February 2005 Hail to the New, Hail to the Old! - SCFT Local 1533

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eFT Local 1533 February 2005
Hail to the New,
Hail to the Old!
aNGRA TULATIONS TO THE new Local 1533
Executive Council members and to the old fire horses
who continue to answer the bell. We sincerely hope that
the new members will hang in there for a few years. The
jobs assigned to the Council members can be quite
specific and require some time to learn. A grievance
chair, for instance, has to go through many grievance
procedures to become familiarized with the many types
of alarms and diversions, tactics, legalities, etc. that are
part of that job. To best serve grieving faculty members
and the institution as a whole, a chairman needs to stay
on the job for several years:
likewise other positions on the
Council. Even if not assigned a
Fora list of
Local 1533
Executive
Council
Members,
please turn to
page three.
specific duty immediately on
the Council, members are
regularly called upon to review
the many cases that come
before that body, place them in
context of the historical
progress of the union, changes
in administrative policy, drift
and variance in the
competence of administrative
leadership, and case
precedence. It's not a job that's
learned thoroughly in a year or
two.
Experience counts because decisions made by the
Executive Council can have profound effects on the
professional lives of teachers and the success of
programs.
A careless or inexperienced Council can, of course,
make decisions that will affect its members adversely.
Local 1533 Executive Councils have over the years set
an example for other locals' councils throughout the
state. In fact, we have a tough time keeping up with our
own reputation. It requires, like freedom, eternal
vigilance, particularly when some administrators at the
colleges are, shall we say, underperforming, especially
when it comes to handling personnel (aka "human
resource") issues.
So it is imperative that the Council maintain some
many-termed members, but it is equally important that
new members with new perspectives and energies be
regularly introduced on the Council. Thus, we are
pleased with the composition of the new Council. We
are looking forward to a busy and productive term.
PAUL KASER
Federalist Editor
President's Corner
aMBERS REGULARLY ASK me why we have not
been having the semester-beginning or
semester-ending gatherings that the Federation had
regularly held in the past. The answer to that is a
simple one. We've been spending the money on legal
fees! Over the past two years the Federation has been
involved in what are an unprecedented number of
grievances and arbitrations. Long-time Federation
activists tell me that grievances were once rare and
(continued
on page four)
Federalist [1]

California Community College
Budget Proposals
IiHE
CALIFORNIA DIRECTOR OF FINANCE (DOF)
report on state budget reveals the usual mix of
good and bad news for the community
colleges. Though there is many a slip between
the revenues cup and the college budget lip,
some light shines in our direction through the
overall budget proposals.
The DOF warns that the budget "gap" for
2005-2006 could be about $9 billion, a
contingency the Governor proposes to meet by
reducing spending broadly across the board.
The voter-authorized bond measure
"borrowing" (Proposition 57) continues to be a
last best hope for state officials. The
Governor's budget proposes no new taxes.
The Governor's budget does include an
increase for community colleges from
Proposition 98 funds. The proposed 7.4
increase represents a $373 million boost, which
includes a $195.5 million cost-of-living
adjustment (i.e. +3.93% COLA), a $136
million for enrollment growth (+3%), a
statutory enrollment growth funding of 1.89%
plus the 3.93% COLA increase for basic skills,
EOPS, DSPS, and matriculation, a "set-aside"
of $31.4 million for possible reinstatement of
Partnership in Excellence Funds vetoed last
year. (This particular proposal will be reviewed
by the Board of Governors, which is expected
to issue a recommendation on "the issue of
accountability. ")
The budget does not cover additional
funding in response to certain requests from
the System's Budget Request, excluding fund
increase for equalization and increase in
noncredit rate.
There is a $20 million one-time increase for
articulating vocational course-work between
community colleges and K-12, expanding the
"2+2" program. This proposal is under
consideration by the state Department of
Education.
There is no proposal for an increase in
community college students' fees.
In terms of capital outlay, the budget
proposes $263 million from state bond funds
for the fifty community colleges.
All of the above represent initial proposals,
a start of deliberations on budget issues in
Sacramento. The California Federation of
Teachers will be representing the interests of
faculty and the colleges in general throughout
that process.
Budget documents are available at the
Department of Finance website
(http://www.dof.ca.gov).
Will We Be Negotiating STRS
Contribution Rates
A potential problem for all of us could be
the Governor's proposal to offset the above
funding increases with a termination of the
state's contributions to the State Teachers'
Retirement System. The community colleges
themselves will be asked to make up the
difference, costs estimated by CFT' s
Community College Council to be statewide
almost $40 million. The CCC understands
this to mean that the additional costs could be
split between employers and employees
requiring collective bargaining decisions.
[2] Federalist

SCFT Executive Council
iiHE
RESULTS OF THE Executive Council election, held last December, are as follow:
First Vice-President
Becky Slaton
Vice-President
Marc Haskell
(COPE)
Vice-President Grievance
(Reedley College)
Lacy Barnes
At-large Representatives
(Fresno City College)
David Good
Richard Valencia
At-Large Representative
(Reedley College)
David Dominguez
At-Large Representative
(North Centers)
Jim Ryan
Part-Time Faculty Representative
(North Centers)
Michael Stannard
CFT Convention Delegates
Lacy Barnes
Sheila Martin
Richard Valencia
The above members join the following
Executive Council members who are serving
the second year of their two-year terms:
President
Zwi Reznik
Second Vice-President
Charlotte Arakelian
Vice-President
Sheila Martin
(Academic Affairs)
Vice-President Grievance
(Fresno City College)
Debbie Shapazian
At-Large Representatives
(Fresno City College)
Stanley Neal
Ann Walzberg
At Large Representative
(Reedley College)
Vicki Camara
Part-Time Faculty Representative
(Fresno City College)
David Hamp
Part-Time Faculty Representative
(Reedley College)
Jenny Graber-Peters
iiLEASE FEEL FREE to contact any of your Local 1533 Executive Council members if you
have questions or concerns related to the Bargaining Agreement.
Federalist [3]

President's Corner-continued
from page one
arbitration hearings even rarer. Disputes regarding the
contract were largely settled by discussion with the
appropriate administrators rather than resorting to the
formal grievance process specified in the contract.
So what has changed
One of the things I regularly tell my students is not
to trust my arithmetic while I am doing an impromptu
example at the board. This is simply acknowledging
that r may make an error and I want to quickly correct
it when it occurs. I think we have all, regardless of
discipline, been asked a question we do not know an
answer to and have usually responded to it by saying
something like "I'll find out." Yet what seems to be the
ordinary reaction of a faculty member to an error, or
lack of knowledge, does not seem to have a
corresponding analog amongst several of our
administrators. Over the last several years this District
appears to have employed a number of administrators
who have no particular knowledge of how to deal with
a college faculty and, in particular, how to work under
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