SANTA MONICA COLLEGE  FACULTY ASSOCIATION

REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING

February 21, 2008

Members present : Diana Aghabegian, Maria Alvarado, Vini Angel, Dianne Berman, Chuck Brinkman, Sandra Burnett, Fran Chandler, Rebecca Curtis, Gail Edinger, Tracey Ellis, Ron Fitzgerald, Dennis Frisch, Martin Goldstein, Ben Jimenez, John Kennedy, Richard Lavallee, Ed Markarian, Kym McBride, Suzanne McDonald, Colleen McGraw, Melissa Michelson, Mitra Moassessi, Fereshteh Mobasheri, Dana Morgan, Brenda Ness, Eric Oifer, Jim Pacchioli, Nick Pernisco, Pauli Peter, Tom Peters, Dave Phillips, John Quevedo, Lisa Saperston, Elisha Shapiro, Tara Shima, Lantz Simpson, Eleanor Singleton, Howard Stahl, Susan Sterr, Michael Strathearn, Kathy Sucher, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Esau Tovar, Joy Tucker, Odemaris Valdivia, Sal Veas, Alicia Villapando. Edward Wilkinson, David Zehr.

Guests: Teri Bernstein, Craig Hammond, Janet Herclerode, Leslie Kawaguchi, Fran Manion, Ben Martin, Don Murray, Toni Randall, Christine Schultz, Jackie Scott. Benny Blaydes

Excused : Dennis Frisch, Jeff Gordon.

Absent : Jill Assadi, Rory Barnett, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Tom Chen, Gwen Dophna, Lawrence Driscoll, Jolia Einstein, Don Emery, Donald Gantner, Richard Goldenson, Michael Gougis, Toby Green, Patricia Halliday, Veronica Herrera, William Hogan, Peter Lee, April Mizuki, Sue Moisin, Jeffrey O'Connell, Franklyn Phillips, Guadalupe Ramos, Jenny Resnick, Elaine Roque, Jennifer Schofield, Mario Semere, Sumy Takesue, Nina Theiss, Gary Todd, Frank Turner.

I. Approval of Minutes – December 6, 2007 : Mitra Moassessi made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Martin Goldstein, passed unanimously.

II. Correction of Error in November 1, 2007 Minutes. The wrong AR # 4133 was included in the November 1 minutes it should be AR # 4320. John Kennedy made a motion to incorporate the correction in the November 1, 2007 minutes; David Zehr seconded it, and it passed unanimously.

III. President's Report: A motion was made by Kym Mc Bride that the Faculty Association contribute $100 to a fund in memory of Richard Mednick who passed away recently. Richard Mednick, a retired judge, and faculty member in the Business Department, and member of the Representative Assembly, was a great supporter of the FA. Mitra Moassessi seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Janet Kretschmer has recently been married to English Professor Joe Watts, and her e-mail has changed to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Congratulations Janet and Joe.

CPFA : The SMCFA will host the tenth annual CPFA plenary on Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3. A planning meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 28, at 3pm in the FA office.

Prop. 92 : Discussion: FA members were more than disappointed by the results of the proposition. The FA is looking at ways to move forward in the future. The FA leadership plans to meet with the FACCC leadership to offer strategies for the future.

IV. Negotiations Report – Mitra Moassessi: The contract ratification vote was 508 – 3. The FA and the District are working on getting the salary schedules ready and getting the retro pay to faculty ASAP.

An ad hoc Evaluations Committee will be looking at changing the peer evaluation form (changing only the form).

Task Force on Load Factor: Task force members include Howard Stahl, Jeff Shimizu, Georgia Lorenz, and Mitra Moassessi. Howard Stahl described the Load Factor Task Force goals, which are to evaluate case by case requests for reconsideration of course load factor. The Vice President of Academic Affairs will have final discretion to accept or reject any recommendation of the task force.

Faculty Only Load Factor Committee: The FA has also set up a faculty-only committee with Howard Stahl as chair. He encourages faculty members to email their questions or concerns regarding load factor.

V. Benefits Committee Report – Sandi Burnett : the College Benefit Audit is finished and will save $38,000 a year going forward.

Part-time faculty benefit changes : Under the new contract, those who have health benefits can purchase additional benefits for dental and vision. This is an advantage for part-time faculty, as these Group plans are easier and cheaper to buy into. The district needs to resolve how these deductions will be made. Marci Wade is working on this, but it will probably not be implemented before fall.

Retiree benefits workshops will be held during flex day; there will be afternoon sessions: one for classified and one for faculty.

The Shelia Kuehl bill (single-payer health insurance) is still alive and well, and a dinner will be held in the conference room at Good Samaritan Hospital this weekend. More information is available at www.onecarenow.org .

The Benefits Committee also recommends to the trustees that the 457 account through CAL STRS be implemented in addition to 403B accounts, which is already available for our faculty members.

VI. Appointment of New Representatives : A motion was made by Martin Goldstein to approve the appointment of new representatives: Lisa Saperston, ESL; Eric Oifer, Political Science; and Diane Berman, Social Science. The motion was seconded by Sandi Burnett and passed unanimously. Welcome!

VII. Motion from the Executive Committee to recommend approval of reassigned time for Secretary . The Executive Committee of the Faculty Association makes a motion to approve reassigned time of 10% for the Recording Secretary for Spring. Passed unanimously.

VIII. Motion from the Executive Committee to recommend a dues reduction vote:

Before the motion was placed on the Assembly floor, Lantz stated that he would entertain questions from the Assembly and guests regarding the Assembly motion of December 6, 2007. (Motion of December 6: In the spring of 2008, the Faculty Association will seek a reduction in dues paid by faculty to the Association so that the Academic Senate may request its own dues of faculty without posing undue legal risk or financial burden on any person or organization. If the dues reduction passes, the Association will cease its financial support to the Senate.)

Discussion began with Teri Bernstein's assertion that when the FA dues were originally increased to .6%, there was an understanding that this increase would help fund the Senate. Fran Chandler asserted otherwise that there was no such understanding, and also stated that she has always been opposed to the FA funding the Senate. Fran has volunteered to assist the Senate in getting dues.

There were several questions about the issue of chargeable expenditures. Lantz clarified that the FA Senate support is chargeable in the opinion of the auditor. An agency fee payer, however, can challenge the auditor's opinion, but so far no one has challenged this. Our lawyer's opinion is that the FA should not support the Senate because it is not directly related to collective bargaining.

Lantz stated that we are the only union in the state that gives support money to the Senate. All the other senates collect their own dues. The monetary relationship with the Senate becomes problematic when the Senate comes back every few years and asks for more money.

Suzanne Mc Donald said that the Senate should get its money from the District, otherwise this money issue between the FA and the Senate will only result in an adversarial relationship.

Pauli Peter also asked: Why can't the Senate collect its own dues?

Howard Stahl said that the real reason for the de-funding was not being addressed. He also stated that it is a fact that the leaders of the two organizations do not get along.

Lantz then explained why he was opposed to the FA funding the Senate. He asked do we have a legal obligation to fund the Senate? Do we have a moral obligation to fund the Senate? Do we have a political obligation to fund the Senate? – the answer is no to all questions. Lantz asserted that for over a year, the Senate tried to sabotage the FA and its negotiations.

Lantz also said he did not believe the FA should give money to an organization that attempts to sabotage the FA. Lantz stated that he has been involved in faculty politics for 20 years at SMC, and that the relationship between the Senate and FA has never come to this impasse. Lantz believes that the Senate is off the tracks – derailed. The Senators should put the Senate back on the tracks.

Mitra Moassessi then read from the Senate Executive Committee meeting minutes of November 13, 2007. Under “new business discussion” it states “agreement to agendize the work-to-contract discussion in trade for agendizing the FA dues contribution discussion.” It also is written: “Suggestion that AS tie the funding and work-to-contract discussion together. Comment that the good will of FA contributing more money to the AS would go a long way towards getting AS support FA.” Mitra said that no chief negotiator should ever be put in this position.

Kathy Sucher also stated that when Senate Executive Committee members presented to the FA Executive Committee the request to increase FA funding of the Senate, the same comment (per Senate EC minutes) about the good will of FA contributing more money to the AS was made.

The Motion from the Executive Committee was placed on the floor:

The Executive Committee recommends that the Representative Assembly approve a special election of the membership to reduce the association dues for full-time and part-time faculty from .6 percent to .58 percent of all income.

Motion passed on a voice vote with 3 nays, and 4 abstentions.

Respectfully Submitted,

Becky Curtis
Recording Secretary