Classified employees demand equity in LACCD

KYANNA HOJATI Reporter

For years, employees of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) have believed the district has overlooked their needs to help ensure the execution of student goals. This neglect was expressed by representatives of the Classified Management Association (CMA) at the latest Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, May 3.

CMA continues to fight to receive equity, with LA Southwest College CalWorks Director and CMA President Blanca Barajas taking the lead.

“I am here to ask that the board and the district administration

[FROM ADS PG. 1]

Nomelli said she thinks the ads are out of place on a college campus.

“I do think it’s dangerous,” Nomelli said. “I don’t think a publicly funded college campus should have church-funded advertisements that discourage women from their legal rights. And I think that is what this approve our petition, filed with the Public Employee Relations Board on March 17, 2023, to be recognized with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Ashby union,” Barajas said.

Ashby union is sought after by the CMA for its democratic perspective and range when dealing with the oversight and representation needed by classified employees.

One specific struggle shared within the district is that work should be paid and recognized in accordance to what is being done, rather than overlooked and causing the workload to double on others.

President for AFT 1521A

Hazel Alonso highlighted how does. I don’t know how else to interpret that.” the improper treatment of staff has led to a repetitive cycle and insufficient workspace, beseeching the board to address the “mighty elephant in the room,” the lack of staffing.

The advertiser may also be in breach of contract for exceeding the duration of greater than six months, according to Article XIII of the Board Rules.

Swanson said that ads for crisis pregnancy centers may be something that can get added to the restricted list by LACCD administration.

“I am bombarded with employee complaints about the lack of classified hiring, there are more departments being manned by one or two classified staff with no supervisors or back support,” Alonso said. “Empty desks continue to remain unmanned, work continues to bottle neck, existing staff are overworked, overstressed and develop health issues. It is a cycle of self destruction and this administration seems so reluctant to fix it.”

CMA showed their

“That's something where we can go back to the school and say, look, this is not on your restriction list, but maybe that's something that needs to be added in the future,” Swanson said.

The ads were brought to the attention of President Ara Aguiar, who said she plans to schedule a walk through to check out the ads currently on display. Aguiar suggested using the ad disappointment as their pleas to be heard have been received and weren't met with action. Members of the board were unwilling to show their support for the workers. With no classified school employee league resolution, classified staff continue to feel overlooked.

“We are more than animated machines,” Alonso said. “There is a prevalent atmosphere in LACCD, that we are continuously thanked, recognized and praised as an afterthought, only gaining a semblance of traction when the administration is admonished for the oversight.”

Alonso also discussed taking further measures with fellow group leaders in support of a lobby day at space to benefit the programs and resources available to students right here on campus.

“Well, the thing is that this is in direct conflict with our health care center,” Aguiar said of the ads for Open Arms. “Our health care center can do the same thing.”

Even though the kiosks are on Pierce property, anyone who desires to advertise their the capitol, hoping that joint collaboration within the unions could inspire collaboration through unity to meet goals as opposed to infighting.

Another topic that was discussed at the Board of Trustees meeting was the impact of legislation on academic programs, such as AB- 928, AB-1111 and AB 1705. These guidelines were created to help streamline the transfer process of community colleges to four-year institutions.

However, attendees such as Angela Echeverri shared concerns that this attempt to simplify the systems will inevitably leave students illprepared and decrease the already struggling enrollment programs or student resources has to pay the same fees as any other advertiser.

Swanson emphasized the importance of keeping Rivet’s relationship with the school strong and believes it’s the key to the ad placement process running smoothly.

“We want to keep our relationship with the school as positive as possible,” Swanson rate across the LACCD.

“I want to reiterate that we are very concerned about some of the unintended consequences of this legislation,” said Echeverri.

“As you know our system has been shrinking from about 2.1 million students to roughly 1.6 million or so, we have lost about a quarter of our students statewide. We are just concerned that this legislation is tying our hands and preventing us from serving our students adequately.” khojati.roundupnews@gmail.com said. “If some issue comes up, school reaches out, we'll look at that issue and say, okay, how do we fix this?”

The next public LACCD Board of Trustees meeting will take place on June 7. The meeting will be streamed via Zoom and live on YouTube.

Several attempts were made to speak with someone from Open Arms Pregnancy Clinic, but they were unavailable to provide a comment before this story went to print.