April 5, 2010
FSU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 4/5/10
Members Present: Catherine Lynde Heike Schotten Peggy Walsh Elizabeth Mock Marlene Kim Kathy Kogan Xiaogang Deng Larry Kaye
Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator Arthur Goldsmith, FSU Grievance Officer Max Page, former MSP President
Max Page
Former MSP President and current candidate for the MTA Executive Board higher education position Max Page discussed his candidacy. He spoke of the need to steer MTA efforts more towards organizing its members and getting ahead of major policy issues rather than simply reacting to them (particularly in the area of public higher ed funding). He asked that the FSU make strong efforts to seat its full 14-delegate contingency at the annual MTA meeting since that is when elections occur.
Announcements
Newsletter- There was general praise for the latest newsletter and for Dorothy Nelson, FSU Communications Director.
MTA Annual Meeting- The MTA’s annual meeting will take place on May 7 and 8. The FSU is entitled to 14 delegates. Phil Chassler, Larry Kaye, Peggy Walsh, Catherine Lynde, and Xiaogang Deng agreed to go. Ex Com members are asked to attend. An all member email will be sent asking for delegates.
Meeting w/Governor’s Staff- Catherine Lynde reported that she attended a meeting with the Lt. Gov and the State Education Secretary in which CBA funding was discussed. It was reported that little new was said on this issue. It was also noted that the bill for CBA funding is still in the House Ways and Means Committee and that the Governor has asked the legislature to report out bills for other unions that have accepted concessions but not for those who have not.
FSU Member Meeting- The FSU’s annual meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 28th at 12:30. Members will be asked to vote on bylaws changes and on the proposed FY11 FSU budget. Catherine presented her proposed budget to the Ex Com. The Ex Com voted on whether or not to recommend the proposed budget to the membership. The vote passed unanimously.
Navitas- It was reported that the administration has fully accepted the FSU terms re the Navitas contract. All Navitas instructors will thus be employed by UMB, will have full benefits, pension, and union pay rates. Navitas courses will also be offered via the standard union course assignment process to post-probationary lecturers first.
University College- The Faculty Council voted to accept an amendment on the UC proposal. This amendment would limit the UC to 1 undergraduate program and 2 graduate pilot programs. The UC will be evaluated after 5 years. Catherine Lynde reported that she will be meeting with the Provost to discuss any union implications of the UC.
Ex Com Elections- A nomination notice was sent to the membership concerning the Spring 10 Ex Com elections.
MTA GLBTQ Forum- Ex Com members were notified of the Forum (to take place on April 29th) and asked if they wanted to attend.
Lorenzo Nencioli Contract- Catherine Lynde reported that she re-structured Lorenzo Nencioli’s individual contract to make it more in line with the CSU, PSU, and MSP staffers’ contracts vis a vis vacation time, personal days, and sick days.
MTA Candidate Recommendation Committee- Phil Chassler, who is a CRC member, reported that the committee met with gubernatorial candidates Grace Ross, Jill Stein, and Tim Cahill. There was discussion of whether or not the MTA should endorse Deval Patrick given the difficulties over CBA funding.
PHENOM
A request was made of the FSU to provide financial support for PHENOM. It was noted that this request had been made at a prior date but and Catherine Lynde had asked for a business plan from PHENOM but did not receive one. Ex Com members were content with the current Great State of Mind campaign and with the financial model now evident. Catherine asked the Ex Com to vote on providing funding for PHENOM. The Ex Com voted to provide $3,000 to PHENOM.
Shaw’s Workers Strike
The Ex Com was asked to respond to a request from FSU member Amy Todd to have the FSU support striking union workers at local Shaw’s supermarkets who are asking for a Shaw’s boycott (support would be either an endorsement of the strike, a call to FSU members to boycott Shaw’s, or monetary support to their affected workers). There was general agreement on the support for the workers. However, there was concern that a boycott could hurt other unionized Shaw’s workers who are not on strike. A question was raised as to whether or not the other Shaw’s unions support the strike. Marlene Kim agreed to look into the matter further. The Ex Com will vote electronically after this info is provided.
CCDE Bargaining Update
It was reported that the tenor of negotiations has been constantly changing. Initially, talks centered on integrating CCDE with the day unit but then Admin decided to seek a further divergence of the 2 units.
Grievance Committee Update
Arthur Goldsmith reported that a tenure track faculty case concerning tenure review was successfully completed. Phil Chassler, part-timer GO, reported on 2 outstanding grievances.
Lecturer Retirement Update
It was reported that work histories for all the effected lecturers (those who will have to switch from ORP to SERS) have been completed and that Mickey Gallagher has been meeting with these lecturers to discuss the switch and ask for written consent for the FSU to request the switch. So far, meetings have been arranged with about 35 of the 58 effected lecturers.
Lecturer Committee Update
There was a report on the Hidden Treasure event. There was also a report on the NTT Labor/Management Committee. It was suggested that the Committee might want to work on compiling a departmental best practices report.
Salary Anomaly Adjustment Committee Update
SAA Committee member Xiaogang Deng reported that the Committee is in the process of compiling info using, in order: salaries within departments, national salary averages, salary averages by field (humanities, etc.), and then the amount of deviation within each group.