If you happened to see bargaining team members doing cartwheels outside of CLIMB Center yesterday evening, it might be because WE WON EVERYTHING WE ASKED FOR IN ARTICLE 6!
For more than a year now, we’ve been saying that professional autonomy is one of the defining issues of this contract. Last night, after months of pressure, the administration caved to a series of (very reasonable) demands on scheduling, work modality, telecommuting agreements, and more!
The T. A, from last night includes the following:
- Article 6 Hours and Workload of FT Faculty and APs
- Telecommuting Agreements: The administration will scrap the current telecommuting agreements and create a universal Remote Work Agreement, with input from FFAP, that will be for recordkeeping purposes only (meaning it cannot be used to revoke remote work arrangements). Every FT faculty and AP who works remotely will sign one, but it will not be prescriptive with regard to schedule, modality, or percent of time spent on-site.
- Full Time Faculty: Removed the language requiring FT faculty to be on campus for 30 hours per week. This is a long standing contract provision that was inconsistently enforced.
- New Course Development will be compensated with release time or the equivalent to release time paid at the instructor’s step level (instead of special project rate)
- Counselors, Librarians, and Academic Professionals: Removed language that allows managers to unilaterally set our schedules, and added language to guarantee flexibility in determining our work modality. This language will protect members against arbitrary or blanket directives regarding work modality!
- Academic Professional Coordinator work that includes management like duties such as overseeing student workers and managing budgets, will be considered “management experience” when applying for manager roles at PCC, opening up career path options for many of our APs.
- Article 6 also includes language around P.E. Teaching Load and FDC Compensation. These will be considered with economic issues and during the joint FFAP-management FDC Workgroup.
- Article 1 Definitions: Amended to include co-teaching in the definition of PT faculty
- Article 5 Professional Duties: Ensures that PT faculty also working .5 AP positions will be paid at their current step rate.
- Articles 25 (Grievance Procedure) and 29 (Management Rights): Management sought substantial changes to weaken both of these articles but we held the line and they will remain unchanged
- Articles 8 (Overloads and 4th term appointments), 15 (Tuition Waiver), 30 (Federation Rights), 33 (Miscellaneous), 34 (Facilities and Parking): No concessions were made on any of these articles. We agreed to maintain current contract language on non-economic aspects, while keeping economic issues open.
In December, we reached a T.A. on Article 7 (Assessment) which sets clear boundaries for when and how an online course shell can be accessed and stipulates that “Any individual performing a faculty assessment must be trained in a uniform, district wide assessment process, and have passed a norming exercise.” We also agreed to a workgroup in collaboration with classified for Article 27 (Health and Safety).
Only two articles remain open for non-economic bargaining: Article 10 (Campus Assignments) and Article 26 (Participation and College Service), which is where most of our shared governance language lives.
What happens next?
Unfortunately, the administration has invoked their right to close bargaining meetings to observers—something they are entitled to do now that we have entered mediation. Our next session is Friday, January 12 all day starting roughly at 8:30 a.m. Members are always welcome to hang out in-person in our caucus room. We will also plan to hold a Zoom update with the bargaining team on that day. We will be in touch early next week with more information!
Your involvement, presence and participation has contributed immeasurably to our success! Things that seemed like long shots a year ago – (Seniority for PT faculty! Professional autonomy for APs! Ending the 30-hour rule!) are now reality! Let’s keep up the pressure!!! Let’s win shared governance, fair COLAs, part time pay equity, improvements for CTE. When we show up, we win!