10 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY september 21-27, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com news A contract between the Hartnell Community College District and the Hartnell College Faculty Association ended in June 2022. Since then, faculty have continued working under the old contract which, in its final year, gave a 1-percent raise. Meanwhile, inflation spiraled upward and the federally determined COLA rose to 8.7 percent. When faculty members returned to the bargaining table this year, they were disappointed to learn the administration was offering a 6.25-percent raise for 2022-23. “We’re way apart on wages,” HCFA President Nancy Schur-Beymer says. Currently, Hartnell faculty annual pay ranges from $57,126- $121,962, while Monterey Peninsula College faculty make between $61,600- $131,192. The MPC Board of Trustees approved a 7.22-percent wage increase on June 28. The Hartnell union was asking for a 10.5-percent increase in the first year, 8-percent the second and whatever the state allocated COLA in the third year. Hartnell administrators offered 6.25 percent for the 2022-23 school year, 3 percent for 2023-24, and 1 percent in 2024-25. Negotiations resumed on Wednesday, Sept. 20, after the Weekly’s deadline. The two sides are meeting after a kerfuffle arose on Sept. 5, when faculty were angered by a proposal on the Hartnell board’s agenda to restructure the managers’ pay schedule. The union claimed some managers would receive a 41-percent raise, but administrators say it’s a mischaracterization and that raises are 6.25 percent the first year and 4.2 percent the second, although some positions will receive more. The board postponed a vote on manager raises until October, after negotiations with faculty are scheduled to end on Sept. 27. “It’s complicated and negotiations are complicated,” Hartnell President/ Superintendent Michael Gutierrez says. “The reality is that we, much like our faculty, are wanting to come to an agreement. We all have the same goal in mind so we would like to see it happen.” In Labor Hartnell faculty are fighting for raises and equity to catch up with other colleges. By Pam Marino In the year since Arelie Garcia’s disappearance, her family has organized marches and rallies urging authorities to do more to bring her home. They’ve held fundraisers and started GoFundMe pages to raise money for a billboard and a $10,000 reward for anyone who helps find her. Her friends have made car magnets and flyers bearing her face, in the hope that someone may have recently recognized the missing young woman. Still, there’s been no sign or word of Garcia’s whereabouts. Friday, Sept. 22 marks one year to the day since Garcia was reported missing. After leaving her Salinas apartment at around 6:30am, she texted her sister that she was on the way to her job at a local car dealership. But she never arrived at work, and her two sisters used the Find My iPhone app to locate her red Honda that same evening—pulled off to the side of Highway 1 in Big Sur, with her phone, keys and purse inside. The Salinas Police Department enlisted the help of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office in the initial search for Garcia; helicopters, drones and search parties scoured the surrounding Big Sur area to no avail. A year later, authorities say there’s been little progress. “We have exhausted every lead we had,” Salinas Police Cmdr. Brian Johnson says. “Nothing new has come up.” The Garcia family says they were initially frustrated by police efforts. It was Garcia’s own sisters who located her car using a phone app, and the family says their own sleuthing turned up a Google Maps image of her car parked off of Highway 1. “We were very unhappy in the beginning,” says Veronica Garcia, Arelie’s sister. “It felt like we didn’t have any answers.” “We weren’t sure if cameras were looked at, if steps were being done,” adds David Torres, Veronica’s husband. “The vehicle was found by her sisters; everything they came across, [the family] found out themselves.” Torres says the family eventually “got tired” of leaving it to the police, began doing more media interviews and started organizing rallies around Salinas. The family has been more satisfied since Salinas Police Detective Edwin Cruz took over the case: “He’s been helping us way more—we’re very grateful for him,” Veronica notes. Johnson says he understands the Garcias’ frustrations and appreciates their efforts to help find her. “It’s a grieving family—they’re doing the only thing they can to help the case and help us,” he says. “They need closure, and I think it just wears on them.” On Thursday, Sept. 21—on the eve of one year since they last saw Garcia, whose 26th birthday was in July—the family will hold a candlelight vigil at Closter Park in Salinas, followed by a 7pm mass at St. Mary of the Nativity Catholic Church. “I feel in my heart that she’s still alive,” Veronica says. “I just hope God gives her the strength she needs to come back home.” Arelie Garcia’s family has organized public rallies, like this event in Salinas in March, to raise awareness of her disappearance and urge authorities to do more to find her. Holding Hope Arelie Garcia’s family marks one year since her disappearance—with little progress in finding her. By Rey Mashayekhi Hartnell’s faculty union conducted informational pickets ahead of board of trustees meetings, like this one at the Castroville campus in June, demanding higher salaries and other benefits. “We have exhausted every lead.” Daniel Dreifuss Daniel Dreifuss
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