Kicking off Negotiations in Full Green!
We are ready to hit the ground running, presenting our first proposal the day after our sunshined articles went to the board. Decked out in our new PFF/CCE green t-shirts (symbolizing aGREENment and solidarity), we’re excited to turn these green flags into real wins for faculty.
Here is an overview of negotiations today:
🟢PFF’s Article 12 Proposal:
We presented adjustments to Article 12 that reflect changes to SLO coordinating, include more support for single-discipline leads, and clarify duties for a department chair. The District noted that we are in the process of better defining what a discipline is, which may influence their counter, but they seemed to understand the rationale of our proposal. We expect to receive a counter once they can review the financial implications.
Overview of our proposal:
We advocated to ensure all faculty have a chair.
We clarified chair responsibilities to include disseminating PN information to the part-time faculty in their department. Additionally, we proposed language clarifying that Department Chairs should not be expected to take on classified duties in the event of a staffing shortage.
We advocated for the institutionalization of a DRC chair.
We clarified the difference between single-discipline leads and discipline specialists and advocated for appropriate reassigned time for single-discipline leads.
Lastly, with growing SLO responsibilities, we advocated for a clarification in the contract so that faculty are aware of SLO expectations with an adjusted stipend to reflect this added work.
Discussion:
Calendar: We asked the District when we could expect our next round of calendars. The District assured us again of the desire to bring accurate calendars with all relevant information (e.g. feeder school dates) so that we can make appropriate decisions. They emphasized that it is the role of the negotiations teams to negotiate the calendar, but not to create the calendar. While we weren’t given an ETA, we were assured that the work is being done behind the scenes for the calendars.
Schedule for future negotiations: We discussed scheduling our negotiations meetings for January and the Spring semester. We hope to meet every other week so that we can move through the reopeners quickly.
AP 2610: There was also discussion about the proposed adjustments to AP 2610 and its implication on all proposals or just the initial proposal of sunshined articles.
Between the initial presentation and subsequent opportunity for public response, all initial collective bargaining proposals will be available for public review in the District’s Human Resources Office.
Communication on Identity Theft Protections Options: At our last negotiations meeting, the District committed to sharing identity protections options with faculty to support those whose personal information had been shared via paystub printing errors. The District wanted to focus the communication on impacted faculty but have not been able to receive a list of faculty impacted, so they will send communication to all faculty on the October 18 payroll. Additionally, the District has been working with Benefits to add a link to the HR page to help all employees navigate all EAP resources available to Palomar employees.
Benefits Update: We met with Benefits to discuss the current negotiations between Scripps and Anthem Blue and its impacts on faculty. Unfortunately, this situation does not qualify as an exception to switch health plans outside of the standard enrollment period. We can explore options with SISC for a potential Open Enrollment change, but this would only allow a switch to Kaiser and would be difficult to implement in a timely manner. The District suggested inviting Scripps to host a FAQ session, which could be recorded and shared with impacted faculty. We also discussed providing more information about transition counselors who can assist with switching health plans in general more efficiently.
🌱Our next Negotiations meeting with the District will be on Thursday, December 12th. Let’s keep the momentum growing and moving forward!
🚪Negotiations Open Office Hours: every Wednesday from 11-1 in the PFF Office (MD-330) and by appointment. Email Nicole at nsiminski@palomar.edu