After being employed with the district since August 1987, Web administrator Roger Polk will find himself without a job at the college, not by choice, but by force.
Effective July 1, Polk is one of 44 staffers across the district whose position was directly affected by the elimination and reduction of classified staff, unanimously approved by the Governing Board on May 12.
“I don’t understand how my 23 years of seniority was not a determining factor in choosing whose job is going to be terminated in the first wave of layoffs,” Polk said. “This is an unusual circumstance, and we’re all trying to learn as much as we can, as fast as we can.”
Contra Costa College is facing a $2 million budget deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year, Director of Business Services Mariles Magalong said, and with 94 percent of the budget in salaries and benefits, there is no way around affecting people.
As a result, CCC has eliminated three positions— drama instructional assistant, student services instructional support coordinator, and Web administrator— and reduced eight, including an administrative secretary, athletic trainer and both equipment managers and the senior electronics technician.
The magnitude of these reductions, however, is greater considering this figure does not represent the number of positions that will be left unfilled as a result of vacancy or retirement.
“We tried to reduce the staffing in a way as to have the least adverse impact on students,” CCC President McKinley Williams said. “We’re walking on pretty thin ice if we cut the operational budget.”
Formal 45-day notifications have been sent, Magalong said, and using options presented at informal meetings between each employee with members from the college administration and union representatives, employees have until Friday to finalize their decision of a pay cut or being laid off.
One option presented to staffers is “bumping.” This allows a senior employee to take or share a similar, occupied position for fewer hours and wages within the district, said Gene Huff, district chief human resources officer.
Polk, for instance, has the choice to use his seniority rights to bump a similar full-time position at sister school Diablo Valley College, which would ensure him a part-time job working with that staffer as a result of a shared workload between the two.
He decided that retiring was an advantageous solution, but remains concerned that the impact of these layoffs and reductions will negatively affect students in the way the institution is changing to adapt with the budget woes.
Similarly, video production engineer Barry Benioff took advantage of the district’s second-round retirement incentive program after he was notified that his position was to be eliminated, which made him eligible for retirement even though he was one month short of service requirements.
“It’s hard to not take it personal,” said Benioff, who has worked full-time at CCC for 13 years. “It’s a shame. There are some very dedicated people who will be leaving.”
Huff said the district depleted reserve funds in the fall as a way to avoid having mid-year layoffs, but it has now reached a place of last-resort.
Those eliminated will receive severance packages continuing their benefits for 90 days or until Sept. 30 and one month’s salary, Huff said. Also, the district will provide job placement services to assist them in looking for employment outside the district.
Yet, Kasmir Zaratkiewics, business agent for Public Employee’s Union Local 1, who took part in the informal meetings with impacted staff, said the layoffs and reductions are especially overwhelming at this time.
Those being reduced, though they will still have a job, will be facing salary reductions as a result of fewer hours in their labor contracts.
“One thing to consider is that because the economy is doing so poorly, it’s taking effect on people in a more impacting way,” Zaratkiewics said. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy for anyone who’s facing layoff.”
It also brings the fact that with fewer staff members left employed at the college, those remaining are going to be expected to pick up a larger distribution of the work left unassigned as a result of attrition.
The college will find ways to realign the allocation of duties and responsibilities to ensure those tasks will be covered, Williams said, which might mean designing or combining jobs.
If a new position is created that an eliminated employee can fill, he or she owns a 39-month right to be rehired, he said.
Contact Holly Pablo at hpablo.advocate@gmail.com
With outstanding deficits at the college and district levels, Contra Costa College was forced to cut or reduce 11 positions:
Canceled positions: Drama instructional assistant, Student services/instructional support coordinator, Web administrator
Reduced positions: Administrative secretary, Athletic equipment manager II (two positions), Athletic trainer, Computer aided instructional lab coordinator, Media design specialist, Senior electronics technician, Shop equipment assistant
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