President’s Message
Solidarity
Over the next year, with $18 million in budget cuts, FHDA will be going through a multitude of changes, namely in the form of position reductions and reorganization. Changes which directly impact staff. The single best way to protect ourselves is to stand together like never before. As i’ve said on numerous occasions, ACE only works with the active participation and support from our members.
On July 12, ACE asked every classified member in our unit to recommit and send in a new membership form. Many thanks to so many of you who have responded so quickly. If you don’t fill out the form, you continue to be an ACE member but in a post Janus vs. ASFCME environment – where the sole purpose of that lawsuit was to undermine unions through a divide and conquer of the membership – opting in is a great way to show solidarity. As the District faces its largest budget crisis in its 60 year history, we stand together in the fact that this crisis cannot be disproportionately balanced on the back of classified workers.
ACE exists solely for your benefit and the benefit of your coworkers. The work we do is a continuous work in progress but without the power of collective bargaining, there would be no COLA this year, even a temporary one, and you’d most likely pay more for your health benefits. ACE represents workers when there is an issue with management and prevents the District from unilaterally altering the terms and conditions of your employment. Most importantly, ACE gives workers a voice at the table.
Your commitment to ACE will be critical to sustaining a vigorous labor union. The strength of any association is in its numbers. Keep ACE strong, be a member.
Recommit to ACE.
Return your Membership Application and Dues Deduction Form today.
Of service,
Chris White, ACE President
(650) 949-7789, office
“The fight is never about lettuce or grapes. It is always about people”. – César Chávez
General Membership Meetings
Foothill De Anza
Tues., July 17 Wed., July 18
Toyon Room Admin 109
Noon – 1 p.m. • Pizza is served
Please note: ACE general membership and site meetings are open to ACE members only.
Negotiations Update – Ratification Vote
Cathleen Monsell, Chair of NegotiationsPlease see my July 11 email for complete details on the tentative agreement and attend a general membership meeting this week to have your questions answered.
Ratification Vote – July 23 – 27, Online Only
The ratification vote will be held online Monday, July 23 beginning at 8 a.m. through 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 27. There will be no in-person voting.
Only ACE members are eligible to vote. Watch your email for more information.
Classification Study – Next Step
Thank you to everyone who submitted feedback for their draft classification recommendations. The consultants are reviewing the feedback and incorporating changes as appropriate. ACE has a complete list of your feedback and will use it as a reference when the final classification descriptions are returned. In addition, as part of this process ACE has also requested better direction on when career ladders are appropriate for a classification, their rationale for the recommended changes in minimum qualification education levels, and a clearer definition between classification and position description.
Look for final recommendations in late August, early Fall. With vacations, 11-, 10-month and academic day only members, we want to make sure everyone who provided feedback has the opportunity to review the final recommendations. For those who approved their draft classification as recommended, no further input is needed. For those who raised concerns or comments during the draft phase, the recommendation returned in late August, early Fall will be the final draft. The Joint Labor Management Classification Committee (JLMCC) will resolve major discrepancies.
Reminders:
- No one goes down in pay as a result of the consultants recommendations.
- The compensation study comes AFTER we agree on the descriptions.
- Classification and compensation recommendations – must be approved by a vote of the ACE general membership before any changes can be implemented by the District.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Am I expected to do everything listed in the classification description? No, classifications are meant to be general. In a classification plan, a position is assigned a group of duties and responsibilities performed by one person. A classification may contain only one position, or may consist of a number positions. When there are several positions assigned to one classification, it means the same title is appropriate for each position because the scope, level, duties, and responsibilities of each position assigned to the classification are sufficiently similar (but not necessarily identical); the same core knowledge, skills, and other requirements are appropriate for all positions; and the same salary range is equitable for all positions.
As part of this process, the Joint Labor Management Classification Committee (JLMCC) are working to develop a form to clarify which duties are a priority for each position. This will also help us identify which duties are eliminated during budget reductions and better identify when someone is working out of class. As a reminder, these priorities are set by your supervisor.
With looming budget cuts, what do these classifications changes mean in terms of seniority? The current recommendation reduces the number of classifications from 188 to 134. The consolidation of multiple classification titles addressing the same type and level of work promotes a more consistent and equitable treatment of employees. This means more people have options should their position be selected for layoff. As positions are consolidated, it should help reduce arbitrary and capricious position elimination as it requires management to focus on the work needed to address student success and enrollment growth as opposed to who they do or do not like. An updated assessment of the work being performed helps us negotiate where the work can go when a position is eliminated, and an updated classification structure will make it more difficult for management to create classifications with new titles which perform the same duties as eliminated classifications to avoid reinstating workers with reemployment rights.
If a classification is eliminated, any worker in the affected classification will carry all of their seniority from the eliminated classification to their newly assigned classification. Any worker who is placed in a new classification but their previous classification remains will begin to earn seniority in their new classification while continuing to earn seniority in their old classification. This is no different than what happens under our current classification structure when a worker moves to a new classification.
Maintenance of Membership Policy
Cost of Representation – ADOPTED May, 9, 2018
Pursuant to the ACE Constitution membership to the Union may only be withdrawn when there is no contract. Because it is not clear when that period exists the Board of Directors of ACE hereby clarifies the Constitution to mean that during the term of the contract you may not withdraw your membership; however, any time within thirty days of the date of expiration of the contract, membership may be withdrawn by notifying the Union in writing of the intent to withdraw membership.
Representation is the means by which the exclusive bargaining representative (ACE) makes its resources available in order to ensure a fair, full review of any infringement of the rights of an employee or group of employees represented by the ACE, regarding their wages, hours of work and other conditions of employment described in the collective bargaining agreement (contract) between the ACE and college district, the Educational Employment Relations Act, commencing with Section 3540 of the Government Code (EERA), and other laws of the State of California that apply to classified school employees in a community college district.
It is the purpose of this policy to define the representation for members versus nonmembers in light of the United States Supreme Court decision in Janus v AFSCME, prohibiting the collection of fair share fees.
The ACE representation policy will continue to apply to members in the ACE bargaining unit and ACE members will receive representation at no cost as a benefit of membership. However, for any individual who is a nonmember (those that have decided not to pay to the union) representation by ACE shall only be provided if the nonmember pays for the representation as follows:
Job Steward:
Job stewards will represent nonmembers at the cost of $100 an hour.
Attorney:
Attorney representation will cost the nonmember $250.00 an hour.
Senior Attorney:
Senior attorney representation will cost the nonmember $450.00 an hour.