As the Fall semester begins, we’re back in negotiations and, once again phone banking and spreading the word in a call-to-action to our family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to VOTE NO on the RECALL.
Our negotiations this time can be called “effects bargaining”— to reach agreement with management about the effects of LACCD Board policies (BP 2800 — on face coverings) and BP 2900 (vaccinations or testing), which were passed at its August 4 meeting. We are working to find common ground with the other LACCD labor unions. But ultimately, our goal is to negotiate the safest environment we can for our members.
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In Unity,
Joanne Waddell
AFT 1521 President
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Going the Distance (Virtually) with Jonathan Klyng
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By Evan Henerson
Jonathan Klyng was comfortably living his life as a philosophy professor at Harbor College – and a committed and active member of AFT 1521 – when the COVID pandemic hit and another opportunity arose.
In the early summer of 2020, the call went out for someone to coordinate Harbor’s Distance Education program. Klyng applied for the position, which he now shares with Alberto Pimentel. Klyng handles most of the technological aspects of the work while Pimentel works directly with administration. But even for a person as tech-savvy as he is, Klyng admits the new post has its challenges.
“I started doing this at the height of COVID, and it was a tidal wave. That’s the best way to put it,” Klyng said. “It was just a whirlwind of new information and new transitions, learning how to navigate the online classroom and helping everybody else do that as well. I had a background in technology that I thought I could use to help my college out when the need arose.”
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Your Health Benefits: Recent Important Changes
You may have seen the recent bulletins sent by William Elarton-Selig, Guild VP and Chair of the Joint Labor Management Benefits Committee (JLMBC), regarding changes to our medical plans. (One bulletin explained changes for active employees and one was related to changes for retirees.) Please refer to the bulletins for more detailed information.
To summarize the main points:
For HRA/FSA Accounts: Our service provider (WageWorks) has been replaced by ASI Flex. You can set up your online profile and submit claims for 2021 to ASI Flex. Some existing fund balances are viewable online. By September 1, current participants will receive debit cards, and fund balances should be viewable online. If you have unsubmitted claims dated prior to August 1, you can still submit them to ASI Flex for the 2021 plan year.
All funds in your accounts are still available. If you were caught in the black-out period, keep your receipts and ASI Flex will process those plus future claims for the 2021 year.
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Guild Provides Help for Faculty Needing Unemployment Benefits
As the LACCD faces possible reductions in student enrollment, some adjunct faculty may lose teaching hours or have their assignments eliminated.
Our Guild has an important resource for faculty who have experienced these cuts. Our EDD Coordinator, Anthony Amey, is well-versed on the ins and outs of applying for unemployment benefits.
“The goal is to reduce the number of denials leading to appeals and use the tools we have available to make the application process as convenient as possible,” Amey says.
Since being appointed as the Guild’s EDD Ombudsperson in 2019, Amey has helped many adjunct faculty navigate the Unemployment Insurance (UI) application process. He has created step-by-step tutorial videos and is available to attend adjunct workshops hosted by Chapter Presidents. He also conducts his own Unemployment Insurance workshops. Check the Guild website – www.aft1521.org - for more information.
Workshops are held on the second Friday of each month at 5 pm. Contact Amey for the link.
He has also posted an updated link to the step-by-step tutorial of the online unemployment insurance claim form. Email him for the link if you are unable to access it online.
Amey has open office hours Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and can be reached at (626) 872-4665 or at eddhelper@gmail.com.
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Part B Medicare Reimbursement Update HRA/FSA Accounts
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Equity Health (or as you know them –WageWorks) is out and ASI Flex is in.
In our last contract negotiations, we were able to obtain a new benefit — reimbursement of retiree Medicare Part B premiums. WageWorks was tasked with setting up the process for this new benefit. They were unable to complete this task before they were replaced.
Background: WageWorks has been the LACCD’s service provider for this type of benefit for many years. They were sold to Equity Health about a year ago; however, that had no impact on our services. They continued as the provider with a new name, and WageWorks is the name used on their online portal.
In 2020, the LACCD/JLMBC went out to bid for a new service provider. ASI Flex won the bidding process and was selected as the new provider; however, due to COVID, the process of moving from the old to the new has taken longer than anticipated.
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Motions Approved at the July 20, 2021 Executive Board Meeting
Consider a motion from the floor on requiring COVD-19 vaccination starting in Fall 2021 semester
Approve proposed minutes from May 18, 2021
Approve proposed minutes from May 26, 2021
Accept the COPE report
M/S/P: Table the motion to endorse Dr. Joshua Wentz (Faculty at L.A. Mission College) for Santa Clarita Community College District Board of Trustees in 2022 until the CFT local union representing part-time faculty at Santa Clarita Community College District is contacted for approval
M/S/P: Endorse Assemblymember Mike Gipson -- 64th Assembly District
M/S/P: Endorse SB 270 (Senator Maria Elena Durazo) that will create accountability measures to ensure public employers comply with existing bargaining unit data reporting requirements
M/S/P: Endorse AB 616 (Stone) that amends the Agricultural Labor Relations Act to facilitate the ability of farmworkers to vote for or against unionization.
M/S/P: Contribute $25K from the general fund to LA County Federation of Labor to oppose the Governor’s recall during the recall election
M/S/P: Contribute $1,500 to Assemblymember Miguel Santiago
M/S/P: contribute $1,500 to Commissioner Ricardo Lara for re-election for California Commissioner of Insurance
M/S/P: WEC Summer Compensation [On June 8 the Executive Committee voted to support a motion for the next E-Board agenda at the July 20 meeting for a 0.2 FTE (July and August) for each WEC chair (or appointed representative) that is not currently paid as D-basis.]
M/S/P (Lee, Benjamin, Christian-Brougham): WEC Fall Compensation [On June 8 the Executive Committee voted to support a motion for the next E-Board agenda at the July 20 meeting for an additional 0.1 FTE (for 2021-2022 at 80% of Column E, Step 13 of the FT faculty salary schedule – 10 months) for each WEC chair (or appointed rep) to serve on the District-wide WEC committee.]
M/S/P (Knorr): In order to protect the health and safety of our faculty, students, and staff, the AFT 1521 Executive Board fully supports the attached resolution [on requiring COVD-19 vaccination starting in Fall 2021 semester] passed unanimously by the District WEC on July 19, 2021 and demands that the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees take immediate action on the recommendations of said resolution.
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Local 1521 Joins UCLA Community Collaborative Study
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To what degree has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted “essential” labor, workers and communities in Southern California?
That complicated question was the focus of a multi-disciplinary study conducted by the Community Collaborative, a partnership between the Department of Urban Planning and the Center for Labor Research and Education at UCLA. Since the launch of the Community Collaborative in 2020, graduate students have been spending one or two quarters tackling wide-ranging topics of pressing concern to the City of Los Angeles. For the latest cycle, Local 1521 joined the Collaborative as one of the partnering labor agencies.
Guild President Joanne Waddell, Recording Secretary Mindy Chen, and Organizing Director Chase Golding attended weekly classes and participated in working groups in which discussions touched on such topics as pandemic profiteering and the threat of private equity.
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2020-2023 LA College Faculty Guild Contract is Available
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The LA 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.
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Vote NO on the Anti-Union Recall
A message from the California Labor Federation:
A recent poll shows that voters are evenly divided over whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. If the supporters of the anti-union recall succeed, a Trump-style Republican would immediately take over California.
This is a sneak attack on our democracy. Decades of progress on the minimum wage, on our pensions, on affordable health care – and a lot more – would instantly be threatened.
So, I’m asking you to help expose who is backing the anti-union recall. Here’s a hint: it’s the same extremists attacking voting rights across the country, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee!
Working people are up against a national network of very rich anti-union funders who are taking aim at our pensions, workplace safety rules, at our public schools and even at our right to vote! These Trump allies will stop at nothing and spend millions more than they already have to put an anti-union extremist in the governor’s office.
By pulling a fast one on California’s working folks, they want to steal the governor’s office in a low-turnout special election and control California. I don't want to see an anti-union candidate – someone who doesn’t believe in the minimum wage or an enemy of labor unions – to end up winning with a tiny fraction of the vote.
Together, we can work to build a more pro-worker California – and that means defeating the anti-union recall!
Ballots were mailed to all voters beginning August 16 and must be postmarked by September 14 to count.
Don’t miss your chance to have a say in California’s future! Vote NO on the recall!
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Reform AB 1456: The Fight Continues!
We all knew before the COVID-19 pandemic hit that many of our students faced economic hardships that put their education and futures at risk. Now, this pandemic has further exacerbated and exposed inequities in higher education, impacting the 2.1 million students in the California Community Colleges (CCC), the largest system of higher education in this country.
We recently asked you to take action to help address this economic crisis our community college students are facing by advocating for Assembly Bill (AB) 1456, the Financial Aid Equity Bill aiming to expand financial aid, resulting in more Californians enrolling and receiving a college education.
Hundreds of you sent personalized emails to legislators asking to support California’s most vulnerable community college students and as a result, our voices have been heard. The language to expand the Cal Grant program by eliminating barriers to student eligibility for financial aid (based on factors like their age and time passed since high school graduation) has been approved!
This means many more students can now be eligible for aid under this proposal, which will positively benefit and transform California's economy and workforce.
However, the fight is far from over. We must ensure that this proposal becomes a bill.
What can we do? Keep sending those emails! Stand with community college students to ensure all Californians have equitable access to higher education by sending an email to legislators and sharing with friends and family TODAY:
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