Negotiations Update Shirley Davis

Wish we could report that negotiations have produced a final draft of the contract for membership approval. Unfortunately, the issue of appropriate salary increases and the second year cost of step increases for the reclassifications have bogged down negotiations.
As you already know, the SEIU negotiation team has communicated to the District Management team that the cost of step increases as a result of the reclassification study ARE NOT a part of COLA. The cost of step increases for the reclassifications is a fulfillment of the initial intention to bring classified employees to a current marketable salary level.
We met with a mediator from California State Mediation Services who presented a proposal that both teams approved. However, the Board of Trustees did not approve the proposal.
Since then, we have been contacted by the District management team scheduling a meeting for January 23rd, with a strong indication that the contract will be completed and approved. We hope the District's proposal will be realistic and fair.
The SEIU negotiation team has worked diligently to produce a fair and equitable agreement. We await a fair and equitable offer from the Board of Trustees.
We invite you to attend the January 30th general membership meetings. If the next negotiations meeting produces a final proposal, you will be given the opportunity to discuss it and vote for or against ratification. If not, we will provide more details of the negotiation process and get some suggestions from you. WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE and continued support.

As reported on e-mail, the election of officers for which ballots were distributed in December was challenged by members Bill Lambert and Virginia Hotz-Steenhoven, who had earlier urged that we not vote to approve the results of the Classification Study. This challenge was based on the fact that the present (one could hardly call them "current") bylaws call for elections in June or, at most extreme, in September.
The Elections Oversight Committee of Local 707 upheld their challenge on the basis of a strict reading of the present bylaws; ballots cast in December are being held at the Local 707 offices. Where does that leave us? John Mercer is willing to continue to serve as president rather than create a leadership crisis; Jessica Galvin has not been able to serve as vice president since culmination of the last negotiations; Roz Ringle advised that she could not serve as secretary in June 2001 as a result of RSI. The elected negotiations team has served valiantly; the Classified Advisory Council has continued to meet and consult with the negotiations team to bring about a successful agreement with the District. Nobody is getting rich or becoming powerful with this arrangement.
The present bylaws require that we hold elections in June. It is obvious that the repeated calls to the unit to review the present and proposed bylaws, published on the SEIU web page:

Present bylaws:   http://www.santarosa.edu/seiu/c_bylaws.htm
Proposed bylaws:   http://www.santarosa.edu/seiu/p_bylaws.htm

have been insufficient to resolve this problem. An urgent need to revise the bylaws has arisen because of the elections challenge. Please submit suggestions for revision of all or any part to Shirley Davis (Multicurricular Lab) or Wende Wahl (CalWorks) or on the College e-mail system. We must post revised bylaws for the membership 30 days before vote at a general membership meeting.

In early December a group of concerned SEIU members made the difficult decision to challenge our recent election. Our intent was not to disrupt the process, but to effect productive change. We initially addressed the challenge to our Classified Advisory Council, but receiving no productive response we then turned to the SEIU Local 707 and the Elections Review Committee. They ruled on January 7th that the election did not adhere to our by-laws. Holding elections in December was clearly not in keeping with the by-laws.

According to the current by-laws Officers of the Classified Advisory Council are elected by chapter members by majority vote in June. Paraphrased, section 3.4.2.1 allows that if a June election is detrimental to the continuity of negotiations officers terms may be extended and the election postponed until September. Furthermore, section 3.4.2.3 clearly states:
3.4.2.3. Should negotiations warrant further delay, the elections will be held the following June.

We believe that holding the elections when they should be, in June of 2002, will allow for a broader field of candidates with a variety of views to run for office in our SEIU unit. Our challenge is a form of active involvement in our Union. Involvement is a critical issue that we must address. While we depend on our negotiating team and elected officers to work on the big issues it is important that we all work in less visible areas such as increasing membership and revising our outdated By-laws to reflect how we should operate. Involvement can take a variety of forms, joining and casting your vote; running for office; sitting on committees; disagreeing in a productive manner, challenging the status quo. Unions are, after all, supposed to be the most democratic of institutions.
Out of approximately 460 current classified employees (current membership rolls as of 1/16/01 may not reflect recently received memberships) only 284 or 62% are dues paying members. The other 176 classified employees or 38% are Service Fee Payers. We intend to immediately focus our efforts on encouraging both full-time and part-time service fee payers to join SEIU and become voting members. We also hope to involve more of the current members in committees and strongly encourage each member to vote according to their beliefs. This will not only strengthen our unit's bargaining power, but will also energize our unit with fresh new faces and ideas.
We intend to develop and implement an active outreach program to involve all classified staff. We want to hear peoples' ideas, concerns, hopes and dreams. We will start this process with a written survey directed to all classified staff.
We have requested copies of other SEIU unit by-laws from our local SEIU office to further assist in updating our unit's by-laws. A considerable amount of work on by-law revision has already been done by Ann Samson, Millie Tripp, our recently retired long term steward, and Carol Wolfe. We have reviewed the current proposed by-laws and feel that further revision is required.
We are confident that these efforts will strengthen our unit and enable us to more effectively represent the interests of all classified staff.

The response Bill and Virginia received from the CAC was that there is a procedure to challenge elections, and that procedure is to appeal to the Local 707 Elections Oversight Committee. We certainly consider this a "productive response."
We do not know the source of the figures for the quoted ratio of classified employees to members. Of the classified positions, approximately 45 are vacant. This vacancy figure must be taken into account in determining the membership percentage. Nevertheless, our unit has long needed an aggressive recruitment system, and Bill's and Virginia's efforts will be valuable to the unit.
The present bylaws require coordination by the field representative [formerly known as "Business Agent"] (Steve O'Keefe) and the Communications Officer before any SEIU communications go out to unit members.

3.2.3.2: During contract negotiations, a subcommittee will be selected or appointed by the CAC President to work in conjunction with the Communications Officer and the Business Agent to develop format, timing and content of information to the general membership.
Plans to distribute surveys and polls need to be coordinated as specified in the above bylaws article.

For the first time in 10 years, we have the full complement of stewards, trained and ready to represent members in interpreting and applying our contract. One of us checks the voicemail at the Stewards' Shop (522-2758) every day and can alert one or more stewards to respond to your call at any time. Private, secure facilities are available to meet and to keep records. Stewards are committed to confidentiality in handling your concerns.
We all have "day jobs" we have to work into this schedule, so it's best if you try to reach us through the Stewards' Shop extension, but here are our personal lines:

Zoe Forbes   x 4767     Ann Sebastian   x 9690

Bob Peterson   x 2654     Esther Soto   x 4930

Ann Samson  x 4601     Virginia Zola  x 2142

I have been an employee here at SRJC since 1990. I never wanted to join the Union because SEIU is part of the AFL-CIO, whose politics and mine seldom agree. Because of this, I never wanted to give them any of my money - it would just serve to work against what I believe is right. (In fact, I financially support the Right To Work Foundation, which opposes the Big Unions.) I know that some of you feel the same way because I have talked with you about that. However, although my feelings for the AFL-CIO have not changed, I am deciding to put that aside for what I feel at this time is the right thing for me to do. It has come down to the following decision for me: Do I want to be numbered with those who complain but won't help for whatever reason or do I want to be one of the (very) few who are willing to put out for the good of the many? Do I want to just come to the Union meetings when I have something to whine about or do I want to be a steward, a member, an officer, a contributor? I have great respect for those who have consistently given their time and effort to improve our working conditions and relationships and I want to help, too. One last thing- my disagreements with the AFL-CIO do not mean that I think SEIU and their representatives, Steve O'Keefe and Michael Allen, have done anything that I would oppose. I have watched what they have done and I have absolutely no complaints with them and I want to make sure that is clear. I think they are doing a great job.
So...if any of you see yourself in what I have said, how about it? Isn't it time to step up and give the "regulars", the ones who have been carrying the ball, a little help? That's what I am going to do and I challenge you to do the same.

Classified staff will soon be receiving the District Health Insurance Survey. Please fill this survey out and return it as soon as possible to have your opinion counted.

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