Keeping the card Union protests loss of its Health Reimbursement Agreement

Faculty and staff district wide find themselves in a battle with the Board of Trustees over benefits set to end in January.

The union made an arrangement with the Board of Trustees to save the district money in 2008, according to American Federation of Teachers Chapter President Fernando Oleas. In exchange for switching insurance providers to CalPERS and moving from 90/10 to an 80/20 pay scale, the union received a Health Reimbursement Agreement of $1,500 per year for each member. With this HRA they could pay for any expense that was not covered by insurance.

History instructor and AFT chapter grievance officer Brian Walsh remembers when the agreement was first made.

“When we saw the cliff ahead of us, as a union we really fell on our sword,” Walsh said. “We did this on the basis that this was a temporary accommodation. We did this so people wouldn’t get laid off, so too many classes wouldn’t get cut. We were thinking about education. Not just our jobs, but our students.”

According to Oleas, the HRA was set to end due to the Affordable Healthcare Act, the district would begin incurring an additional tax from the HRA, known as the Cadillac tax.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Cadillac tax is a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans provided by employers. The tax plan was at the center of the Affordable Healthcare Act.

The Cadillac tax is now not set to come into effect on the account until 2020. Because of this change, Oleas says the union members deserve the HRA extended.

“We put up a proposal on their table on May 11, 2016,” Oleas said. “Usually when you reopen they have to respond. The team has to come to the table, look at the proposal we have and come back with a decision. They didn’t. That in itself is disrespectful to the faculty, and faculty can not properly plan.”

The board saw the proposal but, according to Los Angeles Community College District Vice Chancellor Human Resources Albert Roman, they didn't send a response for months.

“The board had limited discussions,” Roman said. “Part of the challenge was our inability to be able to get time in closed sessions to be able to discuss the proposal and be able to respond to it. However there was an acknowledgement verbally to the union that we had received their proposal.”

“We did this so people wouldn’t get laid o , so too many classes wouldn’t get cut. We were thinking about education. Not just our jobs, but our students.”

The tensions came to a head at the Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 5 at Pierce College. Union members filled the Great Hall in a show of solidarity, taking the opportunity to address the board members and share their personal stories.

“There is a human element right here,” Oleas said. “And I guess because of political expedience the

Day of Politics schedule

October a.m. -noon Prop 55 – Taxation to bene t community colleges and K-12 12-1 p.m. Special guest Prof. Gene Baur, the founder of Farm Sanctuary on “ e Need to Reform the Broken Food System”

1-2 p.m. Prop 62 and 66 – ending the death penalty (or speeding it up)

2-2:30 p.m. Q&A with State Senate Candidate

2:30-3 p.m. Q&A with State Senate Candidate Henry Stern

3-4 p.m. Prop 64 – Marijuana Legalization

4-4:30 p.m. Prop 59 – “Get the Money Out of Politics” - Guest speaker from Common Cause president of the board has not listened to anybody and has decided to not even acknowledge the proposal we have put on the table.”

For our Voter’s Guide, turn to page 8.

Walsh shares Oleas’ sentiments regarding the board’s concerns for their own political careers.

“If our stories didn’t move this Board of Trustees than I think we’re going to have a problem,” Walsh said. “Trustees come and go, and a lot of them see this as a way to get to another job. These people are political jobbers, and they’re going to move from job to job. This is about keeping the pressure on them. Making sure they remember us and that they can’t sacrifice us for their political career.”

Oleas sees this issue as an underlying problem with how the campuses are run throughout the district.

“We do have an issue with the Board of Trustees, especially with the president of the board, Scott Svonkin,” said Oleas. “He’s been disrespectful, he doesn’t listen, and he makes a lot of decisions for the schools. We’re tired of the unilateral decisions that have been made. The way that they’re centralizing the operations and the Board of Trustees is attempting to manage every single college.”

According to Oleas, each campus is supposed to have a level of autonomy to be able to make decisions for themselves.

“This autonomy has been drained and I think this is because of the Board of Trustees desires to control certain areas and to put out their façade of so-called responsibility,” Oleas said.

“In the meantime the campuses are suffering. We don’t have a good working conditions. Our campuses are dirty, our bathrooms are filthy. We don’t have a proper IT department. We don’t have the technology in place so we are neglecting our ability for teachers to teach and students to learn well.”