By Robert Flores

The state of the negotiation can best be understood by the work achieved at the end of the day.  Let's begin with those items for which we have Table Agreement.

LEAVES OF ABSENCE:

Notification and  a reminder letter on sick leave status for all full-time faculty will be sent to Department Chairs and to the Faculty Association on a tenthly basis with a Department reminder to notify full-time faculty.

Notification of sick leave status showing sick leave, accrued, used and mode of calculation will be included in the first paycheck of  full-time faculty with overload assignment sick leave. Six hours of overload hour sick leave will be equivalent to one day.

Notification of sick leave status showing sick leave, accrued, used and mode of calculation will be included in the first paycheck of each semester/session of part-time and emeritus faculty

Sick leave accumulated in any California school District will be credited to academic employees of the SMC District.
Unused sick leave shall be credited to STRS service credit for members at retirement.

Faculty members will be notified of unpaid leaves no later than five working days after Board action.

CLASS SIZE: Faculty will have more control over course adds and drops.  Class size maximum for each course shall be listed in the Appendices of the contract.  This list will be updated at the end of each semester end and the Faculty Association will be informed of changes at the beginnings of the next semester.   

Negotiations continued from page 1.
STIPENDS: The Stipends committee will meet at the beginning of each semester to revisit current and any new stipends. Current and future stipends will appear in Appendix R of the contract.

SCOPE OF AGREEMENT: The Association will be notified prior to consultation between the District and the Academic Senate, on matters concerning the scope of bargaining.  Recommendations to the District and or the Association, by any study committee, may reopen this contract.

FACULTY SERVICE AREAS: Faculty service areas were defined and bumping rights will be listed in Appendix I of the contract.

FACULTY ASSIGNMENT AND LOAD: Clarification was made on office hours to reflect current needs of math lab and electronic office hours were extended to other telecommunication applications.

CLARIFICATION: Language clarification on grievance procedures and assigned duties were made.

CALENDAR: The allotted time for the submission of grades was extended to one calendar week following the last date of the semester. Submission during intersessions have been extended to one calendar week from the last day of the course.

We do not have table agreements on safety, health and welfare, hourly faculty office hours, hourly faculty reemployment protocol, load, coordinators, benefits full-time/hourly, and salary full-time/hourly.

A final note on salary.  As we all know there has been a reduction ($98 million ) in maintenance equipment funds from the state.  The portion allocated for SMC amounts to approximately $1.4 million.  This amount should not be confused with additional money that may come in for growth.  Moreover, we are hopeful that much of the $1.4 million will be backfilled given the political climate of Sacramento.  The state of affairs is not as grave as some would have us think.  We can and should be able to come to a reasonable settlement on all outstanding items soon.  At the present we await the District counter proposal.