April 9, 2014- FSU Annual Meeting

Catherine Lynde reported that she has asked Admin the status of merit raises (they were supposed to have been effectuated January 2014). It was reported that DPC’s are still waiting for their merit amounts from the Provost’s Office.

 

It was noted that there will be further lot closings beginning June 7th, 2014. 

 

There was discussion of the need to get FSU delegates to attend the meeting and vote on the resolution concerning the proposed legislation on retiree health insurance. 

 

There will be a forum on 4/23/14 for department chairs at UMB to discuss unionization efforts on their behalf. An election to decide whether or not chairs become part of the union will occur pending approval from the Department of Labor Relations.

 

There was discussion of the proposed budget. It was noted that the current iteration of the proposed budget includes a $5 dues increase despite the fact that no dues increase is being proposed.  There was a motion to ratify the proposed FY15 FSU budget to the FSU membership with the caveat that the budget would be re-written to exclude a $5 dues increase. The motion was seconded. The  proposed FY15 FSU budget, to be re-written without a $5 dues increase, was ratified.

 

An update on the status of current contract negotiations was.  FSU bargaining team member Marlene Kim reported that the FSU-MSP bargaining team will be pushing for a new Senior Professor rank, improved sabbatical language, improved tuition waiver language for spouses and dependents, and other proposals, particularly for lecturers, that have yet to be formulated.  Catherine Lynde reported that the community colleges will be receiving raises of 3.5% annually during the life of their contracts. The FSU-MSP will push for the same for UMass contracts. It was noted that there is a strong need to address workload issues and to set benchmarks for any tenure track 2/2 proposals. It was also noted that there will be an effort made by the FSU to push for a Gender Equity Study on campus.

 

 

MTA Annual Meeting- Member Al Leisinger encouraged other members to attend both the MTA and NEA annual meetings and encouraged attendees to vote for MTA Presidential candidate Barbara Maddeloni.

 

AQ Issues in College of Management- A member raises the concern that the College of Management requires lecturers to maintain academic qualifications that involve research and scholarship. It was noted that this was a way around contract language that explicitly states that lecturers are to be compensated for teaching and, when indicated, service.