April 7, 2011

FSU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 4/7/11

Members Present:  Catherine Lynde   John Hess   Larry Kaye   Marlene Kim   Peggy Walsh   Kathy Kogan  Phil Chassler

Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator

Announcements

Newsletter- Dorothy Nelson announced that she will be retiring at the end of the semester but has agreed to continue to work as the newsletter coordinator for the next academic year.

GIC- The FSU will continue to send reminder emails to members re the GIC health-plan re-enrollment period.

MTA Annual Meeting­- In addition to Catherine Lynde, Phil Chassler, and Amy Todd, John Hess and Peggy Walsh have agreed to serve as delegates for the MTA Annual Meeting (May 13th-14th). Any Ex Com members who wish to serve as a delegate to the meeting should contact the FSU office.

April 13th Day of Action­- Planning for the Day of Action is ongoing.

CL’s Meeting with Provost- CL reported on her meeting with the Provost. She raised the issue of instituting block scheduling and was told that it was under consideration (the Deans want to think about it). She raised the issue of the problems with administering the Senior Lecturer promotions as well as the problems with the Clinical Assistant Professor job classification in CNHS. The Provost also wondered if the unions would consider moving their offices to another space.

Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) Ratification Vote

The 09-12 University College CBA ratification vote will begin next week and will be conducted online through the FSU’s voting website.  Because the new CBA makes changes in the day unit CBA and will have potential salary changes for both NTT and NTT the vote will be open to ALL bargaining unit members in the day and UC units. There was a motion for the Ex Com to vote to recommend ratification of the new CBA to the general membership. The motion was seconded. The vote to have the Ex Com recommend ratification of the 09-12 UC CBA to the general membership passed unanimously.

FSU Annual Meeting, Wednesday, April 13th, 3PM, W/1/006

Mickey Gallagher will speak at the annual meeting about the state and university’s financial situation. Catherine Lynde will also solicit bargaining proposals, Peter Langer will attend and speak on class size issues, the membership will vote on the FY12 FSU annual budget.

Ex Com Elections

Elections for the 11-12 Ex Com will begin next week.  John Hess (Constituency: NTT), Kathy Kogan (Constituency: NTT), Xiaogang Deng (Constituency: TT), Heike Schotten (Constituency: Pre-Tenure), Victoria Palmer-Erbs (Constituency: TT), and Catherine Lynde (Constituency: TT, President), are all up for re-election. John, Kathy, Xiaogang, and Catherine have all agreed to run again. Victoria has said she will be unable to run. Heike is in her tenure decision year so will be unable to serve in the pre-tenure Ex Com slot. However, it was suggested that she run for the open TT slot. In addition, Linda Dumas has indicated that she will be unable to finish her final year on the Ex Com in 11-12. Catherine Lynde will decide whether or not to appoint a temporary replacement or leave the slot open for the 11-12 AY. Ex Com members are asked to solicit names for open Ex Com slots.

FSU Website

The FSU has officially contracted with Union Web Services to rebuild and maintain the FSU website. CL secured permission from UMB admin for the FSU to utilize the UMB logo on its website. CL will email the Ex Com with a list of all items, links, etc. that will go on the website.  Members should think about what content they would like on the website and email their thoughts to the FSU office.

Bargaining Proposals

The FSU is starting to think about bargaining proposals for the 12-15 contracts. There was discussion of initial bargaining ideas. Members suggested the following possible bargaining items: cancellation policy for seminars, block classes, class size compensation, continuous employment for NTT, a 2nd Senior Lecturer raise after 16 years, a re-do on NT course assignment procedures, tuition agreement for UMB employee dependents with local private universities, early/phased retirement, reduction in course load for TT, and service requirements/compensation for NTT.

NTT Report

It was reported that Patrick Day, Stephen Crosby, and Peter Langer have all, in the last few weeks, spoken at NTT Caucus meetings about dorms, the Implementation Design Team, and class size issues respectively. There was discussion about the importance about UMB’s plans for the future, especially plans to expand UMB (the number of students and programs) and potentially institute a policy of larger class sizes. It was agreed that this issue is of paramount importance and will have an impact on workload for all members. It was suggested that this issue should be taken up by the Faculty Council. It was also suggested that the FSU hold hearings and ask IDT members to speak to faculty about IDT plans and proposals.

FSU Budget

It was noted that the FSU President receives an $8,000 stipend and 3 course releases per academic year (1 course release rotates between the MSP and FSU for JCC President). CL will get info from MSP on their stipends and course releases and report back to the FSU Ex Com so that the chapters can have parity in their officer compensation. It was suggested that the FSU obtain a course release and/or stipend for a proposed position of NTT faculty coordinator. Officer compensation issues will be decided as part of the FSU budget vote at the annual meeting.

Distance Education

There have been no recent meetings of the Distance Ed Committee due to non-response from Admin. It was noted that this committee needs to be pushed forward in its work. It was also suggested that the DE Comm remain separate from main table bargaining due to the specialized nature of the negotiations. There was a question as to whether or not it was feasible for the FSU to file an unfair labor practice charge with the state labor commission over Admin’s lack of response. LN will ask Mickey Gallagher about this issue.

Grievances

Updates were given on grievances for NTT in Management, the College of Nursing, the broader issue of Admin non-compliance with the Senior Lecturer provisions of the contract, a Navitas compensation issue, and long-term lecturers who are being denied benefits and priority rights dues to their retirement status from non-UMB institutions.

RES Funds

Bargaining unit members have until June 1st to spend their FY11 RES funds (letters on this were sent to barg unit members by the Provost’s Office).  25% of RES Funds for NTT will be utilized for an NTT Scholarship Fund. Eligibility for monies from this fund will be based on info provided on AFR’s. It was agreed that this issue will be placed on the agenda for the FSU annual meeting.