Proposed Cabrillo Cuts Create Labor Controversy

There is no way of knowing how much money will be saved in round three of the first phase of Cabrillo College budget cuts for the upcoming school year. That is one of the only things all parties involved agree on.

The newest proposal put forward by administrators on Monday would eliminate all five instructional division coordinators before the positions are redefined as three new positions, to be put on the books for the 2011-12 school year.

The five people in question are classified employees—the title given to all non-faculty members. Their responsibilities include entering class schedules for the more than 3,000 sections offered at the school each semester, as well as assisting division deans in organizing other areas of their departments and programs.

Deans will have to take on more responsibilities if this staff reduction is approved at the Aug. 1 board meeting, where all cuts and alterations to the budget become final, before being passed up to state officials.

“None of us want to cut budgets and lay people off,” Vice President of Instruction Renee Kilmer told Patch on Wednesday. “But we feel that with this proposal we can keep fewer people from losing their jobs.”

The news of Monday's proposal came as a shock to Cabrillo Classified Employee Union president, Stephanie Stainback, who said the union is concerned with the new savings plan on a number of levels.

“It is not enough [money] to justify treating the workers this way and damaging work relations,” she said. “Whatever it is, it's coming at a very high cost.”

One person present on Monday was alarmed that no union representative was at the meeting to defend the jobs of the classified workers. To Kilmer's knowledge, “they just weren't invited.” She said Monday's notification was a standard practice for all proposed cuts.

“We always tell the people involved first,” she said. This is done to avoid unnecessary damage to employee relations.

The newly formed Services and Program Reduction Advisory Committee (SPRAC)—consisting of three classified workers and two faculty members—will review the possible effects of any changes to staffing and will have a chance to look at the current plan before the third round of cuts are presented publicly at the next College Planning Council meeting on Wednesday.

Kilmer added that the cuts were only proposed after a meeting with the coordinators two weeks ago, in which the five employees described their duties, and administrators carefully reviewed the feasibility of reducing this portion of the budget.

“We already have two instruction procedure analysts that check the accuracy of final [class] schedules,” Kilmer said. “[Division coordinators] don't develop the schedules; they input the data into school databases.”

Another mystery to both parties is whether the financial savings will match the 40 percent in staff that would be eliminated in this area of the school's workforce. Kilmer said they will not likely save more than that fraction, while Stainback is more skeptical.

“The vice president wants to reclassify these positions to some lower amount,” said Stainback. “We have no idea what that amount will be.”

Stainback said a group called the Classification Study Committee had already decided on what pay scale these employees would earn and that Monday's actions puts at risk the “whole process around respecting the decisions of [that committee].”

The Wednesday CPC meeting will be at the the Student Activities Center East building on the Aptos campus, and members want students to know that the event is public.

Cuts discussed in the first two meetings totaled , with Cabrillo President Brian King setting the minimum bench mark for reductions at $1.44 million for 2011-12 before the CPC presents the budget to trustees in August.