Tentative Agreement Reached New Contract Ready for Ratification Vote
After many months of often difficult negotiations and rising tension, the United Professors of Marin's Bargaining Team and members of the District's team finally reached agreement on the terms for a new 3-year Contract. On Friday, May 17,2002, representatives from both sides met for continued talks about issues that seemed to thwart progress. Few hoped that the meeting would yield substantial movement, but as the hour grew later, a resolution finally appeared possible. The long session concluded with oral assurances, and the written agreement was signed by mid-week. Now all that remains is the ratification of the new Contract.

As usual, both the members of the UPM and the Board of Trustees must formally ratify the tentative agreement. The Trustees will meet to consider the language in early June. The Executive Council of UPM has planned a mail vote for members' ratification.

Enclosed in this edition of the Union Press are first, a detailed summary of the tentative agreement and second, a ballot with which each UPM member may vote for or against ratification. Members of the UPM Exec urge you to read the summary carefully. The summary provided here is only that: a summary of all the key points. If you would like, you may read the actual language of the settlement in its entirety by arranging to come to the UPM office. Then, make your decisions known by sending in the ballot.

We must receive your ballot by June 10.

Grievance Filed
UPM Alleges Multiple Contract Violations

After some recent faculty discussions, it became clear to the UPM that a supervisor, in one set of actions, had transgressed of as many as 7 different provisions of the Contract. Alleging a rather egregious violation of the Contract, the UPM has, needless to say, filed a grievance.

It seems that a supervisor developed a kind of faculty job description that deviates from the negotiated terms and conditions of the Contract. The faculty under supervision have been held to the workload arrangements of this job description and to an evaluation process using the job description as its basis. Other outside standards have seemingly been brought to bear on faculty as well.

The supervisor, the grievance alleges, pressured faculty to abide by the contents of the job description and threatened probationary faculty with penalties for any "infractions" of the described job standards. Further, the supervisor seems to have required faculty to undertake a workload and schedule that go well beyond the provisions of the Contract. Also, the UPM alleges that the supervisor unilaterally added three new coordinator positions within the department and, as a result, engaged in direct dealing, an unfair labor practice.

The supervisor has been charged with other violations, including forcing faculty to deviate from course descriptions, but suffice it to say that the entire matter is breathtaking in scope and that the UPM will be rather diligent in pursuing the matter.

Heed the Warnings!
Guidelines from the UPM Grievance Officer
Two Articles By Bernadene Allen, UPM Grievance Officer

ETCUM Faculty Alert: Time-stamp Your Documents
A part-time teacher with Eligible Temporary Credit Unit Member (ETCUM) status was informed by the District that he had not submitted an ETCUM Availability Form to the District; therefore his department did not have to offer him teaching units, even though the instructor claimed that the Availability Form was submitted.

To avoid problems, I urge that ETCUM faculty take their Availability Form to personnel, have it time-stamped, then copied for their own records. In addition, the instructor should give a copy of the Availability Fort to the department chair.

Seniority for ETCUMs is determined by their step placement on the salary schedule. In the event more than one person is on the same Step, a lottery determines the ranking within that step. ETCUM faculty should be aware of their seniority status.

When scheduling begins, department chairs use the ETCUM Availability Form to offer ETCUM members, in order of seniority, at least six units (40% of a load), or up to 9 units (60% of a load), until all part-time units are distributed. Faculty with ETCUM status in more than one department must be offered part-time units in each department, but cannot teach more than 9 units each semester.

If there are part-time teaching units remaining, units are offered to faculty who are temporary qualified pool candidates, if such a pool exists in that department.

Although ETCUM faculty may indicate to the Chair their course preference, there is no contractual obligation to meet their preferences.

Probationary Faculty Evaluations Avoid Unnecessary Problems

The UPM has become aware that two administrators violated the Contract by evaluating some probationary faculty in areas that are not included in the Contract, under evaluations Article 7.

Probationary faculty should conversant with Article 7, on pages 7.2 through 7.6 in the Contract, for a detailed description of the probationary evaluation process, the topics and areas that are evaluated during their 4 years of probation, and the responsibilities of the Manager, faculty member and Union Advisor. UPM president Ira Lansing assigns a Union Advisor to each faculty member being evaluated; that Advisor may attach a separate statement to the Manager's final report; if possible, the Union Advisor should be present during the Manager's observation.

Evaluations are vital in determining whether the evaluee will be recommenced for rehire. It behooves the faculty member to be prepared for the class observation by becoming familiar with the Instructional Performance Evaluation Form, pages F 7.0 (a) in the back of the Contract.

Because the Manager will observe only once a year, it may be beneficial for the evaluee to demonstrate several teaching techniques, i.e., lecture, discussion, questioning students, use of board, AV aids, etc., as noted on the F 7.o (a) form.

For further suggestions contact Bernadene Allen or Arthur Lutz.

Summary of the Tentative Agreement
Please Note: This is only a summary of the actual agreement, and while every effort has been made to reflect accurately the full nature of the agreement, the summary is not actual Contract language. If you would like to review the complete proposed language, call the UPM office at 415.459.1524 and arrange to come in.

Results of Negotiations for a new three-year Contract between the UPM and the District:

Salary and Benefits

• All salary schedules will be increased by 7.5%, retroactive to July 1, 2001, affecting full-time, part-time credit, non-credit, and Children's Center faculty.
• All salary schedules will be increased by an additional 6% as of January 1, 2003, affecting full-time, part-time credit, non-credit, and Children's Center faculty.
• The average of the top three Bay Ten salary schedules will not be used to determine salaries.
• Faculty working with a part-time temporary contract during the summer, 2002, Intersession (June 1-Aug 16) will be paid 87% pro rata. This is part of the part-time equity pay settlement. The agreement allows for adjustments in the pro-rata pay above the 80% mark with additional "part-time equalization" money we receive from the State for 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. The idea is to adjust the rate in order to spend the entire amount of part-time equalization funding.
• Overloads, stipends, and intersession rates for all will be adjusted according to the part-time equity policy; thus, these rates will be at 87% for summer 2002 Intersession and will be whatever is determined thereafter, based on State funding.
• Substitute pay will be set at the stipend rate and adjusted annually in terms of the agreement.
• The fringe benefit package now in effect will be maintained for the 3-year term of the Contract, but faculty will receive a retroactive reimbursement for the difference in new rates.
• The District will pick up $54 for the Certificated Retirement Account (CRA).
• The District will provide transferable medical coverage for retirees wanting portable coverage, and out-of-state retirees will be paid up to the Kaiser family rate.
• Medical waivers for those full-time and part-time faculty who have coverage from another source or who decline the District coverage will increase from $1,200 to $1,500 for full-timers and from $600 to $750 for part-timers.
• The medical cost compensation for non-credit faculty in FTE-generating programs will increase from $75 per month to $100 per month.
  

Professional Standards and Evaluations

¥ A provision was added to the 90-day notice, currently under the Ed. Code, to the language for notification on disciplinary procedures. The aim is to better integrate Ed Code and Contract language.

¥ Faculty who may be in violation of the AAUP Standards and Professional Ethics, as defined in Article 24, will be allowed informal, non-punitive discussions within the Professional Standards Committee.

¥ The timeline for submitting various evaluation materials will be advanced, requiring faculty to submit materials a bit earlier than in the past.

¥ Faculty who do not follow evaluation procedures or who do not meet the designated timelines for evaluations will be sanctioned, as provided by a new Article 24 section.

¥ No evaluation activities will be required of faculty during intersession or outside the 175 day work period.

¥ Evaluated faculty will receive recommendations for improvement and will not be subject to punitive sanctions based on an evaluation (status quo).

Salary Schedule Placements

• ¥The initial maximum placement on the salary schedule for newly-hired full-time probationary instructors will be step 14, up from step 10.
• The initial placement for part-time temporary faculty will be step 7, up from step 3. Movement on the schedule will be capped at step 14, up from step 10. Part-time temporary faculty members who would like to have their step placement adjusted appropriately may request an adjustment, but the agreement does not provide any back pay.
• ¥Managers who elect to enter the faculty will now have a maximum step placement of step 14, up from step 10.
  

Units for Coordination

¥ The Auto Tech and Auto Body areas will receive an addition of 2 units for coordination; the Biology Lab at KTD will receive 2 units; Physical Education will receive 2 units, and the English Writing Lab will receive 3 units for coordination.

Service for RETCUMs

Retired faculty (RETCUMs) may return for limited service for 2 years. ¥ RETCUMs will be placed at step 14 on the credit salary schedule.

Maximum Class Size

The provision for receiving additional pay for taking students beyond the class size maximum will be dropped while the District is on Basic Aid.

Office Hours, Voluntary Services, Assigned Hours

• Permanent faculty teaching an overload and part-time temporary faculty teaching with a part-time contract, both receiving additional pro-rated compensation above 80%, will provide more office hours, calculated on a pro-rated basis.
• Full-time faculty may voluntarily perform professional services or additional work during unassigned hours within the 37.5 weekly total hours for faculty.
• Counselors now have 28 assigned hours.
  

Leaves (Conference, Sabbatical, Sick, etc.)

• Faculty may now donate as many as 20 days of sick leave to other unit members in times of need. The prior limit was 15 days of sick leave.
• Days of available personal necessity leave have increased in number from 10 days to 12 days, and the language for personal necessity leave will include the wording, "in accidents or mishaps."
• Costs for conference leaves will be compensated on a dollar-for-dollar basis not to exceed $1,000, and the total maximum annual compensation per member of the faculty will be $1,000.
• The total allocation for conference and honorary leaves will increase from $10,000 to $40,000 per year.
• The District's substitute funds will increase from $5,000 to $15,000 per year.
• Applicants for Sabbatical leaves will be allowed to re-write their proposals, if necessary, and will be allowed, if subsequently approved, to have their names appear on the list of approved Sabbaticals for the year.
  

Workload and Lecture/lab Rates

• Workload Compensation Category V, for IR&D, will increase from 10 to 15 units per year.
• The IR&D dollar fund will increase to a maximum of $20,000 and a category for Institutional Initiatives will be added.
• Three workload categories will be added: 1.) Institutional Initiative Fund (projects funded with a minimum of $20,000 initiated by management; 2.) Other District-Directed Initiative Fund (minimum of $10,000; and 3.) District-Directed Program Fund (up to 15 units per semester, for projects initiated by management but criteria determined by the UDWC).
• Lecture/Lab ratio will retain status quo except for Art Studio classes and Science lab classes that will be paid at 83%, effective fall, 2002.
  

Pilot Program

Managers will be allowed to assign work to contracted employees who do not need to become members of the unit governed by the Bargaining Agreement. This 2-year pilot program will have no adverse effect on the faculty.

ADA Agreement

The UPM will be provided with the necessary information to evaluate and negotiate the impact of accommodation on unit members.

Matters Still Pending

Issues of Student Complaints and Negotiability of P4E Funds

The two most contentious issues faced by the UPM Negotiating Team and the District over the past year have been the student complaint procedure and the question of whether Partnership for Excellence funds are negotiable. In the end (if indeed we are at an end ... the ratification vote will tell), these two issues have had relatively little impact on final language negotiated for the new Contract.

The District's managers, as we have reported in the past, maintain that they are bound by State law in the means of pursuing and investigating complaints registered by students against members of the faculty. They have claimed that the procedures now set in place are not negotiable, as a result.

For its part, the United Professors of Marin reserves the right to take this matter to the Public Employees' Relations Board (PERB) to seek final resolution.

The District, in turn, has decided to maintain its right to pursue with PERB the belief that the use of Partnership for Excellence funds from the State is not negotiable. Managers already have an "unfair labor practice charge" filed with PERB on this matter, and they will try to see it to its end.

The UPM has also filed an "unfair" with PERB in a related matter, and similarly maintains the right to pursue that issue to conclusion.

1. AFFIDAVIT FOR ENROLLMENT OF DOMESTIC PARTNERS FORM
2. APPLICATION FOR SABBATICAL LEAVE FORM
3. GUIDELINES FOR SABBATICAL APPLICATIONS
4. "SLIDING SCALE" FOR EVALUATING SABBATICAL LEAVE PROPOSALS
5. REQUEST FOR UNPAID LEAVE
6. VOLUNTARY TRANSFER AGREEMENT
7. INVOLUNTARY TRANSFER AGREEMENT Form
8. ASSIGNED HOURS AND SUBSTITUTE ARRANGEMENTS FORM
9. ASSIGNMENTS
10. DISTRICT DIRECTED ASSIGNMENTS
11. INSTRUCTIONAL PERFORMANCE OBSERVATION FORM
12. HEALTH CENTER NURSE PERFORMANCE OBSERVATION FORM