ADFAC UPDATES

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE – April 2009

No surprises at the table…

Nothing overly surprising came from the predictable bargaining session held on 27 March.

“No money have we,” is the District’s mantra, and “But we are 48^th in the state” is the Union’s.”

AdFac presented our proposal for another step on the salary schedule, credit side; pro rata configuration of step increases on the non-credit side (there is currently less of an increase, step to step on the non-credit schedule); and a modest increase across all salary schedules.

AdFac presented the District with statistics from proximal districts, and the District team (consisting of one, Jeff Horsley), responded, “We do need to do something for our part-time salaries, but this just isn’t the year.” 

Crying “no money” didn’t start with this budget shortfall.  It’s the mantra every year, and last year’s raise, in a year which delivered 4.53% COLA from the state budget, didn’t come until we went into impasse and a third-party mediator helped us settle.

But we do have to be realistic about the budget shortfall in the state and the fact that thousands of teachers in K-12 have received layoff notices.  Courses have been cut in a high percentage of community colleges, as well, because of budgetary concerns.  AdFac is analyzing the District Budget, and our findings will determine how we handle it from here at the negotiations table.

June Update: At our May 1 session, the District did not accept our proposals on three remaining articles in our contract, namely, salary, benefits and catastrophic leave. As a result, AdFac filed for impasse; AdFac and the District will meet with a PERB-appointed mediator on June 18.