Redeem multipark passes, union win on videotaping, and travel funds

11/15/2019

Dear Colleague,

I hope you are having a great semester.  Here are some updates. 

► Reimbursement for Multi-Park Passes.  Faculty who purchased multi-park passes before the spring 2019 semester can redeem the unused amounts from these passes from now until January 15, 2021.  The university is extending the deadline for faculty to redeem these, so don’t toss these and dig out those old passes.  (Contact the Office of Transportation Services for more information).  The university will be announcing this soon. 

► Travel Funds. The FSU contract provides up to $1,000 for tenure track faculty to present research at conferences (see here for more information). In addition, colleges may have their own non-contractual funds for travel. The travel funds dictated by our contract are not subject to change or removal unless changes in these funds are negotiated and agreed to between the FSU and the administration. However, the college-level funds are subject to change or removal, and colleges are not required to negotiate with the union before omitting or changing these. Therefore, we strongly recommend that faculty members check with their colleges to make sure that any non-contractual, college level funds are still available before making any travel plans to conferences, etc. that rely on these college level funds.

►Videotaping Union Activities: Last year, during a demonstration, the university police videotaped union members on campus.  The Faculty Staff Union, along with our sister staff unions (the PSU and CSU), filed unfair labor practice charges.  In response, the university sent us this message.  Know that such videotaping by police is unlawful. 

The University wants to acknowledge that it agrees that videotaping employees under these types of circumstances is not part of our normal protocol.  This was unfortunate.  We do not anticipate a recurrence of videotaping in the circumstances at issue here.

I want to reiterate that the University does not see videotaping employees participating in these events as a regular practice.  The University supports the free expression of ideas and opinions. 

The University agrees to respect and observe the rights of bargaining unit members to engage in protected concerted activity and the university will not target union members in their exercise of those rights pursuant to chapter 150E.

►Retirement counseling from the MTA.  Sessions are available in their Quincy and Worcester offices to help members decide the best time to retire, determine if you have buy-back opportunities, provide information on retiree health insurance, Medicare and Social Security benefits, and answer many other questions. Please see here for more information and to schedule an appointment. 

Sincerely,

Marlene Kim

FSU President

Professor, Economics

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