See update message below from the ACE Negotiations Team:
Hello ACE Members,
On Friday, April 11th, ACE sent our “sunshine” letter to the district to notify them of our intent to open Articles 9 – Holidays and Vacations, and Article 14 – Worker Expenses and Materials, for the 2025-26 bargaining cycle. As a reminder, Article 8 – Pay and Allowances, and Article 18 – Benefits, are automatically opened and are collectively bargained in joint sessions with the other FHDA bargaining units. Our focus in opening articles 9 and 14 along with 8 and 18, include but are not limited to:
1. Gaining parity with other bargaining units and districts in terms of vacation accrual.
2. Increasing or eliminating altogether the $1,600 cap on travel and conference funds
3. Keeping our employee contribution for benefits as low as possible.
We decided to open these articles based on the results of our negotiations survey as 64% of respondents expressed interest in opening Article 9 – Holidays and Vacation along with the knowledge that our district will soon hit the “revenue plateau” in the next fiscal year, meaning that our revenue from the state will not increase until our enrollments increases by a significant margin.
This is not news to us as the district has been very transparent about this fact and has expressed concerns about what this means for the long-term financial health of the district as costs will continue to go up while our revenue will remain flat for the foreseeable future. Another consequence is that our district will not be eligible for any Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), even if it is included in the approved state budget. As such, we must look to maximize the available means of compensation outside of COLA that is already included in our contract. It is clear you, our membership, knows this as well as we received many comments throughout each section of the survey expressing this same concern.
Last week, the district informed us that along with Articles 8 and 18, they intend to open Article 13: Hours and Overtime – as they stated: “District’s interest is to meet student demand for services and classes in a manner consistent with the law and the Faculty Association agreement.” I expect the district’s interest in this area is to have each campus and their services available during nights and weekends. Both Sunshine letters are attached and were included in the Board of Trustees meeting agenda last night.
We will begin the bargaining process with the district soon, and will keep you updated on any developments. I am hopeful that with an almost entirely new leadership team in our district, our bargaining process will proceed in a timely and efficient manner founded in transparency and mutual respect.
On behalf of the Negotiations Team, thank you to those who took the time to complete our survey and we look forward to advocating for all ACE members at the bargaining table.
ACE Negotiations Team
@Chris Chavez, Foothill
@Andrea Santa Cruz, De Anza
@Keri Kirkpatrick, De Anza
@Ben Judd, Central Services
@Alex Collins, Foothill
@Satinder Kaur, De Anza
@Scott Olsen, Central Services
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Questions? Contact a member of the ACE negotiations team directly and/or attend an upcoming site meeting.
In Service,
Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:30am-5:00pm
ACE-Sunshine-Letter-2025.pdf
Districts-Interest-Stmts-ACE-2025-26-Reopeners.pdf