Council Minutes – Feb 23, 2016

Location: SB-105
Time: 11AM

Members Present:  Dave Michalak, Fred Loveland, Dan Brennan, Ted Nappi (Proxy for Jason Detrani), Judi Dzuba, Bill Hollister, Brian Loy, John Pierog, Suzanne Shepard, Tim Skinner, Jason Smith, Howard Streby, Anne Uncapher (Proxy for Meghan McGuiness), Leon Wlazlo, David Zeggert, and Joe Spence
Absent: Joan Lubar
Guests: Kerry Weber, Mark Ryan

Meeting called to order at 11:03 PM

December minutes passed unanimously (Motion: H. Streby. Second: J. Dzuba)

Committee Reports:

  1. Organizing Committee:
    • Suzanne asked Rep Council members to sign up for Organizing Institute and Action Committee.
    • In lieu of a Holiday party, Organizing Committee is working on a Welcome Back party in March/April. Suzanne is also looking at setting up a Google Calendar account to facilitate scheduling events. Brothers 2 and the Galley were mentioned as possible sites for a gathering.
    • Planning a screening of the documentary, “Wisconsin Rising”.
    • NYSUT and FA are carefully watching the Supreme Court for their decision regarding the Fair Share decision impacting collective bargaining.
  2. Negotiations Resource Committee:
    • The NRC will be supporting the work of the Action Committee.

Officer Reports:

  1. President’s Report:
    1. Labor Management had been suspended during negotiations, but has reactivated to discuss critical issues including the discrepancies between courses taught as Contact vs. Lecture mode. College argues that any change would be extremely cost-prohibitive.
    2. A tentative MOU has been drafted with regard to issues in the Nursing Department. The college wants to implement a 12 month chair position. Any change such as this requires bargaining. This has been in discussion for a year and is intended to allow the department to hire a ranked faculty member as a chairperson with the exclusive responsibility of completing  requirements for their re-accreditation.
    3. FA is still trying to complete the MOU guaranteeing members representation in the event of another Article 72 proceeding. FA is merely seeking the right to representation for all members in such proceedings.
    4. At the most recent negotiation session, the college asked to send the distance learning MOU back to Labor Management. Bottom line, college does not want to pay faculty to train on and learn new platforms or to develop new courses.
  2. Vice President’s Report:
    1. Fred discussed the logistical difficulties of having a FA get together off campus. Costs have escalated substantially so we will look at on-campus options.
    2. Fred brought up an MOU to address the procedure for using online course evaluations. The current model of opt-out for evaluations is contrary to the contract and to faculty rights. College has agreed but the process is lengthy so a waiver of all online evaluations is being discussed for a semester.
    3. An update of negotiations was provided. Mike Lynch, our NYSUT rep, advanced several proposals. Regina Losinger stated that she is not authorized to make decisions on finality of contract issues- in other words, she asserts that she does not have the authority to negotiate items and then agree to them. Mike, after asking who was authorized to negotiate items, asked for a meeting with the Board of Trustees. Dr. Drumm informed FA leadership that the College’s Board of Trustees has stated that they will NOT meet with the Negotiating Team nor partake in the negotiations process. Dr. Drumm has stated that he would be willing to meet with the negotiating team.
    4. Some members who had passed the mandatory time frame for 3% contribution to their own retirement accounts were still being docked 3% of their pay for that purpose. All money wrongfully taken has been refunded. FA also negotiated a small fee (5% of what was deducted) to compensate members for loss of use of the funds.
    5. FA is still investigating the new hiring system and mislabeling of applicants for positions. Search committees are advised to double check the “Disqualified” list that the HR system generates for errors.
  3. Treasurer’s Report:
    1. Dental dues are being collected. Rob is in the process of negotiating and updating the Dental contract. This could result in an increase of $4.00 to $5.00 per plan in terms of the premiums we pay. The Basic plan may change slightly so that the deductible covers more expenses.
  4. NEW BUSINESS: None.

Motion to adjourn made at 12:07PM by D. Zeggert, seconded by H. Streby. Unanimous.

Respectfully submitted,
Joseph S. Spence
FA Secretary

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