Dec 7 Restore John Adams ESL: Stand Up for SF Immigrant Rally & Visibility Action at CCSF Mission Campus

With millions in reserves, CCSF Chancellor David Martin is choosing to shut down the ESL Program at John Adams Campus, which has served SF’s westside for 40 years. He says there aren’t enough students–these are photos of immigrant students in fully enrolled classes at John Adams right now.

Prop O lost & that means CCSF can’t grow to meet student demand, BUT it does not mean that Chancellor David Martin should continue his reckless campaign to shrink our school by choice. This is about equity & access, and City College students deserve both.

Next Weds 12/7 at 11:15am-12:30pm join these students & others for a Stand Up for SF Immigrants Rally & Visibility Action at CCSF Mission Campus (1125 Valencia St), where Chancellor Martin’s Deans work. Please reply to this email if you have any questions.

Freezing Rooms, Mold, Indoor Rain, and Bad Air

If the Chancellor office were 54 degrees right now, the District would take quick action to fix it. If the VC’s office smelled of mold, the District would move them to new rooms. Yet workers and students face these conditions regularly. Some examples: https://sites.google.com/aft2121.org/facilities-blog/home

How is your worksite?

— Talk to your precinct rep

— File a report with schooldude

— Send the most egregious examples to Malaika at: mfinkels@aft2121.org

Sign a Petition to Keep AFT 1521 Member on the CalSTRS Board

Sharon Henricks (AFT1521 member) needs 750 signatures of active community college faculty to remain a student- & labor-centered voice on the CalSTRS Retirement Board. Download, print, sign, and mail the following petition to support her (click here for link). The deadline fore returning your petition is December 15th.

Mail to: CFT, Attn: Jarrett Cooper, 1107 Ninth St. Suite 460, Sacramento, CA 95814

Send a photo of signed petition to sharonaft1521@gmail.com

KEEP GEORGIA BLUE: Phonebank for Senator Raphael Warnock at Speaker Pelosi’s Keep it Blue SF Headquarters

Join Team Pelosi and San Francisco Democrats to make calls to WIN GEORGIA to Re-Elect Rev Raphael Warnock for a full 6 year term to increase our Senate lead.

We’ll be making calls in-person at the Nancy Pelosi Keep it Blue ’22 HQ at 541 Castro Street (between 18th and 19th Streets) in San Francisco. Please bring a laptop/tablet, phone, and earbuds.

RSVP & more info here: https://www.mobilize.us/cadems/event/517127/

Join Your Delegate Assembly Tuesday 11/22 from 3-5 PM on Zoom

Debrief the recent milestones in your campaign, from Prop O to your new Trustees, and discuss the next steps in your fight for a stronger City College, including updates on bargaining.

Join your Delegate Assembly (DA) meeting Tuesday, November 22, 3-5pm. There is no COPE meeting this time.

• See the Agenda for your Delegate Assembly Here

To attend, follow this link from your computer or smartphone OR call 1-669-900-6833 then follow the prompts to enter the meeting ID #810 1671 8065 and password: 783119. See link below as well.

AFT 2121 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Delegate Assembly
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81016718065
Meeting ID: 810 1671 8065
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,81016718065# US (San Jose)
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Salary Restoration Unfair Labor Practice Update

Just before the Nov 8 election, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) heard your union’s Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) alleging bad faith bargaining in your salary restoration negotiations. Your union presented a convincing case that CCSF administrators were refusing to bargain in good faith over restoring your salaries, and the administration frankly failed to take the proceedings seriously.

The hearing ran over the course of 6 days. AFT’s Executive Director, Alayna Fredricks, along with bargaining team member and AFT Treasurer Clare Heimer testified on behalf of AFT. Former Deputy Chancellor, Dianna Gonzalez was also subpoenaed by AFT as a witness. Clara Starr, Lidia Jenkins, John al-Amin, Tom Boegel, and David Martin all testified for the District.

The District presented a scattershot case with contradictory testimony and witnesses who were uncooperative and/or had no knowledge of the events that transpired in bargaining. Only one District witness had even attended more than a few of the bargaining sessions and she largely couldn’t recall any details, nor could she demonstrate any grasp of the District’s budget. John al-Amin was relied upon to testify about the budget and was unable to answer basic questions, offered contradictory testimony, and was so uncooperative he had to be ordered repeatedly by the ALJ to answer the actual questions that were being asked. Sound familiar?

Conversely, the AFT team was able to put forward a strong case for how the District bargained in bad faith, a clear and credible explanation of the District’s finances, and successfully elicit testimony from Dianna Gonzalez that, in her own estimation, she was not empowered at that time to bargain in good faith.

While it was largely validating to hear the testimony in this case, the next steps in the process remind us why Unfair Labor Practices are only one tool for enforcing your contract and your rights. Further information or briefings for the case are not due until February, and only after those have been submitted can the ALJ issue a finding–a process that will take several more weeks.

In the meantime, there’s work to do to ensure that the District bargains in good faith. It is clear that the administration would rather pay lawyers to make expensive and flawed legal arguments than simply sit down and directly resolve issues with your faculty representatives–a practice that makes for a stronger college while preserving resources in service of students, not lawyers.

What happens at the bargaining table is shaped by everything that happens away from the bargaining table. You have already taken one major step in changing your bargaining conditions by replacing callous incumbent trustees with three trustees who ran on a student, community, and worker centered vision. But holding this administration accountable will take all of us working together right now for our shared vision of the working and learning environment City College is meant to be.

Your union has an internal organizing team that is here to facilitate and support your efforts to work together to create the college you and your students deserve. Join this effort and call or email a member of your team today.

Alan D’Souza: (415) 203-5698, adsouz@aft2121.org
Robin Pugh: (415) 577- 2288, rpugh@aft2121.org
Spencer Jackson: (323) 943- 0475, sjackson@aft2121.org

A Note from the Grievance Desk: Spring Assignments

Some administrators are trying to enforce arbitrary and made-up rules for Spring assignments, and the guidance has changed multiple times. I’m writing this to try to clear up some confusion, in hopes that fewer of these assignments end up in grievance.

• Temporary remote is allowed for Spring 2023. IOTL is not required. David Martin confirmed that on 9/28/22, and it replaces earlier instructions to the contrary. That means if your chair agrees that remote work is appropriate for the particular assignment, you do not need an accommodation to work remotely. They can just assign you. For instance, if the District can’t provide an appropriate facility with working heat, we would expect remote work.

• You can also apply for an accommodation through HR to work remotely. Caretaking *is* a valid reason for such an accommodation. (Specifically mentioned in the negotiated leaves agreement, 10/18/22)

• At the same time, we need in-person classes and services in order to be accessible and serve our students appropriately. The department may say a particular assignment must be in-person, or make sure there are enough in-person offerings overall. This is legitimate and necessary to serve our students. These requirements go with the assignments NOT with the particular faculty member.

• The District cannot apply such rules to individual faculty or groups of faculty, separate from the particular assignments. For example, they cannot arbitrarily say “All faculty must work at least 50% in person” or “all counselors must work exactly 2 days in person.” That would be adding an extra assignment criteria to article 13. If the District wants to make such a rule they need to propose it in contract negotiations and bargain over it.

• Academic Senate has changed the policy about who is qualified to teach IOTL classes. Starting Spring 2023, someone who is fully-IOTL certified can develop and teach other online classes, without needing a new IOTL training process. The Senate resolution is here.  

Remember pre-COVID, when many of us were being pressured to shift our classes to online? Now many of the exact same faculty are being pressured to *stop* using online. As grievance officer, I have a personal plea to make to CCSF administration: Please, please, stop making arbitrary rules. We understand you have ideas, things you want to accomplish. We want to hear those ideas. But please resist the temptation to turn your ideas into blanket rules that we must follow. You’ll just have to change the rules in another semester or two, as conditions change. Respect the expertise of the faculty who are doing the work.

— Malaika Finkelstein, AFT 2121 Grievance Officer

Delegate Assembly: 11/22, 3-5 PM (No COPE)

All AFT 2121 members are invited to participate in your Delegate Assembly (DA) meeting on Tuesday, November 22, 3-5pm. There is no COPE meeting this time.

• DA Agenda

To attend, follow this link from your computer or smartphone OR call 1-669-900-6833 then follow the prompts to enter the meeting ID #810 1671 8065 and password: 783119.

Freezing rooms, mold, indoor rain, and bad air

If the chancellor’s office was 54°, the District would take quick action to fix it. If the VC’s office smelled of mold, the District would move them to new rooms. Yet workers and students face these conditions regularly. Some examples:

https://sites.google.com/aft2121.org/facilities-blog/home

How is your worksite?

— Talk to your precinct rep

— File a report with schooldude

— Send the most egregious examples to Malaika at: mfinkels@aft2121.org

COVID Safety Survey results

There’s a buzz of conversation coming out of PGC around the possibility of the college changing COVID safety rules for Spring 2023. To the best of our knowledge, the District has entirely failed to take broad Input.

AFT 2121 surveyed faculty so that our voices can be heard in the conversation. 147 Faculty participated. Representation was strongest in ESL and Counseling. Overall, participants favored keeping COVID safety rules for Spring 2023.

Comments reveal a wide range of opinion and persuasive arguments on all sides. We don’t know of any other forum where such a wide range of faculty voices can be heard on these issues. Check out the detailed results here. You’ll find a summary on the first two pages, and then comments and more detailed breakdown below.

Support striking academic workers in the University of California!

Tens of thousands of academic workers are on strike now across the University of California—graduate student teachers, researchers, tutors, and postdocs. They’re striking for a fair contract including livable wages, and to protest a series of unfair labor practices that sound eerily reminiscent of what AFT-2121’s own bargaining team has experienced, including consistent bad-faith bargaining and unilateral changes to working conditions.

They need your help! A few concrete actions:

• The UC regents will be meeting at the Mission Bay campus this Wednesday morning. They will take public comment! Instructions for public comment are here, and there will be a rally at noon Wednesday at Genentech Hall (600 16th St).

• At their community solidarity website, you can donate to their strike fund, join a picket line, and sign the California Labor Federation’s petition to the UC president.

(Jan. 2023) Save the date! Retirement Financial Planning Day

Save the date for the next upcoming Retirement Financial Planning Day happening on January 12, 2023. Registration and more info coming soon.

Friends and Colleagues,

We have been anticipating this day for a very long time. A day when our students and college would have the robust investment and sound leadership they deserve. And while the final results aren’t in, it appears that despite our best efforts, Proposition O, our proposed parcel tax to fully fund CCSF, will not prevail.

This hurts, but, on the plus side, our collective hard work helped ensure that all three of our candidates for four-year seats–Vick Chung, Anita Martinez, and Susan Solomon–have won, defeating incumbent board members John Rizzo, Thea Selby, and Brigitte Davila. So while we have achieved some of the change we envisioned and worked so hard for, it is evident that our win is incomplete, making this long-anticipated day bittersweet.  

Let me be clear: We didn’t get to this point by passively hoping for change. We formed a historic coalition among labor siblings and together envisioned the future we wanted to see for our college and our community. And you and your colleagues worked with students, classified staff, and community allies to produce one of the largest grassroots campaigns in the city. We gathered over 20,000 signatures, hand delivered literature to over 150,000 homes, called over 40,000 voters, and all in the face of corporate opposition that spent more than $1 million to defeat us. And as a result of our herculean efforts, we stand today defeated on Proposition O, but victorious in our effort to win better leadership on the City College Board.

I never imagined myself leading such a fight. I am a math teacher who wants first and foremost to help my students learn and succeed–to help them unlock the mystery and beauty that is mathematics so that it does not stand in the way of their dreams, but perhaps even becomes a part of their goals. Like all of you, for a decade now, I have longed for a sense of normalcy and hope at work. And for the first time in a long time, even in the face of the impending loss of Prop O, I have hope.  

Yes, it is beyond disappointing that Proposition O was defeated by corporate greed and deception, denying City College $45 million a year in critical funding. But, on the other hand, we now have a majority of trustees who are student, worker, and community centered. From this perspective, a brighter future awaits City College. We took on incumbents and WON. We are closer now to a time when austerity will no longer reign here–closer to the time when the people’s institution will finally achieve its full potential as the heartbeat of our city.

Do not for a moment doubt our power when we work together. If creating the kind of world we all deserve were easy, it would already be done. So yes, today we grieve the growth that we tried to win–the growth our community needs and deserves. But this is also a moment to take notice of what we did achieve and celebrate the forthcoming change in leadership before turning our commitment to the fight for the working and learning conditions that we and our students deserve.

Earlier this year we lost dozens of staff and faculty. Since 2019 we have lost over 500 of our colleagues both part time, and full time, as well as untold numbers of staff. We have lost thousands of students. We have lost three campuses (Fort Mason, Airport, Civic Center), and we have lost and shrunk programs that lead to certificates and to good paying jobs. We’ve lost most of the lifelong learning opportunities for our older adults. Our working conditions and salaries have suffered. And in the pandemic, we lost our loved ones along with so many of the connections that make us human, that make us teachers, and that make us a union. For this reason, in this moment, it’s time for us to rebuild our solidarity as a union; it’s time for us to rebuild our power and to support one another as colleagues engaged in a common struggle.

When we work together, we can win for all of us. When we are divided, we can be used against each other. Better working conditions benefits all of us, as does better pay. Will you recommit to join this battle by completing a bargaining survey for your next contract right now?

We have all earned much needed rest–let’s take it! This partial victory has been a long time in the making. Our work is not finished, but for now, let’s remember this feeling– this is what solidarity and worker power looks like.

Thank you to every one of our members, allies, and friends who maintained hope and turned out to work on behalf of change at our college during this election cycle, who gathered signatures for Prop O, walked precincts for candidates, or called voters to bring new revenue and new leadership at the college. Let’s meet again, in person, soon.

In solidarity,
Mary Bravewoman
AFT 2121, President

Vote, Get Out the Vote, & Then Join a Party

You have until 8pm today to VOTE! You all have put your heart and souls into fighting for the increased investment and better leadership that City College needs to thrive. You’ve fought with courage and vision. Now is the time to finish strong by making sure you VOTE today for City College, and get your whole community to join you.

1. Find your polling place and make sure you vote by 8pm today Tuesday, November 8: https://sfelections.org/tools/map_poll_time/

2. Do urgent Get Out the Vote calling to SF voters whenever you have time today! Phone banking is running until 8pm today in-person and online. Join colleagues & community allies calling in person at SEIU 1021’s office at 350 Kansas St. 94103. Or click on this link when you’re free & join! https://aft.zoom.us/j/94671847907?pwd=SUNjbW9xbTBwa2RpbWNwanFJZ3BHdz09

3. Join an election party! When the voting is done, join your colleagues & allies at election parties from 8pm onwards at the Peacock Lounge (552 Haight St) for Props M, H, & O & your endorsed Trustee candidates at El Rio (3158 Mission St).

Dear City College Community,

Deb Giusto has been a Registered Nurse in San Francisco for 43 years. She’s the Director of City College’s celebrated Registered Nursing program, and she has a call to action:

“In Nursing, we’ve had to cut our enrollment by 20% this year due to understaffing. Our program is one of the best in the region, and San Francisco desperately needs more trained nurses. But we’re turning away hundreds of qualified applicants this year. City College needs more support and better leaders to meet our city’s need for more trained nurses.”

During a global pandemic, City College’s Nursing program has cut its enrollment this year by 20% due to understaffing. Let that sink in, and then this weekend, do something about it. Sign up for a Prop O & educator-backed Board Candidate mobilization right now, & encourage your whole community to join you:

1. Saturday, Nov 5, 10am-2pm, Alamo Square (Hayes & Scott St.)

2. Sunday, Nov 6, 10am-2pm, Dolores Park (19th St & Dolores)

Proposition O and CCSF Board Candidates Vick Chung, Adolfo Velasquez, Susan Solomon, and Anita Martinez are what our city needs to stabilize City College and strengthen vital programs like Nursing. But our opposition has raised over $1 million dollars and is flooding the city with misleading attack ads, which means, to win this, we need to take action together.

RSVP now: https://bit.ly/ccsfWIN