May 10, 2017
FSU Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Members Present: Marlene Kim; John Hess; Peggy Walsh; Andres Henao-Castro; Tina Mullins; Sofya Aptekar; Steve Levine; Askold Melcynzuk; Karen Suyemoto; Ellen Frank; Ursula Tafe; Linda Dumas; Kathy Kogan;
Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator; Jeff Keisler, TT Grievance Officer; Caroline Coscia, FSU NTT Grievance Officer; Larry Kaye, FSU Bargaining Team Member; Suzanne Wall, MTA Director of Higher Ed; Joe Ramsey, NTT Ex Com member elect; Jason Rodriquez, Pre-tenure Ex Com member elect; Steve Striffler, Tenured Ex Com member elect; Linda Liu, FSU member.
A. ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. MTA Annual meeting: Friday and Saturday, May 19-20, 2017, at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA.
2. Public Education Rally: May 20 2 pm Boston Commons
3. Adjunct Benefits Briefing: June 7th, 2017. Notice will be sent to members.
B. BUSINESS
1. Approval of previous Ex Com minutes: Motion made to approve minutes. Motion seconded. Motion is approved (contact FSU office for copies of the minutes).
2. Non-members and agency fee members campaign: Linda will contact unit members on the list who have been assigned to her this week. Sofya and Jason have contacted their folks. John spoke to an NTT in Math who since signed up. Marlene: update on Supreme Court decision and need to do membership drive before the decision. Discussion of need to reach out to current union members not just agency fee payers and non-payers. Suzanne Wall discussed history of union busting in Wisconsin, Michigan, etc.; discussion of successful organizing. Suzanne will help with FSU campaign. MTA will offer trainings for this (over summer and Fall). Caroline: Suggested that a General Assembly meeting be held Fall 17 for the purpose of gathering members more than once a year, to share information and to adopt policy and bylaw proposals. Motion made to call General Assembly meeting in October to kick off organizing effort. Motion passes.
3. FSU Blog MOU and policies: (contact FSU for copies of policies). Discussion of blog policy that was presented. Discussion of how to judge possible content for blog. Motion made to accept proposal with friendly amendment to delete last bullet of Content section of FSU Blog Guidelines and to accept the MOU for Jennifer Berkshire. Motion seconded. Motion is approved.
4. FSU Retreat: Need for a retreat to discuss membership campaign and values. Won’t be able to plan the year at this meeting as a result of these other issues. Recommendation by one member that there be an outside facilitator. Suzanne agrees to facilitate.
LARRY KAYE ENTERS
Lorenzo agrees to collect schedules from members for May and summer, set up Doodle poll for retreat. Suzanne: recommend that FSU does 1.5 days of a retreat and take a long look at shared values. Ex Com agrees to try to schedule one full day for the retreat.
LINDA LIU ENTERS
5. Bargaining process proposal (contact FSU office for copies): Introduction to the proposal and discussion of the proposal.
Motion made to have the bargaining team respond in writing to the proposal on bargaining to those who drafted the bargaining process proposal by September. The proposal passed by a 6 to 5 vote with 1 abstention.
6. Other Issues:
Protocol/Civility: Marlene began a discussion of protocol, reminding members to be respectful and not speak out of turn. She discussed how to have items submitted for email blasts and how to bring things to the Ex Com for endorsement. A motion was introduced by Ellen F to postpone this presentation and turn to a discussion of the budget. It passed unanimously.
UMB Budget Cuts/Course Cancellations: Marlene: we have asked for a count of the actual number of the Associate Lecturers (AL’s) not reappointed for the Fall but the administration says it can’t provide that number. We also have no definite information on what will happen next Spring. We spoke of the need for accurate information to counter rumors and give us a solid base on which to act. We have asked members on an email blast for information. She urged Ex Com members to go to their respective chairs and ask for solid information. We discussed the proposed negotiations on the voluntary separation the administration spoke of at the Town Hall. The FSU was just contacted on this. There was discussion of the voluntary separation option.