The full-time faculty of Yuba Community College District have been working without a contract since July 1, 2022. FAYCCD is no closer to finalizing a contract than we were when we started this negotiations process in early 2022, more than two years ago. Thus, FAYCCD encourages all YCCD faculty to engage in work-to-rule procedures until a new 2022-2025 contract is ratified between YCCD and FAYCCD.
The District Refuses to Negotiate
The District has made it clear verbally and in writing that it does not view full-time faculty as a fiscal priority. On September 7, 2022, the District sent FAYCCD a letter titled Reiteration of the District’s Student-Centered Approach to Negotiations. 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, such as raises for administrators.
Additionally, the District sent FAYCCD a letter on August 2, 2022 titled Right of First Refusal, which states that the District had unilaterally eliminated the long-held right of faculty to continue teaching classes they have taught in the past. Rather than negotiate long-held rights that have been enshrined in our contract for decades, the District opted to take an aggressive and illegal approach to stripping our contract of these long-held rights that under PERB regulations are mandatory subjects of bargaining. FAYCCD challenged the District’s illegal actions in court and won a decisive victory.
On July 22, 2024, the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) Administrative Law Judge ruled in favor of FAYCCD, ruling that the District had behaved unlawfully by unilaterally and aggressively trying to terminate our long-held Right of First Refusal. As of August 2024, the District has remained silent as to whether they will attempt to appeal the decision and drag our negotiations out possibly another year as opposed to coming back to the table and negotiating with us in good faith.
In light of the prolonged and contentious negotiations, the FAYCCD Executive Council has officially endorsed a work-to-rule policy for all YCCD full-time faculty, to begin on the first day of the Fall 2024 semester: August 12, 2024.
Work-to-Rule Demonstrates That Faculty Matter
Work-to-rule is a lawful job action where employees do exactly what is stated in the written rules, procedures, and the contract—nothing more, no free labor—to help demonstrate the value of their contributions and the necessity for fair compensation. This is an appropriate and effective strategy in those cases where employers provide unfair and unreasonable compensation offers. Through work-to-rule, we demonstrate to management just how important our work is, and how much overwork we do—including the work before our day even begins. Work-to-rule is not a refusal to perform labor that we agreed to do in our contract; it is a refusal to do anything more than that. Work-to-rule is legal and protected because we’re following the rules.
Work You Should Continue to Perform
All full-time faculty are encouraged to perform only the work you have agreed to perform under your job description and our expired contract. This means you should continue to perform your teaching and non-teaching regular duties, regularly scheduled office hours, and the required professional responsibilities outlined under Article 7.1.5 of our expired contract. Examples of professional responsibilities you should continue to perform include curriculum development, program review, and SLO assessment. Professional responsibilities shall take approximately five hours per week, on average. Any work done for Flex credit should continue as normal.
Voluntary Assignments Should Not Be Performed
Under work-to-rule, faculty are encouraged to refrain from performing voluntary assignments that extend beyond five hours per week of professional responsibilities, such as the following:
- Working and writing on accreditation teams
- Part-time faculty evaluations
- Attending and participating in department and division meetings
- Non-Flex committee service
- Student club advising
- Advisory committees
- Recruitment for positions and programs
- Hiring committees
- Community outreach and campus events
Why Work-to-Rule Now?
We have two choices. We can take actions that force the District to abandon its excessive and corrosive austerity during this time of record inflation; or we can accept an offer that results in a loss of real wages and which still remains far below COLA. This fight cannot be finished at the bargaining table alone.
If you have additional questions or thoughts, please contact FAYCCD President Travis Smith (tsmith@yccd.edu), FAYCCD Vice President for WCC Kevin Ferns (kferns@yccd.edu), FAYCCD Vice President for YC Lisa Jensen-Martin (ljensen@yccd.edu), or your FAYCCD area representative.
The Faculty Association of Yuba Community College District 