Admin Threatens Further Cuts & Layoffs–Take Action!

Posted on December 10, 2021 by AFT 2121

Dear Members,

I didn’t want to write this message.

On Thursday night, I addressed the Board of Trustees and spoke about AFT’s Alternative Budget, showing that our college could end fiscal year 22-23 with a fully funded reserve and a surplus. I told them: “If anyone tells you that now is the time to shrink and cut, they are not basing that on sound financial analysis.”

On Friday I got a phone call. Seems there is some thinking going on in this college based on things other than sound financial analysis and the needs of the San Francisco community.

I want to say first: Nothing is definite yet. Administration does not have a firm plan, a specific number of layoffs, or an understanding of the programmatic impacts of their choices. They only have a vague direction, and that is to shrink the college. There is still time to convince them to change course.

Chancellor Martin called me and told me that based on the budgets he received from VC John al-Amin, he is exploring the possibility of issuing March 15th layoff notices. That means there would be class and program cuts deep enough to lay off part-time and full-time faculty. It seemed to me that VC Tom Boegel has convinced him that CCSF is most fiscally sound when there are no pesky students to serve. The VCs seem to think that this will create stability in the college.

Nothing could be further from the truth–cuts only lead to more cuts. We’ve seen this firsthand over the past 10 years, and the result is that our college is failing to meet the needs of San Francisco. We urge Chancellor Martin to reject the advice of lazy Vice Chancellors with no vision and a demonstrated track record of financial mismanagement and outright neglect. He should instead work with the CCSF Revenue Unity Coalition in its historic campaign to win the long-term local funding necessary to truly serve our City.

CCSF has an opportunity right now to be a national leader, but that requires all of us to step up. We can grow instead of slashing, but it requires that Chancellor Martin listen to YOU.

Add your name and picture to your union’s petition to the Chancellor right now and make this clear: We are not backing down. We will not allow short-sighted and incompetent administrators to destroy our college.

This petition is just the beginning so sign it and then join one of the teams that will be helping lead this campaign.