Cerritos College Petition to Take Math Again

Cerritos College faculty to rally April twenty before Board of Trustees meeting equally negotiations reach impasse

Cerritos College currently has a 36% unrestricted reserve — $41.8 million — final year; $36 meg more than is required by the California Community Colleges Chancellor'south Office.

Norwalk, CA — April fourteen, 2022 —  Later more than fifteen months at the bargaining tabular array, negotiations between the Cerritos College Kinesthesia Clan and Cerritos College administration take reached an impasse. Fed up with the slow pace of negotiations, and upset over the college district's low salary offering despite growing reserves, faculty are planning a spirited rally at the college district headquarters on April 20.

CCFF spousal relationship President, Dr. Lynn Wang is hopeful the rally volition convince the Cerritos College administration to settle a contract that recognizes the contributions of all kinesthesia to the success of the students and the higher.

"Cerritos College kinesthesia have been there time and again for our students both earlier and during the pandemic," said Dr. Wang. "Only instead of investing in the faculty, the higher assistants has instead taken a hardball arroyo at the bargaining table."

On March 15, 2022, the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) officially alleged that negotiations with the District and CCFF were at impasse. Impasse was declared after more than than fifteen (15) months of negotiations, with the union having exchanged over sixty (60) proposals with the District over almost 25 unlike bargaining sessions.

Cerritos College faculty have been working without a contract for a year, and have non seen pay increases since the ratification of their previous contract in 2019. While faculty have not seen changes in their pay, the college has watched their unspent reserves increase. Cerritos College currently has a 36% unrestricted reserve — $41.8 one thousand thousand — last yr; $36 million more than is required by the California Community Colleges Chancellor'due south Office.

In October 2021, the District offered its only economic proposal, and later on futile sessions at the tabular array, they now insist their offering is their last, best and final offer; and that CCFF and the District were only "too far apart" to engage in meaningful negotiations.

Offshoot professor Anthony Gonzalez, who teaches math, shared during public comments at the March 9th trustee meeting, "I experience very strongly nigh the working conditions of faculty members like myself, and in item our pay. Faculty deserve more than than a cost of living increase. Our campus' low pay for adjuncts requires working on ii, or 3, or more than colleges, only to be able to afford decent housing in lower cost areas far from campus. Many of my colleagues take experienced significant health issues from this workload."

The frustration is felt across all faculty, from adjunct faculty to retired full time faculty who have returned to Cerritos to continue sharing their love of teaching. A retired professor from Liberal Arts and onetime Chair of Chicano Studies, Professor Carlos Arce, stated, "Information technology is my great honor to continue to serve students as a Chicano Studies part fourth dimension instructor and to connect to their community as I take for my 28 years every bit a full time kinesthesia at Cerritos. I am getting amend and more knowledgeable with the ever advancing technology to assistance my students amend, and that requires hours of extra time to prepare elaborate lessons. The District should recognize the outstanding work of the kinesthesia, even more than during this unfortunate time. If California recognizes the need to ameliorate COLA to employees, the district should promptly pass COLA to all!"

A full-time kinesthesia member in the Music department, Dr. Anna DeMichele, besides shares the touch  the lack of recognition by the college is having: "The faculty, both full and offshoot, are the essential workers of Cerritos College. Our resilience, enormous amounts of extra time, and effort to go on students engaged and successful should be recognized by the district. Small stipends each semester have been welcomed, just a long-term solution should exist implemented. Undoubtedly, you have all seen how inflation has accelerated recently, so it is not only off-white that price of living increases should be implemented but it is necessary to proceed upward with rising costs. This is not an unreasonable asking."

Details well-nigh the rally:

What: Faculty rally before the Cerritos College Board of Trustees meeting
Who: Dozens of Cerritos College faculty, classified staff, students and community members

When: Wednesday, April 20th at five:00 p.g.- eight:00 p.m.
Where: Cerritos College (Parking Lot 5, Corner of Alondra Blvd. and Studebaker Ave., Cerritos, CA) and from 7:00 p.m. and on- Administrative Edifice, Board Room

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Source: https://www.loscerritosnews.net/2022/04/14/cerritos-college-faculty-to-rally-april-20-before-board-of-trustees-meeting-as-negotiations-reach-impasse/

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