UESF News

UESF Members Ratify Contract with SFUSD Hundreds of Jobs to Be Saved Despite Failure of the State to Adequately Fund Schools On Friday, May 28th, the UESF Elections Committee certified that UESF members have voted to ratify the recent contract agreement with the SFUSD. UESF members voted 1279 to 261 to pass the agreement. The agreement saves hundreds of teacher and paraprofessional jobs. It also improves several areas of the contract that will help us better do our jobs. It was unanimously passed by the SFUSD Board of Education at their meeting on May 25, 2010. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard for this contract agreement. The sacrifices we have made will save jobs and go a long way to help ensure our students continue to receive a quality education, and the services that they need to succeed. The SFUSD plans on sending out rescission notices today to the approximately 155 additional teachers whose jobs have been saved by the agreement. Final word on paraprofessionals is expected some time next week. Moving forward, we will continue to advocate in the SFUSD for the rehire of all of those UESF members who have been laid off. Ratification Vote for UESF Contract Now on May 20-27, 2010 Ballots Due in UESF Office by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 27th Your Vote Can Make A Difference in Saving Hundreds of Jobs PDF OF TENTATIVE AGREEMENT - UESF members are encouraged to download the agreement and review it carefully. On Wednesday, May 19tht a joint session of the UESF Executive Board and Assembly overwhelmingly voted to send the Tentative Agreement reached with the SFUSD to the membership for a ratification vote. Though the agreement is not a perfect one, in these difficult economic times it will save hundreds of certificated and classified jobs should it pass. It also provides several important improvements to our working conditions and to non-economic sections of the contract, while maintaining K-3 class sizes and preserving the step and column increases in the salary schedule. As part of the vote, on May 20th a paper copy of the TA wasl mailed to every active UESF member in good standing. Under separate cover a ballot was also sent. The ballots must be returned to the UESF office (2310 Mason St.) no later than Thursday, May 27th at 5:00 p.m. It is suggested that you place your ballot in the mail no later than Monday, May 24th to ensure delivery. After that day, please consider hand-delivering your ballot to the office. Please make sure to cast your ballot for this important Tentative Agreement so that we can save hundreds of educator jobs. Remember, your vote can make a difference. Tentative Agreement Finalized Between UESF and SFUSD May 17, 2010 On Monday, May 17th the conceptual agreement reached between the UESF Bargaining Team and representatives from the SFUSD was finalized. The agreement comes as the SFUSD is facing a $113 million budget shortfall over the next two school years. That deficit may in fact expand, as the California Teachers Association estimates that the Governor's May Revise budget may trim up the $3 billion more from K-12 education. Recognizing the difficult economic environment facing the SFUSD, the UESF Bargaining Team's goal during negotiations was to preserve as many certificated and classified jobs as possible. To that end, UESF will be successful in reducing the number of layoffs certificated members from 811 notices sent out in March, to 195 finalized layoffs once the agreement is ratified. For classified staff, the original number of notices sent was 101. If ratified, that number will now be reduced to 59. A secondary goal of the UESF Bargaining Team was to improve non-monetary parts of the contract. In recognition of the sacrifices made by UESF members, the Bargaining Team was successful in getting the SFUSD to commit to: • 60 minutes of duty-free prep time for elementary school teachers per week. • Improvements to the consolidation rights of teachers. • A clearer definition of extended hours. • A commitment to study second-degree bereavement leave for paraprofessionals. • 15 days of child bonding leave for men and women, whose spouses/partners have a newborn baby (certificated). • Tuition help for SPED teachers who are required to earn additional authorizations in SPED. • Clarification that teachers do not evaluate paraprofessionals. • Improved language on paraprofessional work schedules. Steps to Ratifying the Tentative Agreement The agreement will now go to a joint session of the UESF Executive Board and Assembly on May 19th for recommendation to the membership. Once that meeting is held, a vote by mail ballot will be held immediately. As part of the vote, a paper copy of the TA will be mailed to every active UESF member in good standing. Under separate cover a ballot will arrive in the mail. It is expected that ballots will be sent out Thursday, May 20th, to be returned to the UESF office no later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 27th. UESF Membership Meeting May 20th UESF will hold a membership meeting in the auditorium of Lincoln High School on May 20th, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the Tentative Agreement on the UESF contract, which is expected to be finalized by Monday, May 17th. As soon as the agreement is finalized, it will be posted on the UESF website and emailed out to UESF members. Lincoln High School is located at 2162 24th Ave. Agreement in concept reached with district Statement from UESF President Dennis Kelly - May 12, 2010 On Tuesday, May 11th UESF was able to reach an agreement in concept on a new contract with the San Francisco Unified School District. The specific language on many of the proposals still needs to be worked out. However, the UESF Bargaining Team believes we have come a long way, in light of the current economic conditions, toward achieving our overall goals of preserving classroom instruction and vital support services for students. The agreement, if made final, will reduce the number of certificated layoffs from more than 800 to less than 200 and the number of paraprofessional layoffs to less than 60. It will also preserve the jobs of core substitutes, and secure important non-economic items that help us to continue to deliver a quality education to our students. The UESF Bargaining Team will meet on Monday (May 17th) to consider the Tentative Agreement. In the coming days, we will also share the full details of this agreement with the membership via email and on the UESF website. We have a General Membership meeting scheduled for May 20th in the auditorium of Lincoln High School, starting at 4:30 p.m. It is our hope that the meeting will be a chance to review the agreement and to answer any questions. Once it is officially agreed to by the district and the UESF bargaining teams, UESF members must vote on the Tentative Agreement. The vote will be conducted by mail. If all goes well, the membership vote should conclude by the end of the month, with ballots due in the union office by May 28th. Please note that on Tuesday night, the Board of Education approved the layoff of 350 certificated staff. The resolution on which they voted was put together before the preliminary agreement between UESF and the district. Therefore upwards of 150+ certificated members who will receive a notice should get their layoff rescinded when the contract is ratified. I do not believe we would have been able to reach an agreement had it not been for the efforts of our members. I want to thank all of you who came to rallies, wrote letters, sent emails, made phone calls and volunteered your time in support of these negotiations. At the end of the day, it was our solidarity that gave us the power to achieve this agreement. I also want to thank all of the members of the bargaining team who gave up many days and nights in often contentious bargaining sessions to make this happen. We must now turn our efforts back towards Sacramento, and continue to demand that our schools get the full funding that they deserve. Thank you for your support. In Unity, Dennis Kelly UESF President Return to UESF home page

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