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2023.12.05 Update – Voting Actions: Dues Lowered, TAs Approved, New Board Members. SDL Workshop

Written by ACE

ACE Members,

We’ve been busy with voting! Results have been emailed to members, but in summary the membership approved…

  • member dues to be lowered from .0095 to .0087 of regular pay.
  • negotiated contract tentative agreements with the District.
  • two new Executive Board members.

Paystub Updates
Thank you to Payroll staff for acting upon the dues rate change quickly and implementing the ACE Executive Board’s request for dues forgiveness in October. As a part of your October paystub, you should have seen a line item for “COLA w/R”. This is the calculated amount for the negotiated 7.22% salary schedule increase going back (retroactive) to July 1st, 2023.

Always check your paystub!
We’ve seen a few situations where a form that affects your pay (WOC, SDL, etc.) has yet to be processed which either generates an underpayment or overpayment. The quicker these oversights are caught, the easier they are to work with. Reach out to schedule a meeting with @Scott Olsen if you have questions about items on your paystub.

Agreement Updates
Notice was sent to the District that members ratified our tentative agreements. We expect the negotiated contract changes to be on the Board of Trustees agenda in December. Once they pass this final stage of approval, they will take effect. Do you have questions about the new changes? Ask during a site meeting and/or reach out to a steward.

We’ll provide more guidance on how Personal Leave has changed and how to utilize Floating Leave under the terms of the new agreement.

The District is working to assemble an updated text/pdf of our 2021-24 agreement, which will be available to everyone. I’m working on updating and restoring our union website after a plugin became unruly following a webhosting outage. Thank you to those who have pointed out areas that need attention.

Executive Board Update
Beginning Jan 1st, 2024, we’ll have two new board members. @Adriana Garcia (De Anza) and @Sharon Garcia-Vega (Foothill). On behalf of all members, thank you to @Sasha Bostick and @Yasmine Malboubi for serving well during your time as representatives. Thank you to those who stepped forward to run for positions and those who continue to serve. Our membership and organization continue to achieve success because we all continue to remain actively engaged.

Are you interested in serving as a site steward? Contact @Thomas Marks (Central Services), @Anthony Caceres (Foothill), or @Erika Flores (De Anza).

Stewarding is a great way to assist members in better understanding our agreement and support colleagues in the workplace. Having multiple stewards to contact also makes us a more capable organization.

b. Duties of the Chief Stewards and Steward(s)
1) Represent their respective jurisdiction in all membership meetings in the absence of the members.
2) Be the first line of contact with administrative or supervisory staff subject to this Constitution.
3) Be responsible for the enforcement of all applicable collective bargaining agreements in their respective jurisdictions.
4) Be responsible for holding management accountable for all applicable safety and occupational health laws, rules and regulations, and are responsible for notifying appropriate administrative or supervisory staff of unsafe working conditions.
5) Shall have copies of the Constitution and all necessary working agreements available at all times.

Stewardship requires subordination of personal interests to those interests that represent the highest good of the members. Stewards shall have no greater rights than any other member of the ACE.

Source: Constitution 5.3.b (LINK)

Staff Development Leave Workshop (Thursday 12/7)
This Thursday at Noon via Zoom we’ll go over the documents that were attached to the calendar invite. If you did not receive the documents, contact @Scott Olsen or @Claudia Guzman. For those who cannot attend, we’ll record a separate session to answer common questions.

Applications are due by December 15th for SDL beginning in 2024.

In Solidarity,

Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org 
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:00am-5:00pm

ACE News

2023.09.19 Update – Opening Day, 7.22% COLA Voting, Teleworking/COVID MOU, Open Enrollment, 403b+457 Plans, Bilingual Pay

Written by ACE

ACE Members,

President’s Message Opening Day
The work we all do is a crucial in achieving our district/college mission and creating the best opportunity for the success of students. Year after year I continue to be impressed by the ingenuity of classified staff when accomplishing the ever-growing tasks before us. The ACE organization is a product of that same ingenuity. Thank you to members for supporting our continued success as we move into a new academic year.

Open Enrollment
CalPERS’ 2024 Health Benefit Summary is an informative document for comparing plans we have access to (LINK) but take the opportunity to connect with our Benefits department on opening day or schedule an appointment to discuss options. If you need assistance with health benefits enrollment, please email MyBenefits@fhda.edu ; or call 650-949-6224.

See the Benefits website for more information (LINK.)

403b/457b Retirement Vendors
Vendors who show up on opening day are not vetted by the district nor ACE. You may also receive email messages from outside companies to manage your retirement. Be cautious – scrutinize these vendors.

The most popular companies with employees have consistently been Fidelity, Vanguard, and CalSTRS Pension2. For details on how to sign up, see the Payroll website (LINK.)

In the past we have worked with 403bwise.org to provide member education. They have a podcast series “Learn by Being Burned” along with self-paced education topics on their website (LINK.) Their next Q&A “Office Hours” event is October 5th from 4-5pm PST (LINK.) While it is very K-12 focused, much of it is applicable to FHDA. They have their own vendor rating here (LINK) which aligns with our most popular vendors.

7.22% COLA Ratification Voting Begins @ 2pm Today
If you do not receive an email from ElectionRunner with voter information by 3:30pm, contact our recorder @Shawna Santiago with your CWID number. Voting closes 5pm on Thursday.

Results will be shared with the membership by the end of this Friday. Notice will be sent on Friday to the district in time for the item to appear on the board of trustees agenda.

Reminder – Teleworking/COVID Return to Work MOU
In late 2022 ACE signed a memorandum of understanding which established an appeal process for teleworking. (See full MOU here – LINK.)

  • If your written request to work remotely is denied you may appeal the decision to ACE and the Associate Vice Chancellor of Human Resources for a final decision.
  • If your teleworking agreement schedule is ending, you should be provided a minimum of 10 working days’ notice in writing.

Unfortunately COVID has not completely gone away. Lately cases have been on the rise in Santa Clara County per wastewater monitoring (LINK) as we return to pre-pandemic habits. If you are sick, stay home – use your sick leave. If you are able to work, you may make arrangements with your supervisor to work remotely (although it is not guaranteed to be approved.) If your child tests positive for covid, you may use sick leave or potentially be allowed to work from home with approval from your supervisor until the end of an isolation period or while awaiting test results after exposure.

Appropriate teleworking arrangements will be made with any affected employees who must quarantine upon request by the district. If an employee cannot telework, then they shall be placed on paid administrative leave until the end of the quarantine period. This section shall also apply to employees awaiting covid test results after an exposure.

Contact a steward if you need help.

Bilingual Pay
Thank you to our negotiations team for their work reviewing classified employee agreements with the district and at neighboring districts. They are all available on the human resources web page (LINK.) Currently we have proposed the same language that exists within the FHDA-Police Officers Association (POA) for bilingual pay – see POA Agreement 6.6 (LINK.) It provides $100 per month for employees who are requested to use their bilingual skills along with a means for validation language fluency. To date the district has responded that they are not interested in parity between ACE and POA. At the moment, the district is declining to agree to pay ACE members for the same skill that they have negotiated with another bargaining unit.

Per our attorney, unless a language is specially called for in your classification, such as American Sign Language in the Sign Language Interpreter JD, you cannot be reprimanded or considered insubordinate for refusing to communicated in anything other than English. It is up to members to decide if refusing to exercise bilingual skills is worthwhile toward receiving equal compensation.

We will provide more negotiations updates throughout the process. The latest message has been posted on our homepage.

In Solidarity,

Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org 
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:00am-5:00pm

ACE News

2023.09.12 Negotiations Update – MOUs for COLA, Benefits, and Agreement Articles 3, 7, 9, 10, 11

Written by ACE

ACE Members,

ACE and the District have reached an agreement on Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2023-24 and benefit costs for plan year 2024. The memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for both items are attached to this message.

ACE Negotiations Update 20230912.pdf
MOU JLMBC Benefits Plan Year 2024 Final.pdf
MOU COLA 2023-2024 Signed 20230822.pdf

COLA

  • An ongoing 7.22% increase effective July 1, 2023. 
  • Implementation requires a couple of steps:
    • Ratification by ACE membership.  This will be completed by the end of September. 
    • Board of Trustees for approval (this is performative). This will most likely be their Oct. 2 meeting.
    • See the money? When asked for a timeline on implementation, the district was unwilling to give a definitive date, but it was agreed that sooner rather than later would be beneficial for all. We’ll keep you posted on this.

Benefits for Plan Year 2024 – See Attached MOU for Plan Rates

  • Employees will pay 15% of the medical premium for plan year 2024.
  • District will pay 85% of medical plan premium plus full dental and vision premium.  See attached MOU.
  • It is important to remember that the bargaining units and the district negotiate who pays how much based on CalPERS’s plan options but neither has any say in what plans they offer, the cost of a plan including deductibles and co-pays, or what practitioners are included in those plans.
  • New rates become effective January 1, 2024.
  • Open enrollment to select plans for 2024 runs Sept. 19 through Oct. 13, 2023.
    • An Open Enrollment Benefits Fair will be part of District Opening Day (09/20/23) in the Foothill College Dining Hall from noon to 2 pm.
      • The Benefits Fair for the 2024 plan year provides information about the CalPERS health care plans and other benefits available to employees and retirees such as life insurance and supplemental retirement planning. 
      • All insurance carriers and 403(b)/457(b) vendors have been invited to attend the event to answer employees’ questions in person.

Articles in the ACE Agreement
ACE and the District have reached tentative agreements (TAs) on several items open for negotiations. Member ratification of these TAs will occur when all open items are resolved.

Article 3 – Union Security

  • Removes fair share feepayers language because of the 2018 Janus Supreme Court Decision.  Adds language defining what unit information District is required to provide to ACE and when.

Article 7 – Employment Practices  

  • 7.5.1 – Selection for Promotion – Changes when internal candidates can apply for a position before external candidates.  Why?  Cal Code Regulation 53021(c) says “shall actively recruit from both within and outside the district work force to attract qualified applicants for all vacancies” There are a few exceptions where internal recruitment/promotion can happen:
    • a reorganization that does not result in a net increase in the number of employees;
    • one or more lateral transfers are made and there is no net increase in the number of employees;
    • a position which is currently occupied by an incumbent is upgraded, reclassified, or renamed without significantly altering the duties being performed by the individual.

Article 9 – Holidays and Vacation

  • 9.1 – Formerly adds Juneteenth to the list of holidays for a total of 18 paid holidays a year.
  • 9.3 – NEW – Floating Leave (formerly called Personal Necessity Leave)
    • Maintains 40 hours of paid leave. If unused, does not roll over to new year (July 1 -June 30). If you leave the district, you do not get paid out for any unused Floating Leave.
    • May be used for planned absences which other leaves (sick, personal) aren’t appropriate.  You are NOT required to inform your supervisor of the purpose of the request.
    • Must get signed approval in advance to take the leave.
    • The description of this type of leave was changed because the Ed Code has a very specific definition of “Personal Necessity Leave” (see Article 10.10). To comply with the Ed Code and maintain our current leave structure with the extra 40 hours, we needed a new name for it.

Article 10 – Leaves

  • 10.4 – Parental Leave – Amended language to meet changes to the law.  The maximum leave is 12 weeks within a 12-month calendar (new).  If you use sick//vacation leave to keep your full salary while on parental leave, the number of weeks you use is subtracted from the 12-week total that parental leave allows. If you choose, once you’ve used all your accrued sick/vacation leave, any remaining weeks left on your 12-week parental leave will be covered at 50 percent of your salary.
  • 10.10 – Personal Necessity Leave – 7 days per year, drawn from accrued sick leave.
    • For emergency purposes and/or qualified absence under ed code 88207. Supervisor can request a reason for leave.
    • Can be used immediately upon employment.

Article 11 – Layoff

  • 11.1 – Incorporates language for new layoff process found in California Ed Code sections 88014, 88015, 88017, 88117 and 88127, which requires notice by March 15 and allows the affected worker the right to a hearing to determine if there is cause for not reemploying then employee for the ensuing year.
  • 11.3 – Notice and Consultation with Union – To determine if other opportunities are available to affected workers.
  • 11.4 – Notice of Layoff & Procedures – March 15 notice.

Articles Still Under Negotiation
Article 8 – Pay and Allowances

  • 8.4 – Longevity – asked for an increase of $10 per award.  To date, no response from District.
  • 8.7.2 – Weekend Pay – asking for parity with other bargaining units and increase weekend stipend from $75 to $100 per month. To date, no response from District.
  • NEW – Bilingual Pay – asking for parity with other bargaining units and provide $100 per month stipend for workers who are requested to use their bilingual skills, including American Sign Language. To date, no response from District.

Article 9 – Holidays and Vacation

  • 9.2.1 – Full-time Workers – asking for parity with other bargaining units and provide 16 hours vacation accrual per month.  District rejected the proposal but has not provided a counter.

Article 13 – Hours and Overtime

  • 13.2.6 – Remote Work – offered a process to evaluate a position’s suitability for remote work. To date, no response from District.

Article 16 – Disciplinary Action

  • 16.5 – Time Limit – The District wants to align our agreement with Ed Code 88013 (d) which states they can’t initiate any disciplinary action for any cause alleged to have arisen more than two years prior to the worker becoming permanent nor for any cause alleged to have arisen.  For more than a decade our agreement has stated they can’t do this if it is more than one year.  To date, the district has provided no compelling argument to change it.
    • Unlike the change to internal recruitments that says we must have an open process; this law does not prohibit shortening the time limit it just says it can’t be longer than two years.

In Solidarity,

Chris White (she/her) | Archive Coordinator
Foothill-De Anza Archives | 650.949.7721
Hours: Mon – Thur 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Please note, the physical archive is currently closed for renovation. 
Foothill-De Anza Association of Classified Employees (ACE) | Chair of Negotiations

ACE News, Negotiations