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Members Home / Ask The President / The President Responds / Archived Questions
The President Responds - Questions posted prior to 11-06-09
Andrea Zingerman from San Jose asks:
Dear Andrea:
First, thank you for your question and for being the very first APC member to use this new feature. The quick and simple answer to your question is, "Yes" there is language in our contract that mentions the option you asking about:
See also, Employee Options in Lieu of Layoff, 33.22-25 (pg. 98)
There are other very important sections in Article 33 that speak specifically to Temporary and Probationary (33.7) and Permanent (33.8-9) employees. It is extremely important for everyone in Unit 4 to be sure about her/his employment status should layoffs in our unit become necessary. Other important sections in the contract that employees should know are those concerning Order of Layoff (33.6, pg. 95), and Employee Notice of Layoff (33.19-21, pgs. 97-98).
While APC has not received layoff notice specific to any individual employee or campus, we are in receipt of a letter from the CSU regarding Article 33. Please let me reiterate, APC has not received layoff notice specific to any individual Unit 4 employee or campus. The CSU letter I am referring to will be posted, along with APC's response, on our web site next week. From my personal point of view, whether or not layoff notices will be issued to Unit 4 is not a question that employees or campus chapters should be asking themselves. The question we should be asking ourselves as individual employees and members of a campus bargaining unit is, "What are we willing to do as individuals and campus units if/when layoff notices are issued?"
Jose Preciado from San Diego asks:
Our current salary range is a remnant of the 1990s. I know that none of us are going to get raises, but it would be good to seek concessions for the future. Also, many campuses have the flexibility to support their employees with campus-funded programs such as in-range progression... but we are stumped by the current cap on the salary range for SSP IV's.
I hope you can share with me how I can start such a process here at SDSU that might lead to having it considered as part of our openers next year.
Dear Jose:
As you may know, our 2008 contract extension expires on June 30, 2010. What you might not know is that in October of 2008 the APC Statewide Council formed a Bargaining Committee, chaired by APC Secretary-Treasurer Christine McCarthy, to begin preparing for the eventuality of contract negotiations and bargaining. What might also come as news to you is that just prior to APC's October Statewide Council meeting the CSU sent APC a letter inquiring about the possibility of again engaging in "interest based" bargaining, which was used to produce our 2008-2010 contract extension (the CSU's letter and APC's response will be posted on APC's web page next week). I am very pleased to report that the Statewide Council voted to accept the CSU's offer to engage in interest based bargaining, and I applaud the Council for its wisdom and foresight in agreeing to the interest based bargaining approach. In a time of historic financial crisis, I don't believe the membership of APC and Unit 4 would be well served by engaging in traditional, competitive contract negotiations and bargaining. A Bargaining Team, also chaired by Christine McCarthy, was assembled at October's Council meeting to work with the CSU in a bargaining approach that "is less formal and more collaborative...than the traditional bargaining" that APC and the CSU previously engaged in.
So what does all of the above have to do with your question? To begin with, the Bargaining Committee recently sent bargaining issue surveys to campus leadership for dissemination among all Unit 4 employees. These surveys are intended to get a general sense from all Unit 4 employees about which areas of our contract are the most important to the membership. If you haven't received a survey contact your campus leadership and I'm sure one of you campus stewards will be happy to provide you with one. Beyond that you can always email your comments and suggestions to Christine, I'm sure she will be happy to add your thoughts and comments to the information she is collecting with the surveys.
Kristen Andregg from Sacramento asks:
Dear Kristen:
In a manner of speaking, APC is attempting to create something akin to a listserv right now. Recently APC sent out letters and emails requesting that members register their email addresses with the Statewide Office. Once we have complete and accurate email addresses from everyone in APC and Unit 4 we are hoping to set up web-based "forums" that will allow for the type of communications that you have set up with liberal studies programs across the state. We will begin by setting up forums specific to individual campuses, but I think expanding the forums for such statewide groups as liberal studies, financial aid, EOP, student recruitment, evaluations, etc. would probably be a very good idea, too. Your continued interest and participation in developing these forms of communication will be both indispensable and welcome.
Gail Wootan from Humboldt asks:
Dear Gail:
The APC Statewide Office continues to work with the State Controller's Office (SCO) to develop a procedure for the processing and reimbursement of APC membership dues that were overcharged in August. We had hoped that with October paychecks at the very latest, but problems with the SCO's computer system and new, recently installed software has delayed the reimbursements a good deal longer than we had hoped. At this writing we hope and expect that all APC members who have not yet been reimbursed will get their reimbursement in their November paychecks.
Questions posted prior to 12/4/09
Questions posted prior to 12/21/09