GSCFT BREAKING NEWS
2011-12 K-12 Contract Settled - 2/2/12
Your negotiating team was able to conclude negotiations for the 2011-12 school year yesterday. The tentative agreement includes new language for Article XX - Professional Courtesy, extends contract duration for 3 years, provides for a limited number of "reopener" proposals in 2012-13 and 2013-14 and sets the stage for 2012-13 contract negotiations which will commence in March 21st. Ratification ballots will be provided to site representatives Monday February 6th with voting scheduled to take place Tuesday and Wednesday February 7th and 8th.
CFT Convention Delegates Selected - 1/27/12
Convention delegates were electd by acclamation following a call for nominees that went out to membership earlier this year. GSCFT President Barry Kirschen, Political Coordinator Casey Carlson, Vice Presidents Beth Landry and Helayne Ballaban and Site Rep Catherine Franke will be representing GSCFT membership at the convention. The CFT Convention is the Federation's highest policymaking body with delegates shaping union positions on issues affecting members. The theme for this year's convention is "Our State, Our Future, Our Fight." There will be an impressive lineup of speakers, workshops, and policy making discusion followed by voting over resolutions on the convention floor.
Surveys Distributed - 1/23/12
Administrator Surveys and Bargaining/Calendar Surveys have been distributed.
Site representatives will leave forms for the Administrtor Survey in site mailboxes or will bring them to a faculty meeting in the near future. Faculty members should complete an Administrator Survey Scantron form for each of their site administrators or program specialists and return them to site reps or send them directly to the union office via pony.
The Bargaining/Calendar Survey is being conducted on-line. Faculty should watch their district email inbox for instructions.
TA's for Guest Teachers and Adult Ed - 12/7/11
The GSCFT entered into tentative contract agreements for both Adult School Faculty and Guest Teachers yesterday renewing the two contracts and extending the durations for a 3 year period. There are reopeners for salary, benefits and 2 articles for each year during the duration of the contracts. These are status quo agreements with no other changes to the contracts.
2nd Union Seminar Scheduled - 10/13/11
The second in a series of union led seminars designed to provide information that you need, when you need it has been scheduled. The topic of this month’s seminar, Responding to Letters of Reprimand, is particularly timely considering recent cases of administration unfairly targeting employees with Letters of Reprimand that seem retaliatory in nature, reek of disparate treatment and/or contain outrageous allegations.
We’ll meet at the union office, upstairs in Suite 11 at 501 Mission Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 from around 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM on Friday October 21.
Please RSVP to seminars@gscft.org
District Reinbursement - 10/12/11
The district has agreed to reimburse faculty who were directed to get TB Tests and who had to pay for the testing. From this point on, faculty who get their TB Tests done at Doctor's on Duty will not need to pay for the tests. Education code states that it is the district's responsibility to cover the cost of required medical testing.
Scholarships - 10/12/11
CFT and Union-Sponsored Scholarships Have been announced for 2012. The CFT Raoul Teilhet Scholarships are awarded to students entering or attending four-year university, and to students entering or attending a two-year college. Children or dependents of CFT members are eligible to apply. For info on the application package and deadlines please click on the link for the flyers below:
CFT and Union-Sponsored Scholarship Flyers
New Union Seminar Series - 9/12/11
Your union has launched a new seminar series designed to bring you the info you need, when you need it. The first seminar will be held Friday September 16th at 4:00 pm in the GSCFT union office. The topic will be "Mastering Evaluation" and will include taking a look at the finer points of the contractual evaluation process and a discussion of some of the pitfalls. A copy of the flyer can be accessed by clicking bolow:
Negotiations Update - 6/17/11
Although our negotiating team spent Tuesday at the table, we were not able to wrap up negotiations for the 2011-12 contract.
As you probably know, Governor Brown vetoed the legislature’s budget package Wednesday and school funding uncertainties continue for 2011-12.
Negotiation Highlights:
We have completed discussions over the October 1st health benefits renewal with SISC – our health insurance JPA. Open enrollment will be scheduled by the district around the beginning of the school year. Faculty, once again, will have the opportunity to switch from PPO to HMO plans or from HMO to PPO plans.
Premiums for the PPO increased by 6.3% with 30% of the increase being tacked on to faculty monthly out-of-paycheck contributions. Out of paycheck contributions go from $394.84 to $436.54 employee + family, from $203.58 to $230.28 employee + one, and from $97.07 to $112.07 employee only. The only change in the PPO plan is a switch to MEDCO for prescription drugs. The prescription drug co-pays will remain the same at the $7/$25 (generic/name brand) level.
Premiums for the HMO will decrease due to plan design change. The monthly out-of-paycheck contributions will drop from $244.01 to $173.01 employee + family and from $175.33 to $106.43 employee + one. The employee only out-of-paycheck contribution remains $0. Changes to the HMO include an office visit co-pay increase from $20 to $25 and a doubling of the Hospital Facility Admission Charge from $250 to $500. Prescription drugs will be through MEDCO as with the PPO and the co-pays will drop from the current $5/$10/$25 (generic/name brand/non formulary) to $5/$10 (generic/name brand).
Because of the switch to MEDCO for prescription drugs, after October 1st faculty who obtain prescriptions from a local pharmacy will have to provide the pharmacy with their new MEDCO ID card. ID cards will be mailed to faculty home addresses. Faculty who are using mail order for maintenance medications will need to obtain a new 90 day supply prescription with refills from their doctor for submission to MEDCO over the phone, by FAX or by mail.
SISC has hinted that they will impose a “value based purchasing” cap ($30,000) on facility charges for knee and hip replacements sometime in the future. We will keep you posted on how this impacts your plans when more information is available.
New Bay Fed Fees - 5/16/11
New account fees at Bay Federal, formely the Teacher's Credit Union, are not faculty friendly!
Because many faculty are paid "tenthly" they do not have paychecks directly deposited over the summer months.
Without a direct deposit every month, large minimum balance or a large number of debit trasactions, members will now be subject to new monthly service fees.
Savings account holders are being hit with service fees as well.
When contacted by the GSCFT, Bay Federal responded that although they understand the problem that faculty face, they were not willing to adjust the new fee schedule to be more faculty friendly.
Many banks are increasing fees in order to insure profitability but it is sad that our former "Teacher's Credit Union" is not honoring its founding members by designing a fee structure that takes into account that many faculty do not receive direct deposit paychecks over the summer months.
Board Approves Layoff Agreement - 4/13/11
The school board approved a negotiated agreement this evening avoiding a layoff hearing scheduled for April 27th. The agreement includes rescission of the preliminary layoff notices sent to 6 of 7 laid off permanent employees and provides 39 month rehire rights for the remaining permanent and 6 employees in parent education with disputed status. It is expected that all of these faculty will be offered reemployment upon the signing of an MOU between the district and the parent education boards.
Tentative Partial Calendar Agreement - 3/29/11
Due to economic uncertainty, the GSCFT Negotiating Team has tentatively agreed to a partial calendar for the 2011-12 school year so that faculty can start firming up vacation plans. The rough calendar outline which includes a start date and major holidays for the 2011-12 school year follows:
Teacher Work Days: August 29 and 30
First Student Day: August 31
Labor Day: September 5
Veteran's Day: November 11
Thanksgiving: November 23, 24 and 25
Winter Break: December 23 through January 6
Martin Luther King Jr. Day: January 16
Lincoln's Birthday :February 13
President's Day: February 20
Spring Break: April 2 through April 6
Additional teacher workdays, President's holidays, spring break, elementary conference days, the traditional end of semester secondary staff development day and last student day are subject to further negotiations.
Board To Approve Layoff Resolutions- 2/22/11
On Wednesday February 23rd at 6:30 PM in the Santa Cruz High School Theater, the School Board will adopt resolutions relating to 2011 faculty reductions. As a result of the board action, all K-12 and Adult School temporary employees will receive release notices. In addition to the temp releases, all permanent and probationary Adult School faculty will be issued Preliminary Layoff Notices. There will be one K-12 Preliminary Layoff authorized as well. Although there is a hope that the preliminary notices will eventually be rescinded, and that most of the released temps will be brought back, permanent and probationary certificated faculty receiving Preliminary Layoff Notices must adhere to a tight timeline if they intend to preserve their right to a hearing. Those Permanent and Probationary Employees subject to Lay Off may file their own Request for Hearing (within 7 calendar days after receipt of the Lay Off Notice) or may authorize the GSCFT to do so on their behalf by completing a Power of Representation Form (linked below) and immediately sending it to the GSCFT office at 501 Mission St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 to President Kirschen's attention. In addition to the Power of Representation form, those represented by GSCFT should complete the Employee History Form and return it to the union office as well.
2011 K-12 Temp Release Resolution
2011 K12 Preliminary Layoff Resolution
2011 Adult School Preliminary Layoff Resolution
File a Claim for Unemployment - 2/22/11
If you receive a Final Notice of Layoff (due by May 15) you may file a claim for unemployment insurance coverage. For more info go to:
http://www.edd.ca.gov/Unemployment/Filing_a_Claim.htm
Union Scholarships Available - 12/06/11
The CFT Raoul Teilet Scholarship Program offers $3,000 and $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors and continuing college students who are dependents of GSCFT members. The application can be picked up at the union office or downloaded and printed by navigating to www.cft.org and clicking on "scholarships".
$8,000 and $1,000 Robert G. Porter Scholarships are available to dependents of GSCFT members from AFT with the application available at www.aft.org/aftplus/scholarships
The AFL-CIO offers scholarships ranging from $500 to $4,000 to GSCFT memberrs, their spouses and their dependents for undergraduate and graduate study. The application is available at www.unionplus.org/scholarships