College District Trustees Reject Negotiator’s Contract Settlement Plan

Ventura County community college administrators Tuesday formally rejected an independent negotiator’s contract settlement proposal that included giving teachers a 5.7% raise.

Trustees voted 4 to 1 , with trustee John Tallman dissenting, to set new working conditions that would remain in place until a contract is settled. Board members discussed the matter for more than two hours in closed session.

“We haven’t taken this [vote] in any flippant way. We’ve given it full diligence,” said board President Norman Nagel. “This is not the end of negotiations; this is the beginning.”

Although it would have meant relinquishing major employee rights, faculty members had requested that the college district accept the recommended settlement and end the bitter, yearlong dispute.

At the meeting, more than a dozen faculty members waved placards saying “Support the Report” and implored trustees to reconsider their rejection of the settlement.

“I call on the board of trustees to not prolong this labor dispute. To not reject the fact finder’s report. And not impose work rules on the faculty. But rather do the right thing and accept the report so we can get on with the education of our students,” said Harry Korn, who has taught art history at Ventura College for 27 years.

Larry Miller, the teachers’ chief negotiator, said the district’s decision to drag out negotiations was part of a strategy to break the union.

“You never intended to negotiate in good faith. And that is as clear as rotting fecal material. Trustees that hate faculty should never be on school boards,” Miller told the panel at its Tuesday meeting.

The new working rules, to take effect July 1, reflect the district’s latest counterproposal, an administrator said.

Some of those proposals include eliminating guaranteed work for part-time employees, allowing administrators to visit classrooms at will to perform evaluations and giving district officials, rather than faculty members, the power to select department heads.

Faculty members had been willing to relinquish those rights if district officials had agreed to the raise.

In his report, the independent fact finder had supported district officials in those key sticking points as long as they agreed to the raise.

But district officials not only disagreed with the report’s findings, they criticized the fact finder, Richard Anthony, saying he did not provide an analysis of the issues.

The district’s chief negotiator, Richard Currier, said Anthony wrote the report in haste trying to meet a deadline. Teachers pointed out that it was district officials who refused to extend the 30-day deadline.

Teachers say they now want to focus on launching a campaign to oust Nagel and Pete Tafoya, the two trustees up for reelection in November.

Local union members plan to meet with American Federation of Teachers’ officials May 26 to map out a strategy, Miller said. Then teachers will discuss the possibility of taking a strike vote. The vote would have to be held this summer if teachers are to strike in the fall, he said.