Executive Board Minutes

UNAPPROVED Minutes of the AFT2121 Executive Board Meeting of 4/13/10

ATTENDANCE: Ron Bixler, Rosemary Brinson, Allan Fisher, Gus Goldstein, Steve Goldston, Chris Hanzo, Jim McKinney, Alisa Messer, Pablo Rodriguez, Rodger Scott, Kovak Williamson. Guests: Marc Kitchel (Budget Analyst), Jonika Brooks, Nato Green

CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. at the AFT2121 offices.

MINUTES: The minutes of 3/9/10 were approved with minor changes.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT: Gus encouraged everyone to attend the Apr. 17 Political Action training. A demonstration in Sacramento on Apr. 21 is in the planning stage. We will join up with the Central Valley march. Gus noted that we have money left over from the last march and can send almost 200 people to Sacramento by train. Tickets will be available for faculty, students, and anyone wishing to participate as it's important to have a good showing. Peralta and other schools are also organizing for this event. Gus noted that we must discuss the Executive Director's contract.

POLITICAL ACTION REPORT: Pablo Rodriguez noted that the Apr. 17 training is open to everyone. Jim Araby, who will conduct the training and is the Political Field Organizer for CFT, has reviewed the COPE memberships statewide and found the number of members to be alarmingly low; at CCSF about 700 faculty are not union members, and only a small proportion are COPE members. Pablo presented a plan for increasing membership.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Kovak Williamson reviewed a list of the Local's proposed contributions as well as contributions already made.
Motion: We should approve items 1, 2, 4, and 6 and increase the contribution to the Chinese for Affirmative Action to $400. Seconded and passed.
A nine-month budget review will be presented at the next Delegate Assembly.
 
AFT2121 RESOURCE: An internal web-based resource that includes payroll information and a grievance database has been developed.
Motion: We should approve $5,000 for the implementation of AFT2121's internal web-based resource. Seconded and passed.

BUDGET REPORT: Chris Hanzo reported that we have taken a stand against salary step freezes, which the District has hinted at implementing. Marc Kitchel reported that the District claims that the cost of salary steps will be about $5 million, but the Local's figures are closer to $3 million. The cost of health insurance will increase by about $900K next year. We must decide how the increase is distributed. If we don't do anything, faculty will pay two-thirds of the cost and the District one-third. We must negotiate with the District for them to pay a larger share. About 50% of faculty are in Blue Shield, 45% in Kaiser, and 4% in City Plan. The rate increases are: Blue Shield 11%, Kaiser 4%, and City Plan 15%. We must decide how to distribute the money we get from the District among the three plans. The increase for Kaiser is the lowest, and to some extent Kaiser members get a smaller share of the health insurance money under the current proposals. We agreed that Alternative F would mean less of a burden to Kaiser members and be more in keeping with actual Kaiser increases than alternative D. It was pointed out that the dollar differences between D and F are small. It was suggested that we cut Kaiser members’ costs as an incentive for people to join the lower-cost plan.
Motion: We should present to the Delegate Assembly, in a simplified form, the differences in the alternatives for distributing the health insurance money. Seconded and passed.

COALITION FOR HEALTH PLANNING: Warren Mar introduced Jonika Brooks and Nato Green from the Coalition for Health Planning. They reported that plans are under way to open a hospital facility using non-union nurses at the former site of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness. The concern is that  Pacific Medical Center, which now runs St. Luke's in the Mission District, will either close St. Luke's or change it to a completely non-union facility. St. Luke’s serves the Mission with a fully equipped emergency room; the fear is that this facility will be closed and the hospital replaced with an outpatient clinic. The Sutter group, which will run both facilities, is closing safety net services and replacing them with a high-tech/high-profit making care facility serving well-insured patients. We need more accessible and affordable health care in San Francisco. Jonika and Nato presented a CHP resolution on changes that must be made in the plans for the new hospital, which will be presented to the SF Board of Supervisors.
Motion: We should endorse the SF Coalition for Health Planning’s resolution and invite speakers from the SFCHP to the Delegate Assembly as well as circulate postcards to send to the SF Board of Supervisors. Seconded and passed.

OLD BUSINESS: We tabled a discussion on release time.

NEW BUSINESS: We discussed a sample ballot for the AFT2121 elections. We need to hold a special COPE meeting for political endorsements.
Motion: We should approve reimbursement of $925 to Treasurer Williamson for his tuition at the UC Berkeley Labor Center's Dellums African-American Union Leadership course. Seconded. Yes: 7. No: 1. Motion passed.
A workers memorial day in Oakland is being planned. Consensus existed for re-showing the US Labor Against the War video at 2:50 p.m. at the next Delegate Assembly.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 4:24 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve Goldston, Secretary