You likely found us after talking to someone who recommended that you check out our website. Well, you’ve come to the right place. Most of your questions will be answered on this page.
It’s true! In the past, MiraCosta was one of the best Community Colleges to work for, and there wasn’t a need for a union. But that is no longer the case. The “Mira-Cozy” environment of the past is gone, and current Classified Staff that were hired after 2018 have been limited in their career progression with only 5 steps, and very little longevity after that. We want to change that, and now is the time.
There has been a lot of misinformation spread about the cost of Union dues. We are teaming up with the California School Employees Association (CSEA), and the state union and local chapter dues combined would be capped at about $500 a year. If you make less than $39,000, it will be less than that. If the union helps us negotiate just $500 more for you than we would have gotten without it, it pays for itself! Union members also have access to member-only discounts and corporate rates on everything from pizza and the zoo to movie tickets, car rentals, mobile phone plans, and hotels!
If we join with the CSEA, dues would be 1.5% of pay per month, up to an annual salary of $37,800. If you make more than $37,800, dues are capped at $47.25 per month for the union, plus local chapter dues (typically around $3 per month).
| Annual Pay | Dues per Month (10 months) |
|---|---|
| $20,000 | $28.00 |
| $30,000 | $40.50 |
| $60,000 | $50.25 |
| $80,000 | $50.25 |
| $100,000 | $50.25 |
For a school that focuses heavily on Equity, the divide between pre-2018 staff and post-2018 hires is significant at all levels, including Administrators. Someone in Range 25 who has been working for MiraCosta for 10 years will get a $7150 longevity bonus, while a person hired after 2018 will only get $1000 at year 10.
We don't want to change longevity for staff that was hired before 2018, we want to elevate the staff hired after 2018.
Right now, any staff hired after 2018 is on a 5-step schedule. This means that after 5 years, your pay flatlines. The only increases will be the annual COLAs. The longevity bonus for year 5 is only $500. That comes out to approximately 25 cents an hour.
We intend to negotiate for either an expanded step schedule, increased longevity bonuses, or both. Only recently has the administration made some token adjustments for recent hires. To the previous $500 one-time bonus, they added a whopping $100 each year for years 6-10, ending at $1000 for year 10. And that only happened after rumors of our union organizing started circulating.
This slide says it all. We were told that longevity wasn't "financially sustainable", but apparently that only applies to Classified Staff. We are the solid purple line. Faculty (solid yellow line) got what they asked for. So did the Administrators. By the way, the faculty are union.
*This chart was made before the extra $100 was added. But that moves the purple line so little it would barely be visible on this chart. The disparity remains. Even so, we plan to revise the chart in the coming weeks. (We are volunteers doing this after hours. We all have our real jobs and personal lives to attend to also!)
📊 View Our Salary Schedule Presentation
Another compensation study is coming in 2026. The 2017 Salary and Compensation Study that created this two-tier system was unfair and went way too far in other areas also. It was not good for many classified professionals and was a very stressful experience for many.
Classified staff were "put on the spot" by professional consultants and forced to defend our worth and prove we deserved fair compensation with little or no support and no meaningful way to fight back against a team of outside pros who were tasked with reducing costs. It's no wonder we ended up with the unfair and counterproductive two-tier system of compensation that has made it very difficult to recruit and retain skilled employees.
A Union would be there with us during the next compensation study, if we organize in time! They would support and defend us, providing independent research and advice, give us support when dealing with consultants, and negotiate with the administration for fair job descriptions and compensation. CSEA has dealt with Class and Comp studies before. That's part of what they do for their members. We would have them on our side, providing expertise and research so that we have an equal seat at the table with the consultants and administration, instead of each one of us fighting alone.
The California School Employees Association (CSEA) is the largest classified school employees' union in the United States, representing approximately a quarter of a million non-teaching public school and community college employees in California.
Established in 1927, CSEA advocates for its members in areas such as wages, benefits, and working conditions. These classified employees hold vital roles in schools, including positions in food service, transportation, clerical work, maintenance, information technology, and paraeducator services. CSEA is a member-run union with over 750 local chapters and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
We would be creating a new local union chapter specifically for MiraCosta, with elected union stewards from the classified staff. Us. CSEA will be there to advise us, provide professional negotiators, research, and legal help. They will only step in if requested by us.
We are currently doing what is called a "card drop". You may have gotten here because someone gave you one of these cards. If enough cards are collected, it will trigger an official union vote among the classified staff. If the vote passes, we create a new union chapter and start negotiating our first contract! The "cards" are payroll deduction forms for union dues that will only be used if we vote to unionize. Nothing will be deducted until after the vote is won and the chapter formed.
Right Here! Download the CSEA Union Card
Great! The first thing to do is to return the card to who you got it from, as soon as possible. If you printed out the card form yourself, email us at info@mccclassifiedunion.org to arrange a pickup or dropoff. We need the physical signed paper form. You can also print out extra card forms to give to other classified staff to fill out and return if you'd like.
Join our distribution list or reach out to us for more details.
Or email us at info@mccclassifiedunion.org
We will only send updates about meetings off campus or other news. DO NOT use your MiraCosta email. Personal emails only.