March 8, 2010
FSU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 3/8/10
Members Present: Erin O’Brien Kathy Kogan Catherine Lynde Heike Schotten Peggy Walsh Phil Chassler Larry Kaye
Others Present: Mickey Gallagher, MTA Consultant Arthur Goldsmith, FSU Grievance Officer Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator
Announcements
Newsletter- The newsletter is being compiled and should be released by the end of March.
MTA Candidate Committee- There was discussion at the last Higher Ed Leadership Council meeting of the MTA (HELC) as to whether or not the MTA should endorse Deval Patrick’s campaign to be re-elected. A number of other unions in HELC, including UMB’s PSU and CSU, asked HELC to hold off on an endorsement until our contracts are funded. There was unanimous support in HELC for this resolution. Phil Chassler, who serves on the MTA Candidate Committee, will speak to this letter at the Committee’s meeting on Wednesday.
FSU Membership Meetings
The FSU held two membership meetings on February 23rd and 24th to discuss the proposal by the President’s Office to re-open the 09-12 CBA. About 70 members attended both meetings combined. A resolution was voted to reject the Administration’s offer as it stands. The resolution passed by unanimous vote.
Contract Funding
The 09-12 CBA is still in the House Ways and Means Committee (HWM). The MTA has a proposal to conduct an in-district meeting campaign to meet with state reps to get the contract funded. There was discussion on the need for the FSU to coordinate with the PSU and CSU on setting up these in-district meetings. Ex Com members signed up to schedule meetings with particular legislators. After the meetings are scheduled, FSU will let members living in the particular district know of the meeting, and ask them to also attend. We’ll also let the PSU and CSU know of the meetings, so their members might also attend. The PSU and CSU will also schedule some meetings and share that information with FSU.
Navitas
The University recently signed a contract with Navitas, a private corporation that will be charged with finding, enrolling, housing, and teaching international students (using UMB facilities). The contract is for 5 years. The Provost discussed the contract at the last Faculty Council meeting.
There was discussion on the Navitas contract and how the FSU should respond. It was noted that Admin has an obligation under MGL 150E to engage in impact bargaining prior to the signing of any contract that may effect union members. The FSU was not consulted before the Navitas contract was signed. There was a broad discussion of the ways in which this contract may affect current bargaining unit members- including how it will affect ESL instructors, compensation rates, and benefits for those who work for Navitas; (instructors will be employees of Navitas). There was a discussion on whether or not the Navitas contract itself represented an unethical intrusion of private sector sub-contracting into the public university sphere. There was also discussion on whether the FSU’s goal should be to prevent contracting out of unit work or to ensure that, if implemented, it will protect the rights of all those employed. It was decided that MG will submit a cease and desist memo to the Provost before the Navitas contract can come into effect due to the violation of 150E (failure to engage in impact bargain with the FSU). Once more information is received the FSU will re-open debate on how to respond.
Bylaws
There was discussion on the need to change parts of the FSU bylaws. Most of these changes involve technical matters rather than broader policy changes. The suggested changes to the bylaws were presented. It was agreed that MG would write up a draft of the suggested changes and that a membership vote on the changes will be taken at the next general FSU membership meeting.
CCDE Bargaining Update
Bargaining is ongoing. The next session will take place on March 9th and should include an offer on monetary issues from Admin.
Grievance Committee Update
The next GC meeting will take place on the 9th. There were reports given on a number of ongoing cases in both the tenure and non-tenure track faculty. It was reported that an information request was made by the FSU from the College of Management concerning their policy on lecturer course assignments- there have been indications that CM has been improperly limiting lecturers to a maximum of 2 courses a semester, which would be a violation of the CBA.
Lecturer Retirement Update
The work histories of about 55 lecturers who will be required to switch from ORP to SERS have been completed by HR. The FSU is currently setting up meetings with all the affected lecturers to present them with their own work history and retirement information, the next step needed before the switch can occur.
Lecturer Caucus Meeting
The last lecturer caucus took place in early March and was held on campus. It was reported that over 25 members attended.
PHENOM Rally and UMB Teach-In
There was a report on the 3/4/10 UMB Teach-In the 3/8/10 PHENOM rally at the State House. It was noted that the Teach-In went very well but was not as well attended as was hoped. There was a discussion on the ways in which the UMB community can be better engaged by the issues presented at the Teach-In. It was reported that the PHENOM rally went very well. There over 100 attendees as well as the announcement of the creation of a Public Higher Education caucus within the MA House of Reps.
Spring Elections
The FSU will need to run elections for the Spring Ex Com votes. The seats of 7 current Ex Com members will be up for election. LN will notify FSU members, as well as Ex Com members, of the upcoming elections.
Other Issues
The individual contract for LN will be re-examined and possibly re-negotiated to keep it aligned with the contracts for similar employees in the MSP and CSU.
The Health and Safety Committee has been meeting but there have not yet been any reports from the FSU’s rep on the H and S meeting to the Ex Com.