As a result of our last several contract settlements, we have made a lot of big gains for both our classified professional and faculty members.  Our AFT Guild negotiating teams worked hard to improve our working conditions on multiple fronts from safety issues, to job protections, to leaves, to pay increases and a host of other improvements.

More specifically, some of the key wins in the most recent contracts include:

Safer Classrooms: Our latest agreements require inside locking doors or an alternative safety locking mechanism that will keep students and faculty safe in the event of a physical threat of violence on all new construction and on existing doors as possible.

No More Outsourcing: We have an agreement prohibiting contracting out our work.

Help for the Classified Senate: Won provisions for release time and stipends for Classified Senate Officers.

An Easier Road to Priority of Assignment: Priority of Assignment (POA) status is now automatically granted once adjunct faculty qualify for this benefit.

More Job Security: The new agreement contains more due process protections for POA terminations.

Automatic interviews for Adjunct Faculty: Adjunct faculty guarantees for interview for each tenure-track position opening.

Union Representative for Classified Professionals on Reclassification Panel: Union participation on the classified professional reclassification panel.

More Education Pay for Classified: Educational Incentive Salary Advancement and Tuition Reimbursement enhancements to help Classified Professionals move across the salary schedule.

Lactation Rooms for Nursing Mothers:  The District must now provide lactation rooms with adequate accoutrements to make for a safe and hygienic space.

Compensation for Shared Governance Work: Adjunct faculty performing shared governance committee work will now receive compensation.

Enhanced Adjunct Faculty Access to Medical Plans: The new SDCCD contract allows adjunct faculty to participate in the same medical plans under the same conditions as tenured/tenure-track faculty.

Good News for New Mothers and Fathers: We now have fully paid maternity and parental leaves.

Sabbaticals for Adjunct Faculty: SDCCD Adjunct Faculty with six years of service are now eligible for sabbatical leaves following the same rules as tenured faculty.

Access to More Classes and More Steps for Adjuncts: Expansion of the number of salary classes and steps on the adjunct salary schedules.

Paid Office Hours: Paid office hour program for all adjunct faculty.

Workload Equity: Lecture/Lab workload equivalency improvements.

More Pay along with Perks and Bonuses for Classified: Classified now enjoy extra overtime for weekend and holiday work, mandatory pay out for comp. time work, fully paid days without taking leave between Christmas and New Year’s, paid personal business leave, increased vacation leaves,  out of class and promotional salary additives, and an early retirement notice three month bonus.

Along with all these gains, we continue to receive significant, ongoing compensation increases.  While much credit goes to our AFT Guild’s negotiation team, these wins were really made possible by all of us.  As AFT President Jim Mahler put it, “These gains could not have been realized without the hard work and solidarity of all AFT Guild Union Members.”