HAYLEY LERCH
News Assistant
A compromise has yet to be reached between the Santa Monica College Faculty Association, an independent union that represents full and part-time teachers, and the Santa Monica College District on the issue of wage increases for teachers. The dispute follows the 2005 approval of a 2 percent cost of living adjustment, or COLA, for administration and classified employees, which includes a range of people from the president of Santa Monica College to custodians to office secretaries.
Junior Jesse Dubois, who transferred to Pepperdine from Santa Monica College last fall, attests to the quality of teachers at SMC.
“Well, the faculty is very good. Most of the teachers there teach other places, like UCLA or USC,” Dubois said. “They come to Santa Monica because they can teach more of what they want, and you get a well-rounded education there.”
Faculty received a 2 percent COLA for the 2002-2003 year, but classified employees, who are represented by the California School Employees Association, or CSEA, did not receive an adjustment.
“Unfortunately, about two months after the 2 percent raise was given by the state, then Governor Gray Davis cut the community college budget by 3 percent,” said Thomas Donner, interim president of Santa Monica College. “As you can imagine, it made it impossible for the classified employees to negotiate a 2 percent raise, but the faculty, by contract, still had to get their 2 percent.”
According to Donner, who works in conjunction with the school board, the CSEA has been negotiating with the Santa Monica College district since 2002, when the certified workers did not receive a 2 percent COLA. In August, the district approved a 2 percent COLA for certified workers toward the 2004-2005 school year and a 3.5 percent increase for spring semester of this year.
Because certified workers received a 2 percent increase in 2005, the faculty association is also demanding the same increase.
“We could try to go back in history for the last 3,000 years, but we just like to go back to last year,” said Lantz Simpson, SMC English teacher and president of the Faculty Association. “We just think it’s fair that all employees are treated the same.”
Despite issues with the state budget crisis, the board has agreed to give faculty a 3.5 percent COLA like the one granted certified workers last month, but they have not offered the other 2 percent increase for 2005.
“It’s not like there’s this big pot of reserves,” Donner said. “We’re already in a bad position as far as that goes, but the board is compelled to at least match what we’ve offered the classified workers, which is 3.5 percent.”
According to Simpson, the faculty will continue to demand this 2 percent COLA in addition to the 3.5 percent, and will not accept any offer that does not increase salary for 2005.
“We took a vote as a faculty in November and 94 percent of the faculty said they would turn down any salary offer that was zero for 2005,” Simpson said.
The next step in negotiations will occur when the new president, Chui Tsang, takes office this month. The Faculty Association will have to wait and see how Tsang, who is currently the president of San Jose City College, reacts to the situation.
“The board almost always takes the president’s recommendation on everything” Simpson said.
Most students and faculty at community colleges have been impacted by the state budget crisis. As far as DuBois is concerned, the faculty are the most important members of the SMC campus, but she also recognizes the budget strain.
“At least if the administration got raises, the teachers should too,” Dubois said. “If anything they deserve it more, but of course money is tight in public school.”
02-16-2006