CFT United
CFT United
CFT United, previously named California Teacher, is the union’s flagship magazine that is emailed to all union members. The award-winning digital magazine contains union news important to members, and covers major issues in each division of the CFT: PreK-12, Classified, Community College, University, and Retired. Browse stories by date here or by index.
CFT United is published regularly during the academic year. We welcome unsolicited articles, letters, and story ideas. Please send letters, submissions, or other inquiries to Publications Director Jane Hundertmark.
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Union works to squelch temporary positions that last for years
CFT-sponsored AB 1066 will close loophole in Education Code
It’s a little after 9 and morning drive time is easing on San Diego freeways. Disc Jockey Gary Beck is in the broadcast booth at jazz station KSDS, doing what he has loved since the 1960s: spinning records.
Beck and afternoon DJ Ron Dhanifu have more than 80 years on-air between them. When KSDS — a nonprofit FM station based at San Diego City College — holds its twice-yearly pledge drives, the two DJs bring in the majority of donations.
Sandra Nichols: Teachers elected to public office can effect social change
Four-time board member has advice for educator candidates
Nichols served three terms on the board of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District while she was a teacher in neighboring Santa Cruz. She moved out of the Pajaro district in 2012 and into Santa Cruz County, where she ran for the County Board of Education in her fourth winning election bid.
Local Wire, Feb-March 2015
Local 1021
LA turns out for education.… Thousands of people jammed Grand Park on February 26 in a rally for “Schools LA Students Deserve.” They wore red to send the message to Los Angeles Unified: Teachers will not stop fighting for high-quality education including culturally relevant classes; smaller class sizes in fully-staffed clean and safe schools with social and emotional support for students; and fair compensation for teachers, counselors, nurses and librarians. Students, parents, and community groups joined United Teachers Los Angeles at the rally.
UC Riverside instructor leads contract bargaining
A lot more than compensation is on the negotiating table
His voice may be a little hoarse and his cold is still hanging on, but Ben Harder is there for the start of bargaining. Harder leads the negotiating team of UC-AFT lecturers. Their contract expires June 30, and the talks started March 3.
Electrical workers unleash organizing stewards for social justice
How does a new PG&E worker like Nilda Garcia become an organizer traveling the nation to fight for social justice? Garcia is one of a group of “organizing stewards” that has ignited passion in her union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1245.
National Adjunct demonstrations sweep the country
Precarious employment issue re-emerges in national spotlight
National Adjunct Walkout Day began at UC Santa Cruz with lecturers lined up behind the large puppet of “Saint Precaria.” They then walked through the wooded campus to the amused response of students.
Catholic school teachers concerned with morality clauses
Archbishop’s controversial proposals provoke national reaction
Faculty at four Bay Area Catholic high schools have expressed objections to non-inclusive statements about marriage, sexuality, and reproduction made by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, and concern over his controversial proposals to designate teachers in the diocesan high schools as “ministers” in the faculty handbook and the collective bargaining agreement.
The joy of teaching: Why we fight to make teaching and learning special
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
Helping young people mature into adults is one of the rewards of being an educator. Unfortunately, the political tug-of-war enveloping public education can distract us from the special relationships that happen in the classroom. I have been reminded recently why I chose to become a teacher in the first place.
Berkeley teachers commit art for justice
Two union campaigns strengthen the bonds of community
In February, Berkeley teachers posted 1,000 “Black Lives Matter” signs in classrooms, hallways, administrative offices and on school grounds to highlight recent court decisions on the police shootings of young black men. They are also distributing “Black Lives Matter” lesson plans and resources to teachers in every grade level at the nearly 20 district sites.
Rank & Files, Feb-March 2015
Kevin Glynn, a social studies and Shakespeare teacher at Los Angeles Senior High School, and member of United Teachers Los Angeles, Local 1021, penned a novel Tyrannosaurus Sex, a comic, coming of age novel set in Los Angeles during the heady days of the sexual revolution, from its genesis in the psychedelic sixties to its apogee in the seventies. The novel, published by Cedar Forge Press, is available online from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the Seattle Book Company.
The union analyzes the governor’s budget proposals for 2015-16
Gov. Brown proposes increasing funding for all divisions of public education in his 2015-16 budget and continues to restore cuts made to education during the Great Recession.
As compared to the current year budget, the governor boosts K-14 education funding by $7.8 billion and foresees $65.7 billion coming in from Proposition 98. He also pays down remaining deferrals for both K-12 and community college districts. The proposed budget includes:
Change the narrative: Choose books and movies that matter
Educators write from the heart and an English movie that will inspire
The Educator And The Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges The Gates Foundation | By Anthony Cody
Point by point, in The Educator and the Oligarch, Anthony Cody takes on the wealthiest man in the world, and his foundation, to defend the teaching profession and public education from corporate education reform.
West Valley-Mission faculty choose AFT/CFT as their union
Independent association affiliates, brings 750 teachers better union representation
Citing disrespect by their district and low pay as motivation, more than 90 percent of faculty at the West Valley-Mission Community College District casting ballots in the November 19 representational election chose to affiliate their previously independent union with AFT/CFT.
Support staff proud of the many hats they wear
Tom Torlakson thanks CFT members for crucial backing
At their annual conference, the Council of Classified Employees celebrated the diverse work of support staff in a dazzling panoply showing the many hats they wear.
CCE Southern Vice President Carl Williams called out classified job titles one after another. Secretary, paraprofessional, groundskeeper, custodian and media technician. Admissions and records technician, safety officer, library technician, accounting coordinator, and bus driver.
University of California fails to solve campus funding inequities
Influx of non-resident tuition income outstrips new rebenching funds
Two years ago, the University of California system changed the way it distributes state funds and tuition revenue to the campuses. In the past, all tuition dollars and state dollars were sent to the Office of the President and redistributed according to unknown formulas.
New law asks staff to perform more medical procedures
School employees “volunteer” to medicate students in danger
Senate Bill 1266, introduced by Republican Senator Bob Huff (Diamond Bar), and signed by Gov. Brown on September 16, requires public schools to stock emergency epinephrine auto injectors, known as EpiPens, on campus. This is an expansion of the law that said schools could stock the devices for students with a severe allergy to make it a mandate that all schools have the device on hand.
French language school staffs choose AFT as their union
Workers at three Bay Area private schools gain a stronger voice in the workplace
When math teacher Cheryl LaBrecque joined the staff of the French American International School in San Francisco in 1999, the preK-12 school was small and “things worked better.” Staff members “had a closer relationship with administration,” she says. Since then, it has become “more corporate, more top-down, more about money.”
Adult educators gain stronger voice for teachers in consortia
Expert panel ramps up educator involvement as two-year planning process nears end
Adult educators have demanded to be included in planning the future of adult education. Led by the CFT Adult Education Commission, members are taking action to make the process as outlined under Assembly Bill 86 more inclusive.
Earlier this year, adult educators stood in line to testify before a Joint Informational Hearing of the Assembly Higher Education and Senate Education Committees.
California districts roll out LCAPs to mixed reviews
Degree of teacher and classified input to local plans varies widely
Ray Gaer sees the Local Control Accountability Plan, or LCAP, as “a different forum for unions to talk about things that matter and an opportunity to build more cooperative relationships. The president of the ABC Federation of Teachers says, “We can talk about how programs are selected and developed and how money is spent before getting to the bargaining table.”
November 4 is our opportunity to elect an ally and defeat a self-appointed reformer
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The CFT’s priorities in the November 4 General Election are straightforward: Reelect Tom Torlakson Superintendent of Public Instruction, elect Betty Yee for State Controller and pass Propositions 45 and 47.
In the remaining weeks before the election, we need all of our members to get involved with their local unions and their central labor councils. We have to approach this election as if the future of public education depends on it, because it does.
Rank & Files, Sep-Oct 2014
Adam Siegel, UC Davis librarian and grievance steward for Local 2023 was awarded a $12,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to translate a contemporary Russian work of fiction into English. Siegel, a translator of numerous languages, will use the grant to translate Vasilii Golovanov’s The Island: or, A Justification for Meaningless Travels.
CalSTRS contribution rates rise to rebuild pension fund
Union’s full court press succeeds
Three bills on fair accreditation signed into law
Community colleges Legislative action has demonstrated that Gov. Brown and the California Legislature believe that the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges was out of line.
Propositions 45 and 47 protect consumers and communities
Proposition 45 With increasing health insurance costs continuing to burden consumers, Prop. 45 is designed to reduce the pace of premium increases. The measure requires insurance companies to justify rate increases prior to passing additional costs on to consumers and gives the insurance commissioner the power to approve rate increases. A similar system of checks and balances in the auto insurance market has saved consumers billions of dollars.
Local Wire, Sep-Oct 2014
LOCAL 1603
Protecting the rehire pool…When administrators at
Oakland’s Laney College chose not to rehire part-time sociology
professor and Peralta Federation of Teachers Part-time Faculty
Representative Cynthia Mahabir, and two other members of the
Part-time Faculty Rehire Preference Pool, the faculty rallied
quickly.