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April 27, 2016- FSU Annual Meeting

FSU ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES 4/27/16

Members Present: Ursula Tafe Marlene Kim  Kathy Kogan  Katie Almeida-Spencer Jose Reyes-Martinez  Jon Millman Andres Henao-Castro  Sofya Aptekar   Heike Schotten  Jeff Melnick  Vesela Veleva   John Hess (after budget vote) Maria Brincker (after budget vote)

 

Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator

 

  1. Announcements (15 minutes):

 

  1. MTA Annual Meeting, May 13-14, Hynes Convention Center
  2. FSU t-shirts- available at cost to any FSU member ($6)
  3. Members of Executive Committee for AY 2017 (new members are in italics):

 

President:  Marlene Kim, Professor, Economics

VP: John Hess, Senior Lecturer, English

Tenured: Linda Dumas, Nursing; Karen Suyemoto, Psychology; Askold Melnyczuk, English; Steven Levine, Philosophy

Pre-Tenured: Sofya Aptekar, Sociology; Andres Henao-Castro, Political Science

Non-Tenure Track: Kathy Kogan, Psychology; Peggy Walsh, English; Ellen Frank, Economics; Ursula Tafe, Political Science

Librarian: Tina Mullins

  1. FSU party: Wednesday May 11, 5-8 pm- open to all unit members to celebrate work of the FSU and to meet colleagues.
  2. Retirement incentive plan- any member with 32 years of service is eligible. You will receive a $25K payout (one time) and will still be eligible for the contract mandated Longevity Bonus.
  3. Department Chairs separate bargaining unit in FSU- We will be meeting with them next week to discuss their interests for how their new union will be constituted. It was noted that the Provost sent letters to chairs saying why unionization was not a good idea.
  4. Membership drive in FSU- The FSU has been organizing training sessions for current members with the intent of giving these members the tools to talk with non-payers and agency fee payers about the importance of joining the union. Let us know if you are interested in the next training session.
  5. CLA evaluation for 2:2- There was discussion of the latest meeting between the Dean and the FSU re the 2:2 implementation.
  6. NTTs and Adjuncts coalition- There was a report on the recent meeting of NTT/adjuncts. It was noted that there were attendees from all over the higher ed system and that the meeting went very well. Discussions ranged from simple meet and greets to prospects for coalition bargaining. A follow up meeting will be scheduled for July and one after that for some time Fall 16.

 

  1. Discussion and Vote on the proposed FSU FY 16 budget. (30 minutes)-  Discussion of the proposed FSU FY17 budget as recommended by the FSU. We will need to pay for all grievance officer stipends except for one so stipend budget was increased. The Ex Com also approved: reducing non-bargaining expenses; reducing printing costs (there will be no full run of newsletter); reducing the food budget; reducing the stipends for part-time NTT grievance officers. There was discussion of individual line items on the budget. It was noted that a quorum is needed to approve the budget (20 members in good standing) and that a quorum was lacking. Motion was made to extend the FSU Annual Meeting to an unspecified date and time such that a quorum will be present to vote on approving the budget. Motion seconded. Motion passes.

 

  1. Bargaining ideas for next contract (15 minutes)- There was discussion of some possible bargaining proposals for next contract, including: 3/3 for NTT, research intensive semester for junior faculty, ‘gap sabbatical’, Monday-Wednesday classes. Members are asked to contact the FSU with other possible bargaining priorities.

 

  1. Report on Tuition and retention bargaining for dependents and spouses (5 minutes)- It is not likely the union coalition will be able to secure a better policy than what currently exists for dependents and spouses of current members. Jose Martinez-Reyes noted that this should be a bargaining priority. He also noted that he has 1 child who will attend UMA next year and 1 who will attend Wellesley. The total out of pocket costs for Wellesley will be cheaper than for UMA once financial aid is taken into consideration. There was discussion of the need to publicize this and similar stories in the negotiations.

 

  1. Report on Joint Coordinating Committee with Amherst (15 minutes)- There was discussion of the relationship between FSU and our sister chapter at UMA, the Mass Society of Professors (combined local is known as the Joint Coordinating Committee).
  2. Report:  Implementation of contract for NTTs (10 minutes)- John Hess gave a report: we are close to agreement on a number of items. We will be meeting on Monday with Admin and will meet over the summer if needed. We hope to get done before Fall.
  3. New Business- Concern was expressed about academic freedom in hiring. It was noted that ‘Academic Analytics’ is causing hiring practice changes since UMB is being quantified relative to other institutions; Marlene Kim: Provost said President’s Office is making UMB analyze depts. using this criteria; we will talk with Faculty Council about their position on ‘Academic Analytics’; It was reported that there has been micromanaging of hiring practices (i.e. re-writing of ads for open positions; varying salary officers to favor one candidate) ; there will be an open meeting of Faculty Council in May- we need to have members attend.