In the last two sessions, there has been some movement by the Administration on a few issues, but the Board of Trustees is standing firm on most of its previous positions.
Other Professional Activities: PJCFA also proposed that the allowed OPA for counseling and library faculty be increased from 1 hour per week to 20% of affected faculty member’s workweek, still substantially less than the OPA time allowed for teaching faculty.
Since the administration’s position on scheduling OPA is that it is time for faculty to be collegial and participate on committees and other voluntary activities, it is only logical that ALL faculty should be allocated sufficient time to be collegial. However, the Board of Trustees has rejected any language increasing the OPA time for library or counseling faculty.
In addition, the BOT’s only offer on OPA has been to allow faculty teaching online courses to schedule half their OPA time off campus. Since the CBA does not contain any language requiring faculty to designate where OPA is served currently, this offer is meaningless.
The BOT has refused to consider removing the requirement to schedule OPA time on the weekly door schedule. WE ARE CURRENTLY AT IMPASSE ON THIS ISSUE (Article 9).
Retrenchment: PJCFA had proposed adding a second paid year for training of faculty whose programs are being eliminated. The Board countered with an offer of a second unpaid year designated for training. At the October 25 session, the PJCFA accepted the Board’s offer of the second unpaid year with paid health insurance benefits.
Portfolios: At the October 9 session, the BOT presented language removing the use of teaching portfolios for both annual evaluations (Article 11) and promotion (Article 17).
PJCFA accepted the removal of teaching portfolios for annual evaluations (Article 11) and countered with a Letter of Agreement concerning the use of portfolios for promotions (Article 17).
The Board has agreed that portfolios will cease to be accepted promotion applications except in the following two cases: (1) any faculty member applying for promotion in 2009 will be allowed to submit either a portfolio or a packet; (2) all faculty members hired between July 1, 2006, and December 31, 2008, will be allowed to use the portfolio to apply for initial credentialing. If initial credentialing is awarded based on the portfolio, faculty members hired as instructors will be automatically promoted to assistant professor. Thereafter, the portfolio will no longer be used at PJC for promotions.
Failed Promotions: PJCFA proposed that any faculty member who is denied promotion despite available promotion spots be given a summary of the Joint Promotion Committee’s notes concerning the candidate’s promotion packet. The BOT has agreed to insert language guaranteeing that the Academic Vice-President will summarize the Committee’s findings in a letter to be delivered to the failed applicant concurrent with the notification of successful candidates.
Alternate Pay Schedule: PJCFA had proposed a year-round pay schedule for faculty, in which the base salary would be divided by 26, to be paid out bi-weekly from the first paydate in August through June 30. On June 30, the remaining pay would be remitted to the faculty member in one lump sum. The BOT has agreed to this alternative pay schedule. Implementation will begin in August 2009, with enrollment into the program beginning in March 2009.
Summer Hours: PJCFA requested that the Board respond specifically to the FA’s proposal to increase summer office hours for teaching faculty by 12 hours per semester and for library and counseling faculty by 6 hours per semester. PJCFA’s position is that 2 office hours/week is inadequate to handle the student and grading workload. The BOT rejected this proposal.
Midterm Grades: After opening convocation, PJCFA President Sweeney wrote a letter to Dr. Meadows stating that we find this new task a violation of the CBA and demanding that the administration bring language on midterm grades to the bargaining table. The BOT and Dr. Meadows have refused to bargain this issue, so PJCFA will be filing a grievance and an Unfair Labor Practices suit against the College over it.
Health Insurance: PJCFA announced that it will be bargaining health insurance during next year’s bargaining cycle. Any concerns or suggestions PJCFA members have about this issue are welcome!
Intellectual Property Rights: PJCFA and the BOT have signed a Letter of Agreement concerning a process by which faculty and administration will form a white-paper committee to hammer out language acceptable to both parties. Under terms of the LOA, the committee will begin meeting in December and finish in April, with conclusions to be presented during the next bargaining cycle.
Salary Plan: At the October 9 meeting, PJCFA iterated its understanding of the tight budget for this year. However, PJCFA reiterated that the College has an almost 20 year history of refusing to honor its pledge to move faculty salaries into the top 20% in the state, yet has managed to squirrel away a 9.8% fund balance and fund a golden parachute retirement plan for senior administrators. PJCFA emphasized that the FA’s goal is to get a 3 to 6-year plan in place to move faculty salaries in line with the 20% goal.
The BOT said it would further examine the Association’s concerns. At the October 25 meeting, the Board representative stated that he had hoped to have a proposal regarding Article 15.01C (Base Salaries) for the meeting but had not received all the information. He promised to present this information during the next meeting, November 6.
The next (I’m afraid to say final because that appears to jinx the process) bargaining session is Thursday, November 6, at 1:30 in Room 416. It should be interesting as Dr. Samuels has indicated that the Board will present something on salaries.
We would love to pack the house. Please drop by if you can!
Paige Anderson, Chief Negotiator
4 comments:
Kudos Paige and Team. While we can't always get what we want, it's good to have a team fight for what we need. Your efforts are appreciated!
Seconded. Thank you to Paige and everyone on the bargaining team for all your work. You are fabulous!
It looks like we are being listened to and administration is working. Aside from money issues, I believe that we are in better shape now than we were last year or the year before last. If administration can be as thoughtful and as diligent as we are, then administration will be in good shape. The question should always be "What would Joe Faculty member think?"
Seems more like the team tried hard, but we've never gotten less. Admin is kicking faculty into the dirt and wants you to smile while they complete the tromping and fly off on their golden parachutes, because they might give health insurance to a couple of faculty while they retrain them.
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