Employees’ pension fund threatened by politicians
In the 1990s, politicians attempted to raid the pension fund as a means of balancing the state budget. More recently, politicians have proposed legislation that would convert CalPERS into a defined contribution plan, where employees must manage their own investment portfolio and hope for the best in the stock market. Like other public servants, classified employees have worked hard to earn their retirement. It’s not a gift, and it certainly isn’t a benefit they can afford to lose.

CSEA was founded to secure retirement benefits
Retirement security is an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of CSEA members. CSEA was founded in 1926 by a group of Oakland school custodians who united to secure retirement benefits. Just like today’s classified employees, they believed the state should honor the work and contributions of longtime employees after they retired.

(Source: http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/Issues/RetirementSecurity/tabid/663/Default.aspx)

California is home to almost 10 million children, or one-eighth of all Americans under the age of 18. Because of its sheer size and diversity, California plays a crucial role in setting the national agenda for all children to succeed.

A new study released by Children Now, a leading nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, shows the issues weakening California children’s well-being are also undermining the economic prosperity of the state as a whole. The 2009 California Report Card: Setting the Agenda for Children shows that the current deficiencies in children’s health and education policy are leading to significant, negative outcomes for all Californians. These include increased healthcare costs and decreased economic output. For example:

• One million children in California are expected to be without health insurance
  It costs Californians $7,000 every time an uninsured child visits a hospital for a preventable ailment. In contrast, only 17 percent of that amount ($1,200) is needed to provide health coverage for each uninsured child.
• One in five (109,011) high school students in California dropped out in 2007
  Every 120,000 high school dropouts costs the state approximately $46.4 billion in total economic losses.
• 16 percent of California’s adolescents are overweight or obese
  Medical expenses attributable to obesity cost Californians $7.7 billion each year, with $1.7 billion paid by Medicaid.
• Less than half (48%) of California’s 3- and 4-year-olds attend preschool
  While 85 percent of brain development occurs before the age of four, less than nine percent of public investments in children’s education and development are spent on children, ages four and younger.

“Given the state’s current fiscal crisis and poor long-term economic forecast, lawmakers must clearly articulate and substantiate an investment strategy now to right the ship,” said Children Now President Ted Lempert. “By all measures, smart investments in children make the most sense and should come first. That’s also what voters have been asking for and promised for years.”

The 2009 California Report Card: Setting the Agenda for Children is available for free online at: www.childrennow.org/reportcard.

(Source: http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/Issues/SchoolFunding/Investinginchildrenkeytoeconomy/tabid/921/Default.aspx)

For public schools, there is an outside company available for virtually every classified service. While it makes good public rhetoric to proclaim cost-savings for cash strapped schools, outsourcing brings with it a host of problems—and in many cases, it produces little or no cost-savings at all.

Classified employees have become a target
Everyday, California’s school employees – instructional assistants, school security guards, school bus drivers and others – work hard to educate and serve our children.

In tight budget times many of these dedicated employees have become a target for outsourcing. Sometimes called “privatization,” school districts are exploring ways to hand over important public service jobs to huge, private corporations who pay their employees lower wages and provide few, if any, health benefits.

We should not sacrifice the jobs of hard working public employees to help the profits of big corporations, eliminating the laws that require them to justify cost savings and guarantee quality, so they can engage in unregulated contracts and increase their profits at the taxpayers’ expense.

SB 1419 provides contracting safeguards
In 2002, California passed SB 1419, a law that established reasonable safeguards for school districts to follow prior to contracting-out classified services. The law doesn’t prohibit outsourcing, it simply establishes common-sense requirements—such as competitive bidding, fingerprinting and background checks, and proof of cost savings—to protect our students and taxpayers.

(Source: http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/Issues/Outsourcing/tabid/662/Default.aspx)

Real healthcare reform is the only solution
Like all Californians, school employees are being hurt by the rising cost of healthcare. Every worker should be able to go to the doctor when they or their children are sick. Yet many classified school employees do not qualify for health insurance through their employers. Those who do have healthcare are paying more and more of their incomes each year for insurance premiums, deductibles and co-payments. Increasingly, families are facing harsh trade-offs between paying for insurance and putting food on the table.

CSEA supports a single-payer system
CSEA supports SB 840 (Kuehl) and the single-payer healthcare system it would create. Under SB 840, all California residents would receive comprehensive medical benefits including hospital, medical, surgical, emergency care, prescription drugs, mental health, dental, vision, health education, skilled nursing after hospitalization and even hearing aids—all while maintaining the freedom to choose your own primary care doctor. Analysts project that a single-payer system would reduce the cost of duplication and waste, freeing up billions of new dollars for patient care and prescription drugs.

It’s not impossible. What is impossible, is to continue paying double-digit increases for a broken healthcare system.

(Source:  http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/Issues/HealthcareReform/tabid/661/Default.aspx)

Members go to csea.com/assistance for more information and application forms.

Fund relies on donations
Support for the Dorothy Bjork Assistance Fund doesn’t come from union dues—it relies solely on donations from our CSEA family. If you’ve already made a donation, thank you for your generosity.  If not, please consider how much your contribution will be appreciated by those members in need. To make a donation, call CSEA Member Benefits at 866-ITS-CSEA (866-487-2732).

We are Family
Dorothy Bjork, Association President from 1984 to 1986, adopted the theme “We are Family” and led the union’s first disaster relief effort, which helped scores of members recover from devastating floods in Northern California. Today, her legacy lives on, as CSEA members’ donations and volunteer efforts help hundreds of other members recover from natural disasters and personal crises.
(Source: http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/AboutCSEA/AssistanceFund/tabid/680/Default.aspx)

Click on the link below to hear CPR’s broadcast:

http://www.capradio.org/articles/articledetail.aspx?articleid=6861

Rally Coverage

Buses circle Capitol in protest (KCRA TV 7/13/09)
School buses circled the state Capitol Monday as protesters rallied against education cuts.

Guarded optimism for budget deal; education big sticking point (California Public Radio 7/13/09)
Hundreds of bus drivers, groundskeepers and other school employees rallied at the state Capitol yesterday.

What Next? Eliminating Bus Drivers? (California Progress Report 7/14/09)
More than 200 parents, kids, and school bus drivers joined forces yesterday at the state capitol to protest Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed 65 percent cut to the state’s school district general funds.

(Source:  http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/Issues/SchoolFunding/Membersparentsstudentsrally/tabid/1016/Default.aspx)

CSEA members along with students, parents and district officials are protesting in front of the state capitol.  Read Below!

7/13/09

SACRAMENTO–Hundreds of CSEA members, along with students, parents and district officials arrived at the state capitol in big, yellow school buses to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut school transportation funding by as much as 65 percent.

“Cutting transportation saves a few pennies but poses a danger to our students,” Association President Rob Feckner said.

Studies have proven that school buses are the safest way for students to get to and from school — 172 times safer than the family car. Beyond safety issues, many families completely depend upon district-provided home-to-school transportation.

“How can we provide an education to students if they can’t get to school?” said Jack O’Connell, California’s superintendent of public instruction. “One out of seven students would suffer from these cuts.”

“We provide a safe ride to school,” said Kathy Karlen, a school bus driver at Kern High and member of CSEA Chapter 747. “Transportation is essential to education.”

Feckner said that CSEA members, along with all Californians, should reject the governor’s plan to keep balancing the state’s budget on the backs of California’s students.

“Education has already taken its fair share of reductions,” he said. “To jeopardize transportation and our students’ safety is unacceptable.”

(Source: http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/Issues/SchoolFunding/Membersparentsstudentsrally/tabid/1016/Default.aspx)

The CSEA Board of Directors consists of five Constitutional Officers and 10 Area Directors, each of whom is democratically elected by CSEA members. All Board members are volunteers who work regular classified jobs. Only the Association President is granted full release time from his/her classified job.

Association President Rob Feckner works in the maintenance department of the Napa Valley Unified School District. He also represents classified employees as president of the CalPERS Board of Administration.

First Vice President Allan Clark works general maintenance/grounds for the Riverbank Unified School District.

Second Vice President Michael Bilbrey works as a bookstore operations coordinator for Citrus Community College.

Secretary Lori Klingensmith works as an administrative assistant for Desert Sands Unified School District.

Jr. Past President Clyde Rivers is a retired post-production manager for the College of San Mateo.

Area A Director Martha Penry works as a paraeducator for the Twin Rivers Unified School District.

Area B Director Mary Stewart is Secretary of Transportation for Kenilworth Jr. High School.

Area C Director Cindy Zecher is an Office Manager II at Lincoln Middle School in the Alameda Unified School District..

Area D Director Ferral Hubbard works as a bus driver for Exeter Public Schools.

Area E Director John Stewart is a warehouseman for Mariposa County Unified School District.

Area F Director Ben Valdepeña works as a lead custodian at Valley Elementary School in Yucaipa-Calimesa School District.

Area G Director Ivan Pastrano is a maintenance worker for East Whittier School District.

Area H Director Carolyn Everett works as a school bus driver for Anaheim City School District.

Area I Director Jennie Batiste works as an administrative secretary I for Allan Hancock College.

Area K Director Teri Minoux works as an attendance technician for the Vista Unified School District.

(Source: http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/AboutCSEA/BoardofDirectors/tabid/108/Default.aspx)

There are only two reasons classified employees can be laid off: “lack of work” and “lack of funds.”

If you are laid off, the district is required by law to give you 45 days notice. The law also mandates that layoffs occur by seniority within a single classification on a district-wide basis. In most cases, the last hired is the first laid off within a classification. (Some contracts determine seniority by date of hire as opposed to hours worked.)

If a district eliminates positions and lays off employees, it may try and shift their duties to other employees. However, there are restrictions that govern what the employer can do as far as transferring duties to other employees. If you are asked to take on the work of a laid-off employee, talk to a CSEA representative immediately.

Districts are prohibited from laying off a classified employee whenever a short-term employee is doing work that the classified employee is qualified to do. However, this law does not apply to short-term workers hired for 45 days or less (their short-term service cannot be extended or renewed).

What does your contract say?
Districts must bargain over the effects of a layoff or the decision to reduce hours. Many chapters have successfully negotiated layoff and reemployment provisions into their contracts. When the union is involved, it gives the employees a voice in determining their fate. The following are negotiable bargaining subjects, to which districts must respond:

• Reason for layoff
• Notice of layoff
• Order of layoffs
• Bumping rights
• Layoff in lieu of bumping
• Equal seniority
• Reemployment rights
• Retirement in lieu of layoff
• Seniority roster and method of computing seniority
• Notification of reemployment opening
• Effects of layoff (health and welfare benefits, severance pay, etc.)

Since layoffs affect wages and hours of an employee, it is mandatory for a district to bargain the effects of taking such action unless the effects are addressed in the contract already.

In worst-case scenarios, laid-off workers are unable to get another position in the district and become unemployed. Again, these workers still have rights: unemployment insurance and re-employment status to name a few.

Re-employment status means that the district must re-employ a laid off worker who is qualified to fill a vacant position in the district rather than hire someone new.

The California Employment Development Department (EDD), in accordance with regulations established by State and Federal law, offers unemployment benefits. The EDD is responsible for determining a worker’s eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits, paying such benefits and determining and collecting employer taxes, which support the program.

To collect benefits, you must file a claim with the department. The department then checks with the employee’s last employer to verify the employee is unemployed through no fault of his/her own. There are specific legal criteria used by the department when making benefits available, and you are obligated to gainfully seek work.

If your benefits are denied by the department, you have the legal right to go before an administrative law judge to challenge the denial.

Reasonable Assurance
The Unemployment Insurance Code requires the district to send all classified employees who work less than twelve months per year a notice stating the likelihood of returning in September. This notice must be sent no later than 30 days prior to the end of your work year. The notice must state the following:

1. Whether or not you have a reasonable assurance of a job in September.
2. The notice must state you should file for unemployment benefits even if you have reasonable assurance of a job next school year.

If you have received a notice of a job next year, the unemployment office will determine if you will receive unemployment benefits during the summer. The district has no say in this matter.

If the unemployment office determines you are not eligible for benefits, and then the district fails to return you to work in September, you will be eligible for benefits back to your first filing.

You can receive retroactive benefits if you file for unemployment insurance immediately following your last working day. If you have not already done so, do it now.

Can you be laid-off without warning?
In virtually all circumstances, classified employees, even probationary employees, must receive at least a 45-day advance notice of a proposed layoff by state law. The notice must inform you of your bumping rights, if any, and return rights. The only exception to this state law mandate is if the employer has no money to meet its payroll or you cannot work due to unforeseen circumstances like a natural disaster. Your collective bargaining agreement may also include a layoff notice requirement.

How is seniority determined?
California Education Code defines seniority for layoffs by number of hours you’ve worked within a classification. The employee with the shortest length of service would be laid off first. However, many CSEA chapters have negotiated with their employer to define seniority by date of hire within a classification.

If CSEA has negotiated length of service to mean date of hire (within classification), then the most recently hired employee within the classification would be subject to layoff.

The AFL-CIO offers an entire Web site dedicated to unemployment help. Learn some of the best strategies, techniques and tools to help you survive hard times on the best possible terms.

If you are currently a member of CSEA, you can login to use these links further informing employees below:

Layoff FAQ
Virtual LRR
Cal Labor Federation: Layoffs and Re-Training

(Source: http://pub.csea.com/cseaHome/Issues/Layoffs/Thefactsaboutlayoffs/tabid/978/Default.aspx)