Know Your Rights

A CSEA "Know Your Rights" workshop was held at the College of the Siskiyous Yreka campus on Saturday, January 25, 2003 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., followed by a lunch and door prizes. The presenters were Joe Kessner, Vicki Ledford, and Liz Porter. Fourteen CSEA members were present, three from Weed Elementary School, four from COS, five from Mt. Shasta Elementary School, and two from Etna High School. Several items were covered during this workshop, as outlined below.

The steps needed to become a certified Job Steward were outlined. Since the COS CSEA chapter will be adding one or more Job Steward positions this year, this item was of particular interest. A Job Steward is a "vital representational link between bargaining unit employees, their union, and site-level management. The Job Steward's primary role is to enforce the CSEA contract at informal and formal levels of the grievance procedure." A Job Steward must complete the "Know Your Rights" workshop, 12 hours of "Job Steward Basic" training I and II, and an "Advanced Job Steward Retreat." If you missed this "Know Your Rights" workshop, there are still others available. The first Basic training will be held at Redding on Saturday, February 22nd from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the second Basic training will be held here at COS on Saturday, March 8th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you cannot make these dates, there are training options at other sites in northern California (visit the CSEA website at http://www.csea.com for up-to-date information).

A 2003 Member Resource Booklet, from the Legal Referral Program, was handed out and discussed. This booklet focuses on general legal rights, as opposed to work-related issues. Items covered include: consumer information, consumer tips, California State consumer-related agencies, how to complain effectively, Small Claims Court, debt collection, credit reports, consumer rights, consumer alerts, estate planning, health care issues, and getting your name off unsolicited mail, e-mail, and phone lists! For those of you who did not attend the workshop, we have a copy of the 2003 Member Resource Booklet on file (ask Denise or Linda in the Computer Lab for assistance).

It was stressed that if you have to talk to the police or your supervisor (only about items that could lead to disciplinary action) that you should insist on having the Job Steward present. If a Job Steward is not available, request that your CSEA President or other officer be present or call your Labor Representative (Joe Kessner, CSEA Labor Representative, 530 224-9747 Ext. 154) for assistance. Under Weingarter Rights, you have the right to ask and know what the meeting you are being asked to attend is about. The exception to Weingarter Rights is that if you are simply being issued a warning or other action, without any questioning, you must attend the meeting without representation. It was also stated that in any performance evaluation that you disagree with that you should sign it but follow up with a rebuttal. However, in our case, COS already has a built-in procedure to disagree with or answer specific performance evaluation items.

New laws concerning limited-term employees and contracting out current positions have been passed. Limited-term positions must now have a fixed ending date and a list of expected duties. The way I understand it is that a worker automatically becomes classified if they work over 75% of the school year or 195 working days. If a district plans to contract out work to outsiders, they must follow specific new rules. For further information about these new laws please visit the CSEA home page at http://www.csea.com.

CSEA members have free death benefits, but the amount can be increased by signing up at AFL-CIO. Please see our benefits page at http://www.siskiyous.edu/organizations/csea/benefits.htm for further information. The AFL-CIO form must be filled out each year.

If you feel that your Board needs new members, the CSEA office provides $1000 worth of campaign money as well as an organizer to help you plan the campaign for a new member.

If you are hurt on the job, be sure to tell your supervisor right away. Then fill out an accident report, preferably within 24 hours, but you do have up to 30 days to fill it out. Then make an appointment with a school-approved doctor. Alternatively, you can fill out a form that states that you want your own doctor to treat you in case of on-the-job accidents. This form (or statement) must be filed to guarantee that you have the right to have your own doctor treat you.

The final item mentioned concerned unpaid work that you voluntarily undertake. Many workers arrive at work early, stay late, don't take breaks, and/or take work home. While these actions are commendable on a certain level, they result in increasing the expectation of performance for a particular job on the part of the employer. Therefore, we were advised against "working for free."

All in all, this was an informative workshop. There are three more "Know Your Rights" workshops planned for this spring at various locations in northern California. You can stop by the COS Computer Lab in Weed to view a list of training sites and dates. As the presenters said to us, "Knowledge is Power," the district is not responsible for telling you your rights.

Back to COS CSEA