Dear SDCCD AFT Guild Faculty Members,
Before we head to spring break, I wanted to review the highlights of our previous settlement with everyone, including your upcoming off-schedule salary payments. In addition, I want to give all of you a preview of what we are continuing to work on with respect to our full contract negotiations which we hope to commence soon.
1) December 2025 Settlement
a)
• 11/12 Month Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty should have moved in step in January*
• 10 Month Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty should have moved in step in February*
• Adjunct faculty continue to move in step upon reaching their next multiple of 450 hours of service*
(* unless already at the top step of their Salary Class)
b)
• All faculty will receive a one-time payout equivalent to 1.70% of their gross earnings for calendar year 2025 on their March 31/April 10 paychecks.
c)
• All faculty currently on Salary Classes 0-5 will be moved up to Class 6 effective July 1, 2026 to the salary step that most closely matches their current rate of pay.
2) Upcoming Full Contract Negotiations
With our faculty Union contract (CBA) and the Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) both due to expire on June 30, 2026, we are in the process of crafting our initial proposal to start these successor agreement negotiations. We’ve received several hundred suggestions from 337 individual submissions from the survey we circulated. As of this writing, it’s clear that our top priorities for this round of negotiations will be:
-
- Competitive salaries that are the highest in the county among apportionment funded Districts (meaning all community colleges in San Diego County with the exception of MiraCosta, which is funded differently). We will pursue this through:
- A significant across-the-board pay raise to keep up with inflation.
- Additional compensation for earned doctorates, MFAs, and double-masters degrees.
- Additional compensation for faculty who are initially hired with previous teaching or related work experience.
- An increase in the entry level salary to the highest in the County among apportionment funded Districts.
- An increase in the number of the highest steps on the salary schedule to increase the maximum of our salary schedule to the highest level in the County among apportionment funded Districts.
- An additional additive for faculty who have been stuck on the top step of salary class 6 for more than one year.
- Across-the-board class size reductions.
- Equal pay for equal work for adjunct faculty for their teaching/counseling assignments.
- Additional compensation and/or reassigned time for all Chairs and Coordinators.
- Additional compensation and/or reassigned time for faculty to address increases in administrative responsibilities now expected of faculty and to address impacts of GenAI.
- 11-month contracts for CE Program Chairs and APCs.
- CE ESL instructors to gain POA for all ESL levels.
- Create a definitive path from adjunct to tenure-track employment.
- Increase remote work opportunities for non-classroom faculty.
- Paid office hours for CE adjunct faculty.
- Expand the 10% off-campus additive to include all CCAP classes.
- Increase the number of ESUs for coaches.
- Update load calculations for Hybrid courses.
- Maintain our fully paid health insurance benefits.
- And many more…
- Competitive salaries that are the highest in the county among apportionment funded Districts (meaning all community colleges in San Diego County with the exception of MiraCosta, which is funded differently). We will pursue this through:
The above list is not exhaustive of all the changes we will be seeking, but these will be at the top of our priority list. I have attached a list (roughly sorted by topic) of all of the recommendations we have received from the survey if you would like to peruse it.
We hope to have more definitive draft contract language available for all faculty to review soon after spring break. Please wait until you see what we draft before sending me more requests. Once we publish our first draft of the new proposal there will be ample opportunity for you to provide additional input before we begin the actual negotiation process with the District.
Most importantly, we have heard a growing call for allowing the voices of our members to be heard with due consideration. We hear you, and we look forward to strengthening communication within our Union.
As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions in the meantime.
In Solidarity,
Jim
Jim Mahler, President
AFT Guild, Local 1931
