WVMFT Members – Take Note…!

Written by WVMFT

Two weeks ago, on May 5th, many of you showed up to explain to the Board of Trustees just how difficult and time consuming it has been to convert your teaching assignment to fully online. We thought the Trustees were listening and cared. The Chancellor even stated at that very meeting that the District Team stood "at the ready" to come back to the table to negotiate with the union the impact of COVID 19 on our working conditions.

So far since May 5th we have met four times with the District team. Keep in mind that in total, since March 11th, we have met with the District eight times in an effort to resolve issues related to the excessive workload and the stay-in-place order.

The District has offered the flat rate of $500 per faculty member who had to transition to online in Spring 2020. That's right folks.... you heard it, $500! According to the WVMFT COVID survey, over 90% of faculty are working twice to three times more than typical. That means for the approximate increase of 325 hours due to COVID, the District is offering you $1.54/hour.

It's hard to believe that anyone could believe that such an offer would be taken as a token of appreciation. Nothing about this "token" shows that the administration and Trustees appreciate what faculty have done to prop up the District during this once-in-a-century global crisis.  

But there is more.... WVMFT then countered with a data-driven proposal aligned closely with past practices used by the District when compensating employees for additional work. The District did not appreciate seeing their own data showing countless examples of administrators receiving increases between 5% and 15% for periods as long as 28 months to compensate them for "additional duties" such as Banner. The District punished our efforts to engage in interest based bargaining by countering with the same $500 per faculty offer.

Clearly this District does not "get it"!  

Please consider zooming into the Board of Trustees meeting tomorrow evening to speak during Public Comment. The meeting is Tuesday, May 19th, at 7:00 pm. The link to zoom is here: https://zoom.us/j/4087419000

On the second page of the Board's agenda is information on how to speak during Public Comment. Here's the agenda: agenda (Click on Documents|May 19 Agenda) You have until 4pm on May 19th to make a request to speak. If you would like Kate Disney or Karen Chan to submit a request-to-speak form for you, please let us know right away and we would be happy to take care of that for you.

Please consider adding your name to the following statement addressed to all the Trustees: Statement

We plan to read this out during the meeting tomorrow night and send in the statement with all the faculty names who signed this.

Sometimes it takes our Trustees awhile to "get it", so let's help them with some simple math by sending them emails with our personal stories and an explanation of how much per hour $500 computes to.

Thanks to all of you for your input, perseverance, and unity during this crisis. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The WVMFT Executive Board

Karen Chan, Executive Director
Kate Disney, President
Mel Pritchard, Vice President
Jory Segal, Secretary
Yanghee Kim, Treasurer
Jeff Cormier, MC Full-time Faculty Representative
Patricia Louderback, WVC Full-time Faculty Representative
Ellen Yu Costa, WVC Associate Faculty Representative
Nick Barron, MC Associate Faculty Representative
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