News Release For Immediate Distribution

  November 24, 2008

College Trustees and Administration Guilty of Illegal Retaliation
 

An arbitrator has ruled that the College of Marin acted in violation of their contract with the faculty when they denied a full-time faculty member a full instructional assignment and that their actions were in retaliation because the teacher was a Union officer.

Sociology professor Paul Christensen, who serves as department chair and the United Professors of Marin Chief Negotiator, had a class cancelled in a previous semester because of low enrollment.  Rather than assign Mr. Christensen to another class for a full assignment, as is required by the collective bargaining agreement, the District forced Mr. Christensen to teach fewer classes and to count his department chair duties as part of his regular assignment.  Department chairs are elected by the faculty and service is voluntary.

The arbitrator also ruled that the District must pay Paul Christensen for the lost wages and post their violation in a public place.

This is the second time in a year that the District has lost an arbitration with UPM.  In the first case the refusal to follow the contract by the Trustees and management, under the administrative leadership of President Fran White and legal counsel Larry Frierson, cost the College over $1.5 million in interest penalties.  This same attorney for CoM—who is the highest paid employee in the College District—was also found to have improperly and unnecessarily delayed those proceedings, which resulted in a $2500 fine.

The United Professors of Marin and the College Trustees and administrators have been unsuccessfully negotiating a contract for over 17 months; the Union viewed the actions against Mr. Christensen as a direct violation of the existing contract and as being directed against Mr. Christensen because he is in the forefront as chief negotiator.

For more information see www.UnitedProfessorofMarin.org or contact Ira Lansing, President, ira@UnitedProfessorsofMarin.org, 415-485-9531 or the above numbers.