Chaparral 2017-2018: 26.1 CSEA Connection

CSEA Connection

Putting Union Power to Work

by Saodat Aziskhanova
CSEA President

The annual CSEA (Classified School Employees Association) conference is the most important member event of the year and was held last month in Las Vegas. Our delegates to the CSEA’s 91st conference were Seboo Aghajani, Andrineh Dilanchian, Nonah Maffit and myself. Delegates were there representing chapters from all over California, and nearly 2000 people including visitors, delegates and CSEA staff attended the conference.

The guest speakers at the conference were President of CalPERS Rob Feckner and Dr. David Miyashiro, Superintendent of the Cajon Valley School District. We attended a community colleges forum and had an opportunity to get an update from the California Community Colleges Board of Governors member Danny Hawkins from San Jose –Evergreen Community College District. Some other educational workshops and seminars were offered during Education Days for conference delegates.

The delegates adopted a revision to the Association’s dues structure. This revision addresses the inequity of the previous dues structure.

Effective October 1, 2017

• The per capita dues of the State Association will be assessed at the rate of 1.5% of the first $3,150 of monthly gross salary (exclusive of overtime but including longevity, professional growth, and anniversary increments).
• The maximum monthly assessment will be $47.25; the maximum annual assessment will be $472.50.

Delegates also voted for the Association Officers, and Ben Valdepena was elected as the CSEA President for a two-year term.

Elections started on September 1st for the CalPERS Board and will end October 2nd. That means you still have time to vote! This year you can vote by mail, phone or online. We have to protect our retirement, so please don’t underestimate the importance of voting (Didn’t we all learn the hard way back in November 2016?). CSEA endorsed two candidates for the CalPERS Board: Michael Bilbrey, past CSEA President, incumbent, and classified employee at Citrus College who has advocated on our behalf for many years; and David Miller, a biochemist whose record has proven that he will be accountable to CalPERS members and not to politicians and anti-worker groups.

Our reopeners for this year’s negotiations are based on the survey results and trying to clarify language in Collective Bargaining Agreement. Our reopeners are Wages, Contracting Out and Professional Growth articles. The District reopeners are Recognition and Hours of Employment articles.

The classification study started in August with interviews of classified employees, and interviews will be completed in September by the Ewing Company. After all of the interviews, analysis, and job description comparisons to other community colleges (a list of colleges mutually agreed between CSEA and the District provided to Ewing), the company will report on their findings and recommendations.

Finally, this is an election year for our Chapter Executive Board. We will start taking nominations in our October and November Chapter meetings, and secret ballot voting will be held in December. The newly elected Executive Board will start their duties in January 2018.

In Unity,

Saodat Aziskhanova
President, Chapter 76, CSEA

Visit us on the web: www.glendale.edu/csea