Dear AFT Guild Classified Professional Members,
As a result of your support and advocacy over the past year, we’ve won a historic agreement for our Classified Professionals: fully paid healthcare, a full year of paid parental leave for both parents, and a permanent reduced workweek!
I want to make sure we all acknowledge the hard work and leadership of Larissa Dorman-Cobb and Yvonne Schmeltz in their running of our reduced workweek campaign that brought us to this point! Here are the highlights of the full package:
• $0 increase in your healthcare premiums! The District will cover 100% of the increase for all plans, effective January 1, 2027. (please see attached pdf)
• A full year of paid parental leave for both parents! Fully paid and doesn’t utilize your sick or vacation time. Effective January 1, 2027.
• A permanent 36-hour workweek! The pilots are over, and the reduction is here to stay starting July 1, 2027!
• A 1% raise on-schedule, plus a one-time payout of 3.86% of your 2026 gross wages. The raise takes effect January 1, 2027, and the one-time payout will be included in your March 31st, 2027 paycheck.
And now for the details:
Healthcare Premium Coverage
Healthcare costs continue to rise faster than the COLAs provided to us from the State, and this year is no different. Even with a generous statewide COLA for this year, healthcare premiums will increase approximately 8% effective January 1st, 2027. Individual premium rates are increasing from 5-12%, representing an increase of anywhere from $50 to $353/month depending on which plan you are enrolled in. We have successfully been able to negotiate that the District cover 100% of these premium increases, ensuring that you will have no increased out of pocket cost when these rates take effect January 1st, 2027. That equates to a potential savings of $600-$4,236 per year for our members. This alone is a major win for our members and their families!
One Year, Fully Paid, Extended Parental Leave
Effective January 1st, 2027, both parents will be eligible to take a full year off, with pay, as a result of the birth of their child or adoption of a child under the age of 5. This leave will not come out of your sick or vacation leaves, this leave will be fully paid by the District! Unit members must have worked for the District in the classified service or in an academic capacity for a minimum of twelve (12) months prior to the beginning of the leave to be eligible. No other requirements need to be met. This leave will run concurrently with other statutory leaves such as CFRA/FMLA/PDL and existing Parental Leave (Current Contract Articles 8.1-8.3). Unfortunately, this leave is not retroactive.
Permanent Work Week Reduction
We have reached agreement on a permanent workweek reduction effective July 1st, 2027. No more pilots! The workweek will be reduced to 36 hours/week on average, but can range from 32 hours/week to 40 hours/week throughout the year as work demands dictate. Each full time unit member will be scheduled to work 1,872 hours per fiscal year (52 weeks/year X 36 hours/week), inclusive of all holidays and the paid time off between 12/25 and 1/1 of each year. Your yearly schedule for the period July 1 – June 30 must be finalized by your supervisor no later than the preceding May 30th of each year. Example: schedule for fiscal year July 1st, 2027 through June 30th, 2028 will be finalized by May 30th, 2027. Alternative work schedules, similar to what we currently have in place for 4/10 or 9/80 schedules will still be allowed.
CalPERS Benefit Increase
One serendipitous consequence of this workweek reduction is how your CalPERS benefits will be calculated for retirement. Under the new reduced workweek you will still accumulate your full service credit each year towards retirement, however, due to the way the District is required to report your earnings to CalPERS, your wages will actually appear 11.1% higher, even though your monthly salary is not changing. That is because CalPERS computes your pension based on an equivalent hourly, not monthly, rate of pay. Going from the current 2,080 yearly assigned work hours to the new 1,872 assigned work hours equates to an 11.1% increase in the actual hourly wage rate reported to CalPERS. That means that once this new work year goes into effect, your retirement benefit will be significantly increased for life!
Salary Increase and Backfill Costs
As we have stated throughout our quest for the reduction in our work hours, there are some backfill costs that need to be taken into account. Indeed, this is the component that took the most time to nail down over the past 12 months of continued negotiations on this topic. Recall that last year we “banked” our 1.70% COLA towards this cost. This year we are also contributing 2.86%, leaving the 1% to be applied on the salary schedule. We will still “owe” the District an amount equal to approximately a 1.75% COLA which we will need to account for in future salary settlements, but with the proviso that no more than 50% of any one year settlement can go towards satisfying this debt. For example, we would need a COLA of at least 3.50% in order to satisfy the 1.75% “owed” all in one year. If the COLA is less than that, we would just contribute 50% and roll over the remaining debt to the following years until fully satisfied. In any case, regardless of how long this takes us to pay off, the reduced workweek is permanent effective July 1, 2027. You will receive a permanent on-schedule 1% salary increase effective January 1st, 2027, followed by a one-time payout equal to 3.86% of your gross wages from calendar year 2026. This one-time payout will be included in your March 31st paycheck.
Please see the attached pdf for the full details of this settlement.
I hope you will agree with me and your AFT Guild Executive Council members that fully covered healthcare, extended paid parental leave, and the reduction in assigned work hours is an impressive package for our members and their families. This contract sets a new standard for classified professionals everywhere. We are now the Sweden of community colleges!
I also want to fully acknowledge our Chancellor, Greg Smith, the Board of Trustees, Vice-Chancellor Burns, and Associate Vice-Chancellor Wilker for their leadership and commitment to achieving these extraordinary gains for our Classified Professionals!
Since this package is a bit complicated, we will be holding several Zoom Q&A sessions on the following dates so we can review all the details with you.
- Tuesday, 10/20, 12:00-1:00pm
- Wednesday, 10/21, 12:30-1:30pm
- Thursday, 10/22, 2:00-3:00pm
- Friday, 10/23, 3:00-4:00pm
Also, please keep your eye out for ratification ballots coming from Election Buddy by the middle of this week.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or any of our AFT Guild Executive Council members if you have any questions regarding any of the foregoing.
In Solidarity,
Jim
Jim Mahler, President
AFT Guild, Local 1931