FIRST 2008 BARGAINING SESSION HELD

The first bargaining session of 2008 was held February 12 at 1:30pm in Room 416. Those attending for the Association were Chief Negotiator Paige Anderson, Cindy App, Charlotte Sweeney and Blaine Wall. Those attending for the Administration were Chief Negotiator Dr. Keith Samuels, and Interim Vice President Academic Affairs/Provost, Pensacola Campus Dr. Jeff Cantor.

This was a meeting to establish topics, time frames, and process for the negotiations. While this is an open book year - meaning that any part of the contract is open for discussion - there are certainly areas that will require more deliberation than others.

Ms. Anderson posed the question of whom we were negotiating with this year. Of course, the ultimate answer is the same as always - the Board of Trustees. Dr. Samuels assured the team that Dr. Delaino would continue to be completely involved until the new president is hired. When asked about having an administrative "team" at the table, Dr. Samuels said that it had been Dr. Delaino's decision to send solely the Chief Negotiator, but that he would carry the concern back to Dr. Delaino. Ms. Anderson asked whether it would be possible to have a member of the BOT attend the negotiations. Dr. Samuels' response was that it had not happened before but that he would also take that request to Dr. Delaino who also serves as Secretary to the BOT.

Dr. App discussed the desire of PJCFA to work in collaborative rather than confrontational environment with the mission of the college and the needs of the students as the measuring stick for our work. Ms. Anderson added that in upcoming years, the College might invest in training for interest based bargaining which has been successful at several colleges and universities.

Ms. Anderson listed several concerns that had already been raised by the faculty to be addressed during this year's negotiations and informed Dr. Samuels of the bargaining issue survey that was currently being conducted by PJCFA.

It was agreed to attempt to have bi-weekly negotiating sessions on Tuesdays. Ms. Anderson and Dr. Samuels will schedule the next session and inform the bargaining team of the date and time.