What is SUJIC?
By Dr. Teresa Aldredge, LRCFT CRC Campus Union President
As educators, we love our acronyms, and this is another one to remember. SUJIC stands for Senate Union Joint Issues Committee. SUJIC began many years ago for the senate and union leadership to discuss, and sometimes resolve, matters that overlapped in areas of both working conditions and academic and professional matters. Here’s some background…
Academic Senate
The Academic Senates were established in 1963 through Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 48. They derived its greatest strength from the passage of AB 1725 in 1988 which provided both statewide and local senates authority for hiring and granting tenure. In addition, Title 5 Section 53206, further explains the authority of the local senates and its relationship with governing boards.
Los Rios College Federation of Teachers (LRCFT)
LRCFT is an affiliate of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and the national American Federation of Teachers (AFT). “Inspired by the accomplishments of the US labor movement, the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers (LRCFT) was founded in 1978 to represent faculty throughout the Los Rios Community College District (LRCCD). Since then, LRCFT has been a leader in the struggle for faculty labor rights in the Sacramento area and the education rights of all Californians.”
Why We Meet
SUJIC meets monthly just prior to the Chancellor’s Cabinet meetings. The Chancellor’s Cabinet is “a participatory governance group and may take up issues of District-level significance which are not reserved by law, contract or agreement for negotiation, or which may be the responsibility of other groups.” (R-3411) SUJIC members include leadership from all Los Rios College Academic Senates and LRCFT College leadership teams including the President of the Los Rios Academic Senate and the President of the LRCFT. Over the years, and particularly during the COVID 19 remote shutdown, it was very beneficial to meet and discuss issues that affected our faculty both inside and outside the classroom. Although this is an informal group and doesn’t have any written authority in policy, we have found it meaningful to keep the lines of communication open so that all issues can be heard, understood, and examined.
Resources:
https://oal.ca.gov/publications/ccr/
https://losrios.edu/about-los-rios/board-of-trustees/policies-and-regulations