Vote on COPE Endorsements + Revenue Measure Needs YOU this Week!

Appreciate everyone who joined their Committee on Political Education meeting today, at which we considered several important endorsements. COPE Voting is now open for the next 24 hours at this link: https://surveyhero.com/c/9rdnnvfq

If you were unable to attend, please check out the candidate questionnaires and candidate and campaign presentations/interviews from today’s meeting. See more info on your COPE voting page, & find the password here: COPE2022

Finally, ballots drop October 10th! That means you have five short weeks to reach early voters about the need to fund our City College with Prop O! Can you sign up for three volunteer shifts between now and October 10th and find two colleagues whom you can ask to do the same?

You need all hands on deck to regain control of your college. What Chancellor Martin is doing to our students & whole community is entirely unacceptable, but to move Martin, you need leverage. That means winning in November the additional investment & new leadership you need to move Chancellor Martin & build back your working conditions and college. RSVP here & share widely: https://bit.ly/ccsfWINS

Speak Out at Trustees Meeting & Work to Replace Them

Chancellor Martin & the Board of Trustees are right now cutting our programs & courses with abandon, and the impact is falling directly on the faculty who teach those classes and on students who are being turned away from the college in droves.

Take action today by speaking out at the Board of Trustees meeting & then volunteering in the fight to regain control of your college.

1. The single best way to pressure the Trustees & the Chancellor is to show them you’re prepared to win more resources & better leadership for your college. The Trustees need to see that you as faculty will ensure they lose their positions because of their reckless decisions. Volunteer for Prop O campaign shifts now (click here for link) & stay tuned for opportunities to support your endorsed Trustee candidates: https://bit.ly/ccsfWINS.

2. Your college community will be on hand at today’s Board of Trustees meeting at 3:30pm on Zoom, so be sure to tune in & speak out (click here for link). Invite impacted students & community members, & let’s make sure we make crystal clear the consequences of the Trustees’ decisions. Click here to learn more about how to sign up for public comment.

Some numbers on the Trustees’ & Martin’s cuts. These are from the Banner as of 8/24. Cuts are still being implemented–Martin has threatened to shrink the schedule even further.

Most of these cuts have to do with the layoff of FT faculty. Chancellor Martin would rather overcrowd classes (one ESL non-credit class is now up to 92 students) and leave students without their required English classes than re-appoint laid-off FT faculty.

Some of Martin’s cuts, however, extend beyond the impact of FT faculty layoffs. For example, there are no FT layoffs in Biology. Classes are full, and they were also full in Fall 2021. The program is simply being cut for the sake of downsizing. Around the college, Chancellor Martin is making cuts with no notification to students, and is simply erasing waiting lists, preventing us from knowing exactly how many hundreds of students he & the Trustees are locking out.

Our elected college leaders need to be held accountable. Speak out today & work to regain control of your college.

Stand up for Farmworker Union Rights–Join the Rally in Sacramento on Friday

SF Labor Council still has some seats on the bus that will be leaving Friday morning to take folks to the big farm worker rally in Sacramento urging Governor Newsom to support the right of farmworkers to vote in union elections without intimidation & retaliation. The bus is going to leave at 7am from the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, for the rally which starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Capitol. They will return by about noon and lunch will be provided on the bus.

Sign up here.

(8/27 & beyond) Next steps to WIN for CCSF – Richmond (D1) Lit drop/visibility & other times to help

CCSF needs local investment to meet the education needs in San Francisco so we’re talking to SF voters to get up to $45 million a year for CCSF!  Sunday’s field campaign kickoff was a success, next you just need to keep this momentum going!

Next steps:

• Next campaign event is this Saturday, 8/27, 11am at 6th and Futon! We’ll be lit dropping in the Richmond/D1.

• The full volunteer sign up form for Prop O is up and ready to share! Find times in the next days and weeks that work for you to help by RSVPing here: https://bit.ly/ccsfWINS and share this with anyone you know who cares about helping CCSF.

CCSF is hurting–it needs more support & accountability and SF Voters need to know why they should pass our CCSF funding measure. Together we can help make that happen. See you there!

See endorsements, measure language, and more on the campaign website: https://www.sfwercs.com/

(Tuesday, 8/30) COPE & DA meetings

All AFT 2121 members are invited to attend your next COPE and DA meetings on Wednesday, 8/30

At COPE from 12:30-3pm we will be hearing from candidates and voting on endorsements. Enter the password “COPE 2022″ to view candidate questionnaire responses posted as they are received here: https://www.aft2121.org/2022-2/

• COPE Agenda

At DA from 3-5pm, we will discuss the latest updates in our Campaign to Win, including the best strategy for wage increases for faculty.

• DA Agenda

• DRAFT Minutes
  

To attend either of these meetings, 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.

Open Bargaining – August 23rd

Today your AFT 2121 bargaining team met with the District.

Faculty who had summer assignments were underpaid. The District violated the signed agreement and extended wage concessions. Bargaining team member and AFT 2121 Treasurer, Clare Heimer, made a powerful presentation about this. Clare showed that it was a clear violation of our concessionary agreement to pay faculty at the lower concessionary rate for July. The District agreed to meet with AFT 2121’s team to figure out how to restore summer salaries. More information to come on this topic.

The District also presented their response to AFT’s proposal regarding leaves. The District is resisting any additional COVID sick leave. Rather, they continue to insist that faculty who test positive for COVID use their accrued sick leave or VSLB. A District representative said that faculty should come to work in-person even if we live with someone who has COVID. This shows alarming lack of concern for the health and safety of everyone at CCSF.

The District also responded on evaluation. Their proposal does acknowledge the ongoing pandemic and the fact that some faculty are still working in temporary remote conditions. Unlike on leaves, there does seem to be some movement towards what faculty have said we need.

Thanks to our members who came to open bargaining today!

On Strike at Kaiser

12pm Today at Conlan Hall– Rally Against Class Cuts

With the approval of a majority on the Board of Trustees, including John Rizzo, Thea Selby, & Brigitte Davila, Chancellor Martin laid off hundreds of faculty & over 60 classified staff, and now he is turning away students in droves.

300 on a wait list for English 1A? ESL classes with 200 students? Cutting a fully-enrolled motorcycle class and ending the program? Martin is strangling credit, non-credit, and trades at the roots. He is refusing to bargain, and the majority on the of Board of Trustees is letting him get away with it. We need to speak out & demand change.

Come out today and make your voice heard. Your endorsed Trustee candidates Susan Solomon, Vick Chung, & Anita Martinez will be speaking. The event will also be streamed live on Facebook here: https://fb.me/e/3NM7XFiDv

PROP O Launch Success!

Thank you to all the organizations & community members who joined faculty, staff, & students in making yesterday’s #YesOnO Campaign Lit Kickoff a success! It was a beautiful day to get out there & educate SF voters about the value of City College and the need for further investment in it.

Prop O will bring $45 million annually to City College for the next 20 years, as well as strict limits and oversight on how that money is spent (see slideshow for details). This measure combined with electing at least 3 new Trustees is essential to regaining control of our college, which we absolutely need to do for the sake of our working conditions & students. So make sure you volunteer for these campaigns!

Campaign Kickoff 11am this Sunday for a Historic City College Ballot Measure

You worked hard to put this historic City College funding measure SF WERCS on the ballot in November, & now it’s time to make sure it passes! Join your Prop O Campaign Kickoff this Sunday, August 21, at 11am at Rossi Playground (600 Arguello). RSVP now, & encourage your community to join you: https://bit.ly/3Qwwdgp

City College needs more investment for the sake of your working condition & students, & you have the power to make that happen. So join your CCSF community this Sunday, and you’ll receive campaign literature and learn how you can be part of the essential fight to make sure SF WERCS passes.

You can find SF WERCS language, endorsements, and more on your campaign website: https://www.sfwercs.com. And be sure to RSVP & join us on Sunday! https://bit.ly/3Qwwdgp

Sticking Together Benefits YOU

You may have seen a petition recently from a group of faculty calling themselves the UFF, or Union of Full Time Faculty. This petition encourages full time faculty to support splitting off from AFT2121 and forming a new union of only full time faculty. Today we ask you to reject division and a diminishment of your power at the bargaining table, and instead embrace unity as the best strategy for improving our working conditions & college.

In AFT 2121, you have a well-established, well-connected union with a long history of winning battles for faculty, for CCSF, and for public education. AFT 2121 is the group who saved CCSF from being shut down by a rogue accreditor in 2012-14; it is the group who conceived Free City and supported it through a successful ballot process; and it is the group who is currently working to bring more funding and better leadership to your college through the Fall 2022 ballot.

AFT2121 has a long-term, multi-pronged strategy to win better wages AND better working conditions for junior full-time faculty, senior full-time faculty and part-timers. Pay for all faculty is tied to the same pay scale, so when we win a pay increase, we all win. Our strategy to place CCSF faculty in a strong bargaining position before opening talks over pay is bearing fruit. You can see the results of this work in the Fall 2022 ballot. Proposition O will address the long-term problem of the State’s under-funding of the college and allow us to grow back the programs our students and city need. The pro-labor & pro-student Trustee slate will bring back leadership who are willing to stand up for faculty, students, and staff.

Splitting faculty into two unions will allow the District to pit us against each other, to the detriment of all. David Martin is attacking tenure. The only way to fight back is through faculty unity. Union-busting benefits the boss. Even if your only concern were higher wages, the best way to get them is with AFT 2121.

Stand up for our students and laid-off colleagues! Rally Monday, 8/22, at noon at Conlan Hall!

Martin is strangling credit, non-credit, and trades at the roots. He is refusing to bargain. We need to pull together and push back.

Be there on Monday! Bring your students! Invite your community allies! And let’s make our voices heard!

COPE Endorsement Vote– Tuesday, 8/30

All AFT 2121 members are invited to attend your next COPE meeting on Wednesday, 8/30 now starting at 12:30pm. We will be hearing from candidates and voting on endorsements:

AGENDA:

• Presentation on Empty Homes Tax

• Presentation on Prop D & E

• Interview with Honey Mahogany, Candidate for D6 Supervisor

• Interview with Manohar Raju, Incumbent Candidate for Public Defender

• Interview with Candidates for 2-year Board of Trustee seat, Adolfo Velasquez (confirmed) and Dr. Murrell Green (invited, not confirmed)

• Interview with William Walker, Candidate for 4-year seat on CCSF Board of Trustees

Enter the password “COPE 2022″ to view candidate questionnaire responses posted as they are received here: https://www.aft2121.org/2022-2/

Link to attend: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81016718065

Stop Cutting Classes Planning Meeting Tmrw 8/19 at 1pm on Zoom–Join

Faculty and students are organizing an urgent Stop Cutting Classes rally to draw attention to the hundreds of students being turned away from classes they need in English, ESL, Motorcycle Maintenance, Computer Networking, & more. It’s wrong, and our community needs to hear about it.

Please join us to help plan for a Rally to let our voices be heard. The link is below.

Topic: Stop Cutting Classes Rally organizing meeting  
Time: Aug 19, 2022 01:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting  
https://ccsf-edu.zoom.us/j/97019074782
Meeting ID: 970 1907 4782
One tap mobile
+16694449171,,97019074782# US

#CCSFintheCity Acknowledgements & Next Steps

Your #CCSFintheCity enrollment & art campaign will continue, but we wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the faculty & students who spent over a year researching, designing, & fine-tuning the gorgeous posters at the center of this project.

Our amazing student artists: Alma Garrison & Daniel Ramírez Herrera

Art & Visual Media Design faculty who provided invaluable support to these students: David Stevenson & Amy Diaz-Infante

English & Library faculty who led research, planning, & community engagement: Julie Young, Alisa Messer, Dayna Holz, & Alan D’Souza.

This project was a true collaborative effort between students, community, & faculty, and these posters are going up throughout your city, reminding everyone of the opportunities, empowerment, & hope at City College.

If you still need posters to distribute to businesses and individuals in your community, come to your Revenue Kickoff this Sunday at 11am at Rossi Park. You can learn more about the next step in your Revenue Campaign & pick up posters. RSVP: https://bit.ly/3Qwwdgp

Reminder! Your CCSF revenue measure field kickoff is this Sunday, 8/21, at Rossi Playground (600 Arguello) at 11am

RSVP now! SF Voters need to know why they should pass your CCSF funding measure, so please come out for the field campaign kickoff, pick up campaign literature, and learn about how you can support Prop O for City College.

You gathered the signatures for this measure, & now you need to make sure it passes! CCSF is hurting–it needs more support & accountability. Together you can help make that happen.

RSVP now and share with your friends, family, students, alums, and all who support CCSF: https://bit.ly/3Qwwdgp