Union Urges Faster Contract Negotiations

More than 100 community college teachers were called to action Thursday by union leaders trying to speed up contract negotiations with the district’s board of trustees.

The union’s three year contract expired June 30, and neither side is budging after several negotiations and mediation sessions, union officials said.

Larry Miller, president of Local 1828 of the American Federation of Teachers, and chief negotiator Elton Hall drove to Oxnard, Ventura and Moorpark colleges to ask teachers’ support in getting three main tasks accomplished.

Teachers were asked to “work to rule” on the first day of class. That means they should honor their contractual obligations and do no more.

Teachers were encouraged to give Ventura County Community College Chancellor Philip Westin a vote of no confidence in two weeks.

The district’s 1,000 teachers were invited to a “Monster Rally” on Sept. 9, designed to warn the board of trustees--on the night of its monthly meeting--that the union is prepared to strike, Miller said.

Westin was on vacation Thursday but has previously said he is under direction from the board not to comment on contract negotiations.

Trustee Allan Jacobs said it is “unfortunate that the union is taking this hardball approach,” adding that it has made a “strong and expensive proposal.”

Among other demands, the union is asking for a 36% annual increase in salary and benefits, a 205 reductions in workload, and health insurance benefits and pro rata pay for part-timers.

The district’s negotiations lawyer, Richard Currier, said the critical elements of the district’s proposal include the “right of assignment,” which means that the district can transfer teachers to other campuses; having supervisors, not peers, evaluate faculty; capping care health benefits, and doing away with “load banking,” where teachers can teach enough classes one semester that they can take the next one off.

The American Federation of Teachers represents 88% of the college district’s full-time teachers and 595 of the part-time instructors. There are about 1,000 full-time and part-timeteachers in the district.