Negotiations Timeline

The Faculty Association of the Yuba Community College District (FAYCCD) and the Yuba Community College District (District) began negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement on March 4, 2022, more than two years ago. Unfortunately, FAYCCD has been without a contract since June 30, 2022. Here is a brief synopsis of what has transpired since negotiations began:

Both FAYCCD and the District “sunshined” (notified each other, the Board of Trustees and the public) which articles they wished to open for bargaining. FAYCCD “sunshined” 12 articles while the District “sunshined” 14 articles.
When establishing ground rules in March of 2022, FAYCCD hoped to get the District to agree to continue to adhere to the 2019-2022 contract in the event it expired before a new contract could be ratified. The District would not agree to this request, but did pledge that the District had no plans to deviate from the practices established in the 2019-2022 contract. However, this is not what happened. For example, the District has dismissed all grievances filed with the District, claiming that the contract has expired and the District is no longer obligated to adhere to the long-standing grievance procedures.
In addition to ignoring the grievance process, the District sent FAYCCD a letter on August 2, 2022 titled Right of First Refusal, which states that the District was unilaterally eliminating the long-held right of first refusal. At this point it became very clear to FAYCCD that the District was taking an uncharacteristically aggressive and even illegal approach to this round of negotiations.
FAYCCD’s legal representation responded to the District’s illegal attempt to eliminate the right of first refusal on August 10, 2022. In this response, FAYCCD informed the District that the right of first refusal was a mandatory subject of bargaining and the District did not have the authority to unilaterally eliminate the right of first refusal. This discrepancy of opinion is now being ruled on by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). We are hoping to receive PERB’s decision soon. It is important to note that the right of first refusal was collectively bargained decades ago and benefits the District and the faculty by establishing a process that rewards seniority, leads to the assignment of classes to the most experienced faculty with the deepest and broadest understanding of the subject matter, establishes a clear process for staffing the schedule, prevents favoritism, and aids in the maintenance of employee morale.
About a month later, the District made it clear in writing that it did not view full-time faculty as a fiscal priority when it sent FAYCCD a letter on September 7, 2022 titled Reiteration of the District’s Student-Centered Approach to Negotiations. This letter states that the District “can no longer ignore the fact that our other employee groups and infrastructure are just as critical to student success [as full-time faculty]” and that “unavoidable budget reallocation decisions [must be made] to address long-standing imbalances in the District’s fiscal and operational priorities.” Those fiscal and operational priorities include administrator and staff salary enhancements and facilities upgrades, not full-time faculty salary increases. In part, this letter was intended to inform FAYCCD that the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) provided to the District by the State to offset increased costs created by historic inflation would not be passed through to full-time faculty and would instead be withheld and spent on the District’s stated priorities. Of course, withholding the State-provided COLA equates to an effectual pay reduction as full-time faculty are left to watch their purchasing power decrease significantly with the steep rise in the cost of living. It is also important to note that the vast majority of districts in California (if not all) have passed COLA onto their teachers, instructors, and professors.
Despite the frustration caused by the District’s attack on our long-held rights and unwillingness to pass along the State-provided COLA, FAYCCD continued to bargain in good faith. However, it became clear that the District had little interest in bargaining, aiming to negotiate concessions from FAYCCD but showing next to no interest in accepting FAYCCD proposed language. As one can imagine, this slowed efforts to reach a new contract, but FAYCCD held that through fair negotiations, there was much that could be resolved at the table.
However, the District believed otherwise and on February 23, 2023 the District filed for impasse with PERB. FAYCCD disagreed that the two sides were at impasse and informed PERB that FAYCCD believed the District should return to the table. PERB agreed with FAYCCD that the parties were not at impasse and directed the District to return to the table.
When both sides resumed negotiations, there seemed to be a new-found enthusiasm to resolve several of the pending articles. As a result, agreement was quickly reached on most of the “sunshined” articles.
However, there are a few important articles that remain unresolved, including articles pertinent to evaluations (Article 6); distance education (Article 10); right of first refusal (Articles 12 and 13); compensation (Article 14); and benefits (Article 16).

In summary, FAYCCD and the District have been negotiating for more than two years and FAYCCD has been without a contract since 2022. The major issues yet to be resolved include compensation and the right of first refusal. Regarding compensation, the State has provided the District with a Cost of Living Adjustment, which is traditionally passed onto employee groups while the remainder is used for increased operational costs. However, the District is taking the position that it does not have the legal obligation to pass a portion of the State-provided COLA onto full-time faculty and is choosing to use those withheld on-going funds to increase the pay of classified staff, enhance administrative salaries, and fund facilities improvements. FAYCCD does not begrudge the District’s decision to allocate resources for other employee groups or spend money on facilities upgrades, but disagrees with the District’s decision to withhold COLA from full-time faculty during this time of historic inflation. To apply ongoing COLA funds to essentially everything except full-time faculty is inequitable, unfair, and deviates from long held practices at YCCD and throughout the State. Furthermore, the District’s decision to unilaterally and illegally eliminate full-time faculty’s long-held right of first refusal continues to be an issue that requires resolution. The hope here is that the District will come to recognize the merits of maintaining this long-held right.