October 19, 2011

FSU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 10/19/2011

Present: Catherine Lynde   Cat Mazza   John Hess   Heike Schotten   Marlene Kim   Xiaogang Deng  
Kathy Kogan  

Others Present: Jeff Keisler, FSU Grievance Officer   Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator

Announcements

Newsletter- FSU Communications Director Dorothy Nelson indicated that she should have the newsletter finished by the end of the first week of November.

Catherine Lynde Sabbatical-Catherine Lynde indicated that she will be on sabbatical Fall 12 and will not be serving as President during that semester. A semester-long, interim appointment will need to be made.

Hidden Treasure-The 4th annual HT event will be taking place on October 25th and October 26th. Numerous NTT will be presenting their work at this event. Ex Com members are encouraged to attend and to tell their colleagues to attend these events.

Occupy Boston- It was reported that 15 UMB students were arrested at the Columbus Day Occupy Boston rally. It was also noted that a number of UMB faculty have done teach-ins for participants. Heike asked any faculty member who wishes to do a teach-in for Occupy Boston participants to contact her with their availability and she can arrange a time for them. It was also reported that an Occupy UMass organization may be formed in the near future.

Conference for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE)- John Hess reported that 40 rooms have already been booked in a local hotel for participants and that the President of the California Community College Association (?) will be present. The conference is free to anyone interested. A reminder email will be sent to FSU members.

All-Union Meeting
The all-union meeting with the Classified Staff Union, Faculty Staff Union, and Professional Staff Union will take place on November 1st at 12PM in the Ryan Lounge (the FSU will meet at 11AM in the same location to deal with FSU business). It was noted that UMass President Caret will have his inauguration that day at the JFK Library. It was suggested that the meeting be timed to coincide with a possible action at the inauguration around the trigger raises. It was also suggested that Caret be invited to the union meeting. Catherine agreed to ask the presidents of the other unions about this.

Bargaining
The UMB union presidents met with UMass system President Caret to discuss, among other issues, the trigger raises from the 09-12 contract. It was reported that the Governor’s office has asked Caret to extend the following offer to the UMass unions: forgo the trigger raises for FY 2011 (these would make raises retroactive to 6 months prior to their list date in the contract in the event that the Commonwealth reaches certain revenue amounts in FY09 and FY10) and accept 2 years of 3.5% raises for FY 2012 and F^ 2013 However, the raises would not be funded by the state but by UMass, unlikeevery other prior contract. It was noted that the unions need the Office of the President of UMass to be much more assertive and forceful in asking the state for more budgetary support and not leave the task to the unions alone.

It was also reported that a bargaining survey to be sent to all unit members is almost complete.

The FSU bargaining team has 4 slots (2 for TT and 2 for NTT).  The executive committee will solicit members to serve and appoint the committee next month.

FY11 FSU Un-Collectibles Dues Vote
The annual FSU audit requires that the Ex Com vote to approve a list of all bargaining unit members who the FSU will not be able to collect 10-11 dues or the 10-11 agency service fee from (these are primarily bargaining unit members who were never sent certified letters of demand for the agency, faculty members who retired prior to their final dues deduction, and/or other members not assessed dues due to late information on their bargaining unit status; the majority of people in this un-collectibles list are part-time, per-course lecturers). A motion was made to vote to approve the FY11 un-collectibles list. The motion was seconded. The vote to approve the FSU FY11 un-collectibles dues/agenc y service fee list passes unanimously.

FSU Rep Visits to Dept Meetings
The FSU will start planning to have reps attend departmental meetings to discuss the union and its work. Xiaogang Deng, Heike Schotten, Kathy Kogan, and Cat Mazza , and a list of other members have agreed to do this. There will be trainings for speakers. Speakers will not necessarily speak as FSU reps to their own departmental meetings but may attend meetings in other departments. Any one interested in serving in this capacity should contact Catherine Lynde.

NTT Committee Update
The NTT Caucus has been meeting regularly. One of the major issues of discussion is the question of NTT departmental service. This issue needs to be addressed and discussed internally within the FSU membership before the FSU can address the situation with Admin. It was suggested that some NTT put together a document with a set of talking points and possible policy prescriptions. Kathy Kogan agreed to ask the NTT Caucus for volunteers to work on this.

Grievance Committee Update
Jeff Keisler reported on tenure track faculty grievances. He noted that there were not many at the moment. However, he indicated that there have been a number of employment related issues around members who are single-parents. It was also reported that the Provost has been issuing directives re personnel reviews that directly contradict the Red Book and the contract (mostly pertaining to criteria for evaluating scholarship). It was agreed that the FSU needs to issue a formal response to the Provost demanding that the directives cease.

There was also a report on the 7 recently filed grievances, the new grievance database created by Lorenzo Nencioli to help track grievances in a more efficient manner, and the FSU’s new focus on filing grievances in a more timely fashion (i.e. better adherence to the grievance timelines mandated by the contract).

ORP/SERS Amendment
There was a report on recently- filed legislation that would allow ORP members a window of opportunity to transfer into the State Retirement System (SERS). The legislation is currently working its way through the House’s Public Service Committee. It was noted that Mass Community College Council Vice President Donnie McGhee has been very active in promoting this bill and is encouraging all members to contact their legislators in support of this bill. She is also willing to come to a union meeting to discuss this issue further.