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Published on 04/21/1999 All articles from this issue

Skilled workers' negotiations still stalled at Foothill

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Schools Roundup

Salary negotiations between the board of trustees and the skilled workers unit at the Foothill-De Anza Community College District hit another roadblock this month.

During the regular meeting April 5, the board rejected the workers' latest request for a 4 percent salary increase retroactive to July 1998, with an additional .5 percent increase beginning May 1.

Erica Zweig, a spokeswoman from the California Schools Employee Association, which represents the district's 90 skilled employees, said representatives from both parties met with a mediator March 23 to negotiate the compromise presented to the board.

The March 23 meeting with a mediator was the first step of an impasse that the employee association filed in January with the Public Employment Relations Board in San Francisco in order to expedite a settlement. Under the impasse, both parties must reach an agreement within 15 days after meeting with a mediator or meet with a panel to present their cases during a fact-finding procedure, Zweig said.

Since last October, the employee association has been negotiating part of the workers' three-year contract, which allows for annual salary and benefit adjustments. The association first called for a 4.5 percent salary increase, retroactive to July 1998, to be distributed among the skilled workers.

The district agreed to a 4 percent increase - $23,000 below what the association requested.

Zweig said she believes the association's latest salary proposal of a 4 percent retrospective salary increase plus a .5 percent increase starting this May is not an "unreasonable request. I was surprised (about the board's decision). Our negotiating team sees this low offer as a deliberate slap in the face."

Zweig said both parties had been meeting regularly through an employee-employer relations committee to discuss various issues. She said that now the employees have withdrawn from the committee.

Foothill issues 'Smart Card'

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District began issuing "Smart Cards" this month to students and staff members at its Foothill, De Anza, and Middlefield campuses. The new student cards contain a computer chip with eight kilobytes of memory to upload and download student information electronically.

Wil Coursey, district auditor, said the district launched the cards to help track attendance more efficiently. Foothill - De Anza will be among the first districts in Northern California to use Cybermark's "Smart Card," he said.

Coursey described the card as a "portable filing cabinet." Information is transferred to or from the card through a "chip reader" - a device similar to an ATM machine, he said. Coursey said the district plans to use the cards to track how many students use labs and computers and during what times; monitor access to specific campus areas; track vendor sales on campus; and distribute financial aid into student accounts. He said the district receives funds based on attendance, which means the district loses money for every student in a lab whose attendance goes unrecorded.

Jim Keller, vice chancellor of business services, said the district plans to implement chip readers this fall to track attendance.

Keller said the card will also be an added convenience to students, who may use the card in bank ATMs on campus.

They can also transfer and store money on the card in cash-to-card machines, using cash credits on the card at copy machines, food services, the bookstore, and soda machines, he said.

The district could also use the card to track votes during student elections.

The district issued about 2,500 cards at Foothill the first week of April, according to Keller.

District officials hope to distribute the cards to the district's approximately 45,000 students and 5,000-member staff.

The cost of the card is included in the cost of the Associated Student Body fees at each campus.

Keller said the start-up cost for the new cards is about $575,000, which includes software, training, carding and machinery.

He said money from the district's general fund and from business partnerships with companies such as Citicorp, is financing the project.

Keller expects future revenues from card use will pay for a portion of the ongoing costs.

The district will receive a percentage of revenues, for example, whenever students use their cards at Citicorp's ATMs.