TEACHERS REJECT DISTRICT'S LATEST CONTRACT PROPOSAL.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

After a year of negotiations, the union for hundreds of county Community College District teachers on Monday rejected Chancellor Philip Westin's latest contract offer, setting the stage for a possible strike.

Westin will ask district trustees today to approve ``emergency resolutions'' in preparation for a strike, including hiring of replacement teachers and beefing up security, said Mike Gregoryk, deputy chancellor of the three-college district.

``You never know what happens in a strike, so we have to make sure we provide a safe environment for our students and staff,'' he said. ``As far as we're concerned, they have rejected our proposal.''

The district made its latest offer June 29, placing a 2 p.m. Monday deadline for response.

The union over the past two weeks has polled its members, the majority of whom said they would vote to empower the union's executive committee to call for a strike when they meet early next month.

``We have enough (support) to go on strike and close the place down,'' said Larry Miller, president of the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers AFT Local 1828.

The district's 400 full- and 900 part-time teachers at the Ventura, Oxnard and Moorpark colleges have been without a contract since July 1, 1997.

Approximately 30,000 full- and part-time students are enrolled in the three community colleges.

When the district refused to accept the recommendations of a recent fact-finder's report, it imposed ``work rules'' on the teachers, meaning they have to work under whatever conditions the district sets forth.

``We want to have a signed contract agreement with our faculty,'' Gregoryk said. ``We have not given up on that.''

The union's latest request includes:

A 2.97 percent pay increase retroactive to July 1, 1997, an additional pay hike for the current fiscal year and future incorporation of 45 percent of student growth revenues into the salary structure.

An agreement to eliminate a job security provision for part-timers - called ``priority noncontract status'' - which assured continued employment from one year to the next for all career part-timer teachers.

The district has offered a 2.97 percent hike retroactive to April 22, 1998, and an additional 3 percent increase retroactive to July 1, 1998. It also would give each full-time teacher a onetime payment of $1,000.

It also wants full authority to place the ``best quality'' part-time teachers in classroom, regardless of seniority, he said.

The union vowed to reject that demand, claiming that it would allow the district to cut back on the number of courses a teacher was assigned to teach.