14 calendar days of paid leave, if necessary.
PT medical reimbursement: if you had previously been eligible for reimbursement, but are working less than 40%, you can be eligible for health insurance reimbursement for this semester. It will be prorated based on load. For example, 40% is $1,000, 20% is $500.
Tenured and or adjunct faculty who postponed their Fall 2020 evaluation will be evaluated in Spring 21. All other evaluations will continue as usual.
All Student Ratings of Instruction (SRI) will be conducted online.

Contact Jay Elarcosa, CCFF Lead Negotiator at negotiations@ccffcerritos.org if you have any questions.

November 13 Negotiations Update

December 3 Negotiations Update