SANTA MONICA COLLEGE FACULTY ASSOCIATION

REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING

Minutes - March 4, 2010

Members Present: Terrin Adair-Lynch, Javid Afrasiabi, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Chuck Brinkman, Sandi Burnett, Laura Campbell, Katarina Cerovic, Fran Chandler, Anna Collier, Steve Contarsy, Ian Culbertson, Rebecca Curtis, George Davison, Abbas Dehkhoda, Guilio Dellarocca, Gail Edinger,  Tracey Ellis, Blue Fier, Dennis Frisch, Elena Garate, Martin Goldstein, Keith Graziadei, Matt Hotsinpiller, Ben Jimenez, Josh Kanin, John Kennedy, Ming Lu, Ed Markarian, Mario Martinez, Kym McBride, Suzanne McDonald, Colleen McGraw, Mitra Moassessi, Nick Pernisco, Pauli Peter, Tom Peters, Bill Price, Jenny Resnick, Audrey Sandoval, Jackie Scott, Lantz Simpson, Howard Stahl, Michael Strathearn, Kathy Sucher., Nina Theiss,  Joy Tucker, Odemaris Valdivia, Sal Veas, Alicia Villapando, Anne York-Herjeczki

Excused: Jim Pacchioli, Michael Schwartz, Tom Chen

Absent: Eve Adler, Maria Alvarado, Vini Angel, Garen Baghdasarian, Greg Brookins, Ken Buckner, Troy Cardenas, Gayle Davis-Culp, Michael Dixon, Jim Downs, Brian Dunniway, Heather Eisenhardt, Mark Foster, Claudia Garcia, Steven Kaufman, Lesley Kawaguchi, Richard Lavallee, Jim Martin, Ken Mason, Marilyn McGrath, Joan Mills, Feresteh Mobasheri, Sue Moisin, Eric Oifer, Franklyn Phillips, Paris Poirier, Juan Quevedo, Judith Remmes, Saul Rubin, Michelle Scholefield, Christine Schultz, Jim Smith, Elisha Shapiro, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Holly Thiercof, Brigitta Walton, Kayli Weatherford, Lisa Willaims, Carol Womack, Ventris Woods, David Zehr

Guests: Bill Nault, Elaine Roque

The meeting was called to order at 11:20 a.m., a quorum was present.
                                     
I.               Approval of Minutes, December 10, 2009

http://www.smcfa.org/index.php/meetings/66-minutes-and-agendas-fall-2009/1201-draft-minutes-december-10-2009

It was moved by Dennis Frisch to accept the minutes as submitted.

Passed unanimously

II.             Approval of Sunshine Letter – Howard Stahl

Howard Stahl presented the Sunshine Letter outlining the items for the 2010 contract negotiations.  The sunshine letter will be presented to the Board of Trustees at their April meeting.  On January 7th, the Faculty Association had submitted a letter to Dr.Tsang, expressing the Association’s proposal to roll over the contract.  The district did not accept this proposal and on February 18th, informed the Faculty Association that the District has decided to begin negotiations for a new contract.  The sunshine will be posted on the Faculty Association website after it’s submission to the Board of Trustees.

It was moved by Fran Chandler “that the Representative Assembly approve the sunshine letter as submitted.”

Passed unanimously

III.           Approval of Full-time Athletic Coach MOU

http://www.smcfa.org/index.php/contract/23-contract-2007-2010-memoranda-of-understanding

The Faculty Association has signed an MOU with the District agreeing to extend the employment of a project manager for the men’s basketball team for 2009-10.

It was moved by Dennis Frisch “that the representative Assembly approve the Full-time Athletic Coach MOU.”

Passed unanimously

IV.           Approval of Base Assignment MOU

http://www.smcfa.org/index.php/contract/23-contract-2007-2010-memoranda-of-understanding

This MOU has resolved the issue of the district not approving 10 units for part-time faculty for accounting courses for the spring semester.  This MOU clarifies the language in the contract. The base assignment can only be adjusted every two years.

It was moved by Bill Price “that the Representative Assembly approve the “Base Assignment MOU.”

Passed unanimously

V.             President’s Report

At the FACCC Advocacy and Policy Conference: Martin Goldstein was given the Part-time faculty member of the year award.

Payroll: During the winter session, full-time faculty were under-paid and should have received a supplemental check. Part-time, load factor one faculty, were over-paid.

For part-time faculty, office hours are now included in the salary schedule for fall and spring semesters. Because faculty are not required to hold office hours during the winter and summer intersessions, the pay for summer and winter doesn’t include office hour pay. The District applied the fall/spring salary schedule to the first two weeks of winter. Legally, the District cannot deduct the over-paid funds from paychecks without faculty authorization. The Faculty Association has sent a letter to Dr. Tsang urging the administration to remedy these repeated problems and to send a letter of apology to the faculty.

Parking: The FA won the parking grievance after two years. The Faculty Association is in discussion with the District to negotiate a remedy for the violation of the contract agreement on parking.

Budget committee meeting / Trustees meeting: The budget scenarios for 2010-11 and 2011-12 presented to the Trustees at their February Board study session contained the assumption of saving on health benefits. This assumption was not shared with the DPAC budget sub-committee and the college wide benefit committee was not informed of the idea of any modification to health benefits. Howard Stahl spoke at the March 2nd Board of Trustees meeting and expressed Faculty Association’s concern with the lack of shared governance and reminded the trustees of the language in the Faculty’s contract: “10.15   The Santa Monica Community College District (“District” or “administration”), the Santa Monica College Faculty Association (“Faculty Association”) and the California School Employees Association, Chapter 36 (“CSEA”) hereby agree to creation of a joint Collegewide Benefits Committee.  The role of the committee is to contain the cost of the District’s health benefits program while maintaining the quality of the benefits available to the employees, retirees, and eligible dependents. During the period of time prior to the committee submitting its recommendation(s), there shall be no negotiations between the parties on anything contained in Article 10 and the status quo as set out in Article 10 shall be maintained.”  Fran Chandler, the co-chair of the Benefits Committee reported that the District is planning to accomplish the savings on the benefits by proposing a move from PERS CARE to PERS CHOICE. The FA members have requested that Fickeworth and Associates, a health benefits consulting group, provide consultation to the Committee regarding the proposed changes. Any change to the health benefits has to be negotiated with the Faculty Association and the district can not unilaterally make any changes to the health benefits.

Budget: The Governor’s State budget contains 2.2% growth which would account for 26,000 unfunded FTES; however, statewide there are 88,000 unfunded FTES. The governor is also proposing a negative cola of .38%, a $10 million reduction for EOPS, and a $10 million reduction for PT faculty. The Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) has proposed an increase in student fees from $24 to $40 a unit. LAO has reported that this would reverse the Governor’s negative COLA and fund the growth.

VI.           For the Good of the Order

Congratulations to Anne York-Herjeczki from ESL department who won two AMC Gold passes at the “Know Your Contract” quiz drawing.