el Don V. 94 No. 6 | Page 5

SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2017 NEWS 5 BOARD / Trustees and faculty debated over the terms of a potential new contract for nearly two years. / Jose Servin / el Don SAVED: BOTH GROUPS SAY MEDIATOR HELPED CSUDH alumnus Glenn Matsushima created one of the nation’s most successful prosthetics and orthotics companies. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Improving lives is my business. And my passion. Learn how CSUDH Toros use their degrees to make a difference. CSUDH.EDU/Alumnus (310) 243-3696 1000 E. Victoria Street | Carson, CA 90747 Th e faculty union was fi ghting to retain a 10 percent escalator cap, which protected the faculty against rising insurance premiums. “Th ere’s a bit of history with that … We put it in there as a measure to be sure that we wouldn’t be caught up in massive infl ation and uncertainty,” FARSCCD member Barry Resnick said. Th e board views this protective percentage as unnecessarily high. In the new contract, it has been lowered to 6 percent. “Although the escalator clause is no longer at 10 percent, it has gone down, we received really solid things in return for that, that will be lasting legacy pieces of the contract that will continue to benefi t faculty for many years to come,” Guzman said. Another item delaying the settlement of the faculty’s contract is the distribution of cost-of-living adjustment money that the board received from the state for 2015-2016. “Our goal during the 2015-2016 negotiations was for all bargaining units to receive an equitable distribution of that year’s COLA funding ... our off er to all bargaining units was a COLA increase retroactive to January 2016,” Barrios said. Other groups, including the California School Employ- ees Association, accepted the board’s off er, but FARSCCD requested the entire year of COLA money, an increase of 1.02 percent retroactive to July 2015. Both groups released a joint statement March 29, saying that the new contract was fair. “I am pleased with the outcome, I think the faculty association worked really hard to make the faculty whole, we worked really hard to do our best for both fulltime and part time faculty,” Guzman said.