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Roots of Unity |
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My first semester as Guild president has been, and will most likely continue to be, a challenging one. Obtaining a "reasonable" salary increase, working on getting the Community College Initiative passed, strengthening the Guild by involving new faculty members, and paying close attention to the individual needs of Guild members, remain my highest priorities. In the coming months you will hear the District repeat over and over again that "there's no money," that "if we had any we'd give it to you, but we don't." Don't believe them. There is money, they just haven't made us a priority in what they spend it on. The District has created some of the problem themselves by not setting aside COLA for collective bargaining. In the past, they have done this and it has been the starting place for negotiations. This year they did not do this, giving the false impression that there's no money. They decided to fund "must do" and "high priority" budget items with the almost 3 million COLA dollars. In other words, the District made a choice that other items were of a higher priority than faculty salaries. I am not arguing that other items aren't important, they are. But for salaries not to be a "must do" in this inflationary and competitive environment we live in is a slap in the face. The District is asking us to work harder, for less. We have been asked by the District to add students to our classes to obtain growth dollars. We have done this and enrollment is up 7.5% in head count. We have been asked by the District to come up with an enrollment management strategy. We are doing this and creative plans are in the works. We have been asked by the District to do SLOs quickly and to get ready for accreditation now. We are doing this as well. But when it comes to the District compensating us fairly for our hard work, the answer we get is "there's no money." Even if you set aside COLA, there's money for collective bargaining. We would like the District's cooperation in identifying various revenue streams and in making sure we get our proportionate amount of those additional monies. We have already identified four sources of additional revenues—noncredit growth dollars from last year, growth dollars for this year, a reserve that's too large, and savings in the part-time account coming from the hiring of over twenty new full-timers. We know that there is money available for a fair salary increase, if the District is willing to make us a priority. If the District does so, we can avoid the rancor and loss of good will that plagued us last year. We must also work hard to get Prop. 92, the Community College Initiative, passed in February, 2008. Passing Prop. 92 would go a long way toward stabilizing community college funding, bringing millions of additional dollars into the District, and providing greater access to a community college education to our students by lowering tuition. A broad-based campaign committee has been established at GCC involving ASGCC, CSEA, administrators, Guild, and Senate to coordinate our efforts. The committee is chaired by the Guild's Public Information Officer, Ramona Barrio-Sotillo. The committee has already met and has planned out an extensive and what I think will be an effective strategy. The Guild has already contributed thousands of dollars to the campaign and will continue to contribute more. Over $2,000 was raised at our first membership meeting in September. I will be asking for contributions from Guild members at every fall membership meeting. There are also plans to involve the Board of Trustees and the Foundation in fundraising efforts as well. We must pass Prop. 92 in February. With its passage we will have the additional revenues we need to do our jobs, and students will have access to a higher education. I really believe that the future of California's community colleges is dependent on passage of Prop. 92. I am also determined to involve new faculty in Guild activities. Many of us who have been active in the Guild for years will be retiring in the next 3-5 years. The next generation of Guild leadership must be brought in now. We will be stronger now and in the future if we do this. With this in mind, I have set up regular luncheons with new faculty on the 4th Tuesday of every month. The first one was on Sept. 25, and it was very successful. Three Guild leaders met with seven new faculty members, exchanged ideas, listened to concerns, and solicited involvement. The response from all was terrific. The second luncheon will be on Oct. 23, and if any of you want to attend, e-mail me at gordona or call me at ext. 5469. I will be calling folks by division, as well, to see who's interested. Lastly, I am determined to make the Guild more visible and accessible to our members. I have already met with Guild members I really didn't know very well and have been to parts of the campus I didn't know existed. I have enjoyed meeting and assisting all who have sought my input. I will continue to hold regular Guild office hours on TTH from 10 am to 12 pm in the Governance Office, AD249. The Guild is reaching out to the Garfield Campus, and on Oct. 16 and 17 we are having an informational meeting at the Garfield Campus. We have also begun regular meetings with CSEA. All in all,
the year so far has been a challenging and exciting one. |
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