District Ordered by Judge to Cease and Desist, A Budget for Our Future, & Organizing for that Future

On Friday the District was ordered by the Public Employment Relations Board to CEASE AND DESIST from failing to meet and negotiate in good faith with AFT 2121. Read more about the decision here (it’s called a “proposed decision” because there could still be an appeal). This Unfair Labor Practice was filed specifically around bargaining over the restoration of the salary concessions you made in 2021-22. By the terms of that agreement, you deserve to be paid back, but to date, Chancellor David Martin and his negotiating team have refused to engage in good faith on this matter despite–or perhaps because–the District’s fiscal year 2022 actuals, that is what actually happened financially in 2021-22, show that Vice Chancellor John Al-amin was simply wrong in his predictions of a $32-$38M deficit. There was no budgetary mandate for layoffs or concessions in fiscal years 2021 or 2022, and David Martin’s team is refusing to negotiate in good faith over the consequences of that fact.

Because of devastating reductions in operations (i.e. cuts), changes at the state level to hold harmless provisions, and a number of COLAs over the last few years, the District currently has an excess of revenue over expenditures (i.e. surpluses) in the 10s of millions that David Martin intends to spend on everything but the services that directly serve students and the people who provide those services.

AFT’s own budget analysis has been far more accurate than the District’s for the previous two years, and the same is true this year. If you would like an accurate assessment of CCSF’s financial standing, then you should consult AFT’s Budget for CCSF’s Future, which provides the financial analysis and roadmap necessary to keep CCSF financially stable for years to come.

As a result of grossly inaccurate financial projections and assumptions provided by John Al-Amin since he arrived, David Martin has cut many CCSF programs to the bone, including programs that are now turning away hundreds of students every semester. There is no way to protect CCSF’s long term financial health without enrollment growth–a fact David Martin acknowledges rhetorically but not in practice. Without a swift response and correction, CCSF risks being fundamentally unable to attract and retain student enrollment.

It’s up to you to make clear what your students need. Right now, departments across the college are organizing to advocate for their top issues, and we encourage you to do the same. Join with your colleagues today to make sure the Board of Trustees understands what you and your departments need to successfully serve your students and your city.

COPE & Delegate Assembly, Tuesday 4/18, from 1:30-3pm & 3-5pm on Zoom

All members are encouraged to attend your Committee on Political Education (1:30-3pm) & Delegate Assembly (3-5pm) on Tuesday, April 18. Come to DA to find out about the next step in our contract campaign!

COPE Agenda is here

Delegate Assembly Agenda is here  

You can use the same link as for other DA meetings – follow this link from your computer or smartphone. Meeting ID: 810 1671 8065, Password: 783119.

Tell Your Students: Health Care Career Showcase at John Adams, Wednesday, April 26, from 11:30am-1pm

Students and faculty from a wide range of health care programs will be on hand next Wednesday to talk to interested students about careers in the health care industry. CCSF has programs for students to find fulfilling and quality careers as EMTs, Paramedics, Phlebotomists, Pharmacy Techs, Vocational Nurses, Dental Assistants, and more. These are in-demand professions that are vital to the health of our city and state.

Be sure to let your students know about this opportunity to learn more next Wednesday at John Adams!

American Association of University Professors Forum–Responding to the Legislative Attacks on Education, Thursday, April 20, at 1pm

Our students deserve quality education that includes difficult truths and many perspectives. But politicians in some states are trying to substitute their own ideological beliefs for educational freedom, especially on topics like race and gender. Join us for a discussion of these efforts to suppress teaching and learning and how we can respond. We’ll discuss the state of this legislation, an AAUP task force on the issue, and review a new guide for campus leaders out from PEN America and the American Council on Education, Making the Case for Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy in a Challenging Political Environment.

Register & find more info here: https://www.aaup.org/event/responding-legislative-attacks-education

Speakers include:

• Derryn Moten is a professor of history and political science at Alabama State University and serves on the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. He is vice president of the Alabama AFL-CIO chapter and co-chair of the AFT Higher Education Policy and Planning Council.

• Jennifer Ruth is a professor in the School of Film at Portland State University and a member of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom. She is a contributing editor to the Academe blog and served for two years as the faculty editor of the Journal of Academic Freedom. Her most recent book, co-authored with Michael Bérubé, is It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom (2022).

• Jeremy C. Young is the senior manager of free expression and education at PEN America. In this role, he advances PEN America’s advocacy for free expression in educational institutions, advocates against censorious legislation and politically-motivated efforts to ban concepts and curricular materials, and supports academic freedom in higher education and the freedom to read, learn, and teach in K-12 schools.

• Steven Bloom is assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education. His primary focus is on tax issues, endowments, health care reform, immigration and international issues, labor and employment, and so-called “divisive concepts.”

PT Listserv Temporarily Down

The PT listserv administered by CFT is down. If you have tried to email the list recently, don’t worry. CFT is working on it and we hope it will be back up in a few days. If you would like to join or quit the listserv, please email Malaika at mfinkels@aft2121.org

Attend Open Bargaining, Thursday 4/13 at 2-3:30PM MUB 261 & then Support Recalling Laid Off Tenured/TT Faculty at the BOT Meeting Thursday 4/13 at 4:30 PM

Please join us tomorrow for our second in-person bargaining session with the District in negotiations for your new contract. Help us hold the District’s bargaining team accountable by showing them that we are paying close attention to their behavior at the bargaining table.

Afterwards, join your colleagues in making public comment at the Board of Trustees Budget and Audit Subcommittee meeting in support of Trustees Susan Solomon and Anita Martinez’s “Resolution Supporting a Plan to Recall all Remaining Full Time Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty Laid Off in May 2022.”

See agenda items 5.A, which “supports the Chancellor in developing, adopting, and implementing a plan to recall all remaining full time tenured and tenure track faculty laid off in May 2022 as soon as possible but in no case later than for the 2026 spring or summer semester.” Item 5.B speaks to Classified layoffs.  

From Computer Networking & Information Technology, to Biotech, to Chemistry, to English, to Broadcast Electronic Media Arts, to Environmental Horticulture/Floristry, & so many more, crucial programs that our students depend on have been devastated by the unnecessary layoffs last May. The layoff of these faculty members was an attack on tenure, a bedrock of academic freedom in the United States, and it was a decision made without budgetary justification.

Comments can be made in person or by phone. You can sign up to make public comment by following instructions here. You’ll need to sign up no later than 4pm. See item 3 on agenda for details.

We urge the Trustees to pass this resolution in defense of our students and programs, and we encourage all faculty to make comments in support of this timely resolution. Your AFT 2121 Bargaining Team’s Sunshine Document (see here) includes a commitment to seek to “restore positions and bring back laid off faculty,” and we are encouraged to see the Board of Trustees taking steps to support this effort.

History of May Day Film Screening at Mission Campus Monday 4/24 at 7pm in Room 109

We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day is a new half-hour documentary video exploring how May Day became a workers’ holiday all over the world except in the United States—despite the fact that the events that inspired the holiday occurred here. At a time when celebrating May Day is making a comeback, the American labor movement is showing renewed militancy, and public support for labor is at a half century peak, the appearance of We Mean to Make Things Over is extremely timely.

Using historical images, contemporary illustrations by Berkeley artist Jos Sances, and animation by L.A.-based animator Paul Zappia, We Mean to Make Things Over is an educational and entertaining tour of a long-suppressed story from American working-class history. Writer/Director Fred Glass will introduce the screening and answer questions afterward. Fred teaches labor history and is the retired communications director of the California Federation of Teachers. We Mean to Make Things Over recently won first place in the educational video category of the 2022 International Labor Communications Association awards contest.

COPE & Delegate Assembly, Tuesday 4/18, from 1:30-3pm & 3-5pm on Zoom

All members are encouraged to attend your Committee on Political Education (1:30-3pm) & Delegate Assembly (3-5pm) on Tuesday, April 18. Come to DA to find out about the next step in our contract campaign!

COPE Agenda is here

Delegate Assembly Agenda is here  

You can use the same link as for other DA meetings – follow this link from your computer or smartphone. Meeting ID: 810 1671 8065, Password: 783119.

Support AB 811 for Greater Course Repeatability

Many of our programs took a big hit when the state restricted and eliminated course repeatability many years ago. PE, Dance, Theater Arts, Art, Fashion, Photography and many other programs were no longer able to allow students to repeat classes if they desired. Now, thanks to years of advocacy in Sacramento, there is a bill to expand current repeatability rules, AB 811 (Fong), which is currently being considered in the Higher Education Committee.

But to get the bill passed out of the Higher Education Committee, the committee needs to hear from us about how important it is. Please click the link below and email members of the CA Assembly Higher Education Committee to let them know how important it is for us to get repeatability back!

Here is some sample text you could use in emails to members of the Committee on Higher Education: “The enrollment ban on repeatability has had a detrimental effect on City College of San Francisco (CCSF). Our enrollment is down even more given the effects of the pandemic. Please pass AB 811, which will allow us to grow enrollment and better meet student demand. Before the ban, we had thousands of students taking art, music, physical education, theater and languages. Please help us recover from our enrollment loss and better serve our community.”

Bill Text here

Members | Committee on Higher Education

Hear Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Speak on Tuesday, April 25 from 5:30-7:00pm at Mission Campus Room 109

Hear the Bargaining Survey Results & Launch Your Contract Campaign at your General Member Meeting, Tues (4/4), 3:30-5:30pm in MUB 250 (Ocean)

A powerful majority of faculty have spoken, and AFT 2121 members are gathering tomorrow to hear the broad takeaways from your bargaining survey and discuss the next steps in the campaign for your new contract. Faculty working conditions are students’ learning conditions, so make no mistake this is a campaign for your contract, your department, and your college. Let’s work together to improve our school.

All AFT 2121 members are encouraged to attend–find the meeting agenda here. The meeting will be in person in MUB 250 (Ocean Campus) following our open bargaining session from 2-3:30 PM, which members can also attend in MUB 261.

All AFT 2121 Members Strongly Encouraged to Attend your April 4 General Member Meeting: Bargaining Survey Results & Contract Campaign Kickoff
Tuesday, April 4, 3:30-5:30pm
MUB 250 (Ocean Campus)

Justice for Sean Monterrosa: The Monterrosa Sisters Demand Justice for their Brother, Killed by Vallejo PD

April 10th 2023, 12-2pm,
MUB 140, Ocean Campus, or
Virtually at tinyurl.com/WHMccsf

General Membership Meeting, Tuesday, 4/4 @ 3:30 at Ocean Campus

All AFT 2121 members are encouraged to participate in our Tuesday, April 4, General Membership Meeting from 3:30-5:30 PM–find the meeting agenda here. The meeting will be in person in MUB, Ocean Campus, following our open bargaining session from 2-3:30 PM, which members can also attend. At the General Membership Meeting, we’ll be discussing the bargaining survey and kicking off our contract campaign, so members should plan to come. The room in MUB is still being confirmed and will be announced soon.

Hello AFT 2121!

Unfortunately, your bargaining team has to change our plans to hold an open, in-person, bargaining session tomorrow, 3/21. Sadly, our lead negotiator, Alayna Fredericks, has been exposed to COVID. In order to prioritize the health and safety of all concerned, we will be pivoting tomorrow’s session to Zoom. We will stay on Zoom for a bargaining discussion & the general membership debrief after the district team has left.  

So please join us and show the district that we stand united!

Link to register here. If you registered for our 3/6 meeting, just use the same link!