Dear Faculty,

I have wanted to write a note summarizing some of the GCFA activities for the semester, in the interest of wrap-up and transparency.

First, though, I want to say that we may still have a (summertime) vote by snail mail for GCFA members on contract issues. We had a very ambitious agenda this negotiations cycle, sunshining many significant items for discussion. While most of them have been substantively resolved to the satisfaction of the GCFA E Board and I think the district, we must move a whole package of items together, and there are a few things we simply need more time to discuss. Through no lack of trying, both District and GCFA negotiators have made great progress but still need to meet. We are hoping the vacation schedules of key District people, the E Board, the Rep Council, and the GCFA negotiations team will allow continued discussion, and if all goes well resolution, in June or July at the latest. Then the E Board and Rep Council can vote to recommend (or not) the package, and our Elections Committee can move forward with a vote of all members. Needless to say, it is in our best interest as a faculty to have a summer vote, as one item in the package involves the pay raise of 2 per cent suggested by President Steve Kinsella at the May Board meeting. Because they care about the faculty, the Negotiations team and the E Board have agreed to keep meeting as schedules permit to try to finish out the discussions.

So please keep an eye out for emails about an election, or for mail from GCFA to your home address. If all else fails, we will hold an election when we return in the fall. And please give your negotiations team heartfelt thanks for all they have done to help all faculty at Gavilan: Jason Wolowitz, Marc Turetzky, Rob Overson, and Lindsay Padilla.

This semester I set out four goals for myself as GCFA president. I am revisiting them below. I have enjoyed doing the work far more than I thought I would, and the absolute best part has been interacting with members who come to events or volunteer to help out. Please, let's keep that up! Sabrina and I will be working on a fall schedule of social events over the summer, and August 30 GCFA will again offer a Staff Development Day lunch for faculty. Let us know if you want to help plan events!

Goals:

1. To offer all the services and benefits that a great union offers. We've done six benefits events, seven social events, a commemoration for a deceased colleague, and hard work to make www.gavfaculty.com a go-to site for all faculty. We have let the district know we believe that current sick leave practices for part-time faculty are not in compliance with state law (which requires proportional sick leave and accumulating sick leave.) We have advocated for better email communication with part-time faculty and better snail-mail box systems so all part time faculty (rather than 180 out of 230) have mailboxes. We hear that change on these concerns is coming. I have attended every Board of Trustees meeting and feel it has been a good way to establish and strengthen our ties to the district; Board members are also coming to some of our social events. We instituted a Greener Fairer More Local Buying Policy that will eventually affect, we hope, all events on campus. And we started a Member Care committee that made a dozen outreaches, quietly and with compassion, to faculty with milestone events. We honored long-time member Kaye Bedell with a CCA WHO award. Finally, we got out a monthly newsletter that we hope was worth reading. It's all about education and inclusion. I hope we can do more in the fall. 

2. To democratize the union by helping get the new Representative Council off to a great start. The Rep Council now has members from most departments and has been a thoughtful and strong voice in developing negotiations positions for the union. It has also helped with innumerable other items, from reconfiguring the Faculty Scholarships to input on improving communications. The Rep Council's role will grow in coming months, and I am really grateful for the time and consideration its pioneering members have given.

3. To welcome in new part-time members and integrate them. As of March 31 all faculty are either GCFA members or agency fee payers. There have been glitches, but we have done our best to communicate the benefits of union membership to all concerned, and to enroll new members promptly and with adequate orientation. We have also handled a number of questions and concerns (such as people being charged dues five times rather than four, which is the limit.) We will continue to work with the District Business office to handle whatever comes up. And we hope to have more events, besides the welcoming BBQ in April, for new fulltime and part-time members in fall. We also have received a $3000 grant from CCA to put our mailing, email, phone, and other lists into order, which Ellen Waddell is capably doing. Most of all, the presence of three excellent part-time representatives on the E Board, and one more on the Negotiations team, has done much to change the internal culture of the union, its goals and priorities, and the parameters of discussion. These are changes I have found invigorating and positive.

4. To support our hard-working negotiations team. The team has really made a huge effort to research and develop GCFA positions on many issues. All received training from CCA in February, and others in leadership positions got additional training at the April meeting. I will get more training in July, and there is a CCA training meeting any member can attend October 6-7 to learn more about contract and other issues. The E Board has done its best to stay in touch and give prompt feedback and direction to our team, which is using Google Docs to great effect. I think we all learned a lot--next time, we hope to have the negotiations cycle started in Sept. and done in March! So be thinking what you would like to change/improve in your work at Gavilan. We're starting our 2012 list...

What more to say? Happy summer. Working with you has been a wonderful way to understand how special Gavilan's faculty is.

Leah Halper
GCFA President