Following several rounds of negotiations during the semester, the United Faculty and the district have decided to hold off until next fall to hold a ratification vote.
The vote to ratify the current contract was originally to be made in May, but both sides came to agreement that this would not give them enough time to resolve all of their issues.
“We want to give faculty time to look at the final draft and make more comments,” UF President Jeffrey Michels said. “We don’t want to rush the vote.”
The two sides recently released a joint statement, saying they would hold the ratification vote in late August or early September, but they are pleased with the progress that has been made so far.
Due to the decline in the economy, more people have been returning to community college, thus boosting enrollment within the district.
“We grew 6 percent within the last year — that’s a lot of growth,” Dr. Michels said. “We may hit that point next year where there are more students trying to take classes than we can afford, and that can affect the funding picture dramatically.”
Concern over the issue of possible salary increases for faculty members has also been raised. The union is hoping for a modest salary increase, Michels said.
“There’s a reasonable chance (a pay raise) may happen,” he said. “It depends if cuts are made at the state level. The special election may affect funding if the propositions don’t pass.”
A compensation formula will be used to determine the salary increase.
Vice Chancellor of Districtwide Administrative Services Kindred Murillo said the formula takes into account factors such as enrollment growth, increase of cost of health and welfare benefits and the cost-of-living adjustments, if there are any.
How much the compensation will come out, however, is still unknown.
UF Vice President Rudy Zeller said, “(The salary) is still up in the air, because we don’t know what we’re getting from the state.”
For the past two fiscal years, a two-year formula had been used to determine the salaries.
Murillo said the next step is to decide if the two-year formula will still work for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
“What we’ll do now is determine what’s in the best interest of all the parties, whether to use a one- or two-year formula,” Murillo said.
The money for any possible pay raise may come through means such as enrollment growth or increased productivity.
To help increase productivity, the negotiations have included scheduling, faculty and class loads in their discussions.
Aside from a salary raise, the UF also expressed interest in coming up with ways to fund other priorities, such as increasing the funding for department chairpersons and part-timers. Hiring more full-time staff members will also be looked into, Michels said.
Part-time and English composition instructors are currently paid less than other full-time instructors, he said.
The UF and the district will be meeting again to discuss options for achieving pay parity.
Zeller said pay parity is important because if part- and full-time professors are paid equally, there will be less incentive to hire part-timers, thus creating a balance between the two.
Work to improve the faculty evaluation process is also currently being done, which includes rewriting the forms.
“There were a bunch of problems (with the old forms),” Zeller said. “What we’re trying to do is to upgrade the forms to evaluate faculty more proficiently and effectively.”
The UF and district plan to meet two more times during the semester before concluding negotiations. The next meeting will take place Tuesday, Michels said.
Contact Lauren Shiraishi at lshiraishi.advocate@gmail.com.
UF, district negotiations to close in fall
Parties agree to delay vote for new contract
Published: Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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