Get Ready — Change Is in the Air |
|
As we settle in for the spring 2022 semester, we are cautiously optimistic for a return to some sense of normalcy after the last two years of uncertainty. Below are some headlines from the Guild.
To Mask or Not to Mask
For up-to-date information about COVID-19 from the district and from L.A. County Public Health, click here. From that link, you can submit questions or concerns. In terms of our district’s protocols, Board Policy 2800 (mask mandate) and Board Policy 2900 (vaccination mandate) remain in place. We are closely watching the State Legislature and the governor for their intent to extend the state of emergency or to rescind it.
Your voice matters! The District COVID Response Team has emailed a three-question survey to all employees via your work email. Take a minute to respond.
It's About Time!
The Guild, in collaboration with the LACCD Labor Caucus, has negotiated 24 hours of COVID-19 wellness leave in addition to the state-legislated 80 hours of COVID paid supplemental leave. Please visit the district website to obtain a leave-of-absence request form. One hundred and four hours of leave are “use-it-or-lose-it.” The 24 hours of leave expire May 15. The 80 hours of state-legislated leave expire September 15.
We continue to bargain for more assistance for faculty. In addition, Guild members can access a free benefit for themselves and their families: AFT National Trauma Care.
|
|
In Unity,
Joanne Waddell
AFT 1521 President
|
|
NewsGuard: What It Is and How to Sign Up
The American Federation of Teachers has launched a national partnership with leading anti-misinformation tool NewsGuard to protect and champion legitimate journalism and fact-based reporting and to help educators and their students navigate a sea of online disinformation.
Under the terms of this groundbreaking new licensing agreement, the AFT’s 1.7 million members and the tens of millions of kids they teach and their families can now receive free, real-time “traffic light” news ratings and detailed “Nutrition Label” reviews via a licensed copy of NewsGuard’s browser extension, whenever they search the web for news and information.
Educators can sign up here.
|
|
Class instructor José Luis Valenzuela is founder and artistic director of the Latino Theater Company. |
|
Making an Impact Through Theater at Mission and Throughout the LACCD
By Evan Henerson
Many educational experiences begin and end within the four walls of a college classroom, but that won’t be the case for Theatre 285: Directed Study. This new class being offered during the spring semester will begin at L.A. Mission College and then bring students into a world-class performance space at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) in downtown L.A.
By the end of the course, if all goes to plan, those students will have landed in a new state of mind filled with inspiring, resonant ideas. How’s that for making an impact?
A partnership between LACCD and LATC owner/operator the Latino Theater Company (LTC), the Impact Community Engagement Initiative is what has made this experience class a reality. Students from any LACCD college can participate in-person or virtually in the class, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 11 through June 6. Coursework will involve seeing four productions at LATC — where LTC also puts on the shows — and discussing the works with the productions’ designers and artists.
|
|
Adjunct Action: CFT, AFT 1521 Urge Membership to Lobby for Healthcare
By Evan Henerson
When Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a $200 million allocation for part-time faculty healthcare in his state budget, AFT 1521’s adjunct faculty members hailed the move as a solid start to addressing a problem greatly in need of attention: healthcare for adjunct faculty.
“The problem varies by district,” said Chris Coffer, who teaches political science at L.A. City College and L.A. Mission College. “Some districts have benefits, and in other places, it’s absolutely horrible that they do nothing to offer benefits to adjuncts. There are a lot of long-time employees who don’t have health insurance at all or they don’t have it through their primary employer.”
“Proposing $200 million is a major accomplishment,” said Coffer, who is an appointed representative to the higher education committee of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), “but it doesn’t help unless we can get it across the finish line.”
|
|
Progress With Cleanliness Issues at LATTC: Update |
By Alex Weber
Due to the hands-on nature of their studies, students and teachers at L.A. Trade Technical College struggled with being offsite during the pandemic. So, they were pretty excited to get back to campus when, in September of last year, they were told they’d be met with a facility that was Covid-compliant and ready for learning.
Instead, said LATTC Digital Media Instructor and Chapter President Joe Guerrieri, what they found was far from clean.
“Our workspaces were a mess,” Guerrieri said. “It was clear that the promises that were made were not kept.”
It went beyond just messy workspaces. As the fall semester got going, Guerrieri noticed restrooms not being cleaned for days, soap dispensers not getting filled, and broken-down elevators that had gone without mechanical attention for more than a year. He spoke with faculty across different departments and found that the whole campus was struggling with similar issues.
As was reported in last October’s edition of Real News, Guerrieri and the AFT 1521 Campus Action Team wrote up a petition requesting a series of operations- and infrastructure-related improvements — fixes that Guild representatives said fall under the “reasonable measures” of the district’s return-to-work memorandum of understanding.
|
|
Click on this link for information on discounts and savings for union members.
|
Motions Passed at E-Board Meeting, January 2021
Approve the minutes of Nov. 16, 2021
Endorse Mike Fong for AD 49
Contribute $1,500 to Mike Fong for Assembly
Accept the AAA results of WLAC Special E-Board Delegate Election
Adopt Election Code pg. 5 with amendments
Hold the 2022 Districtwide Guild Election hybrid
Motion Passed at E-Board Meeting, February 2021
Contribute $2,000 to Miguel Santiago
|
2020-2023 L.A. College Faculty Guild Contract is Available |
The L.A. College Faculty Guild 2020-2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement in print is here! In our effort to go green, we have printed a limited number of paper copies for guild members. The PDF version of the complete contract has been available for all to download on the Faculty Guild website here. However, if you’d like a print version, please provide us your updated mailing address in the following form.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
