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Massachusetts Community College Council |
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NEWSLETTER |
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Volume IV |
April, 1987 |
Number Seven |
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Massachusetts Community College Council |
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NEWSLETTER |
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Volume IV |
April, 1987 |
Number Seven |
In This Issue:
Jan
Kroboth The Third Annual Jon G. Butler
Memorial Award for outstanding chapter presi-dent will be
awarded at the MCCC Delegate Assembly on Saturday, April 25,
1987. This award was established in the Fall of 1984 in
honor of Jon Butler, former chap-ter president at Northern
Essex Community College, former MCCC Research Co-ordinator,
and an outspoken and active proponent of unit members'
rights. This year's recipient is chapter
president, Jan Kroboth, from Berkshire Com-munity College.
Jan is an Associate Professor of Business and has been
teaching full time at the college since 1980. A nontraditional student, Jan decided
to go to college after her youngest son began school. She
received her A.A. in Business Administration from Berkshire
Community College. She then transferred to SUNY at Albany
and received her B.S. in Accounting and M.S. in Business
Education. While in graduate school, she worked on a grant
at Berkshire Community College, and in 1980 was hired full
time in the Business Division. For the past three years, she
has been chair of the Business Department. In 1981 she was elected vice president
of the local chapter, and in 1983 was elected chapter
president. "What I enjoy most about being chapter president
is the satisfaction I get from being able to solve many of
the dilemmas that arise and working with colleagues as a
team. Though the job is very time consuming and working with
the various personalities is sometimes difficult, the
satisfaction of being able to remedy many of the problems of
the unit members far outweighs the negative aspects.
Berkshire has a cohesive group of unit members working with
and for each other. I attribute our ability to keep things
under control to the weekly MACER meetings. We settle a lot
of issues or potential problems quickly because of the
constant communication. There is also a good mix within the
leadership. Vice President Jim Border, MCCC Director Art
Phinney, and I work very well together we are a team."
The vote of no confidence against
their president, Jonathan Daube, however, was the most
disconcerting thing that has happened since her involvement
in the union. "The president had tried to dismiss two
faculty members last summer. The discussion of that
attempted dismissal among the membership when they returned
to school in September opened up many old wounds and
feelings of distrust against the president. This led to the
vote of no confidence." Since Daube's resignation, though,
the membership has gained recognition with the Trustees.
"They are now talking to us and are more involved and
showing their concern about what goes on at the campus."
Principles are very important to me,
and I feel compelled to defend them. Though our local
leadership recognizes that there is an adversarial
relationship between the union and management, we always try
to maintain a collegial atmos-phere. We do not always agree,
but we always respect each other's opinion and try to work
out agreements that everyone can live with while
main-taining the integrity of the contract."
JAN KROBOTH
TO BE
HONORED
April 25, 1987, marks the 12th annual
meeting of the MCCC/MTA. This year also marks the 26th year
of existence of the Massachusetts Community College system.
The MCCC has been the exclusive bargaining agent for faculty
and professional staff since 1976 through four ratified
contracts. The present negotia-tions will result in the
fifth contract. Your deliberations on this day are important
to the continuation of the goals and objectives of the MCCC.
The MCCC objectives have been to
maintain and improve the quality of educa-tional services
through the protection of professional rights and
advancement of the economic well being and working
conditions of its members. The past seven years have been
particularly onerous for the MCCC. The pre-ceding contract
and the current contract required factfinding while the
80-83 contract required mediation. The Regents, the
presidents, and the attorneys for the presidents have tried
to thwart the economic and professional aspirations of the
faculty and professional staff unit members at every
juncture. The MCCC has responded by building a
strong organization with a vigorous pursuit of grievance and
arbitration demands on behalf of all its members. It has
been necessary to file charges for violations of Chapter
150E of the Mass. General Laws, and in over 15 instances,
complaints have been issued against college presidents and
college deans in the system. James J. Healy, the factfinder in the
last contract and in the present negotiations, found it
necessary to comment on the negative leadership style and
negotiating positioning in the labor/management
relationship. Not much has changed. We are currently
at loggerheads with the Chancellor and the chairman of the
Regents who have nixed the factfinder's recommendation of .5
percent in the second and third year of the proposed
contract. The MCCC is in a familiar posture of
having to fight for what is justly deserved. The fact that
the 15 community colleges of Massachusetts have been meeting
the diverse needs of the Massachusetts citizenery within the
context of high produc-tivity seems to be lost. April 25 is a day in which the MCCC
takes itself into account in terms of its history and in
terms of its continued goals within the context of the
current struggle. Individual delegates are urged to
scrutinized the bylaw change, the dues recommendation, as
well as the additional 13 reports. April 25 is the most
impor-tant day for the rank and file to have its say. I look
forward to seeing you. (James F. Rice, MCCC President)
MCCC ANNUAL MEETING APRIL
25, 1987
In addition to one bylaw change which
would extend the definition of active membership to include
part-time professional employees, both day and continuing
education, a large part of discussion of any annual meeting
is its proposed budget. The following is the proposed dues
structure, budget and income for Fiscal 1988 for your
perusal. Fiscal
1987: $86 per member which included
$1 3 for the local chapter x 1750 (this represented
no increase from FY 86) 150,500 Fiscal
1988: $102 per member x 1800 and
projected DCE membership 300 x $20. Local chapter
would still receive $13. The increase of $1 6
consists of $14.44 for Research Coordinator salary,
five additional section of release time for
chapters $5000 increase in negotiations account for
DCE contract, and $5,000 for increase in
arbitration account. The remaining $1.56 is for
operating budget increases. 189,600
PROPOSED DUES
STRUCTURE
01 Salary* $41,200 $48,600 02 Secretarial Services 6,500 7,500 03 Released lime 25,000 37,500 11 Executive Committee 6,500 7,500 12 Board of Directors 9,000 9,000 13 Committee Travel 3,500 3,500 14 Conventions/ Workshops 9,000 11,000 MCCC Delegate Assembly MCCC Workshops MTA
Annual Meeting MTA
Leadership Workshop NEA
Annual Meeting 15 Coordinator Travel 1,200 22 Telephone 3,500 3,700 24 Postage 2,200 3,000 25 Equipment 2,500 2,500 26 Office Supplies 1,000 1,200 27 Printing 8,000 8,000 28 Paper 400 400 29 Bank Charges 200 200 30 Membership Services 1,000 1,000 Membership
in other Professional Organizations 32 Dues/ Associations 500 500 Bad Debts Account 44 Payroll Taxes 4,500 4,500 45 Insurance 700 1,200 51 Professional Fees 4,500 5,000 Auditors Bookkeepers Research
Reports 54 Negotiations 15,000 20,000 55 Arbitration 10,000 15,000 57 Penalties! Fees 100 100 59 Miscellaneous 300 300 61 Surplus 3,000 3,000 62 Contingency 3,000 3,000 71 Payment to chapters 22,750 24,300 71 Local Chapter Support 7,000 9,000 Total $192,050 $231,700 *Research Coordinator position to be filled.
BUDGET
PROPOSAL
FISCAL YEAR
1987
Fiscal 1987 Fiscal1988 $150,500 Local Dues: $189,600 7,000 Interest 6,500 35,000 MTA Local Association
Support 36,000 $192,500 Total $232,100
PROJECTED
INCOME FISCAL
YEAR 1988
On March 25, 1987, the MCCC and
management met to continue negotiations. The union was again
told that the Regents would accept the factfinder's report
except for the additional .5percent in the second and third
year. Negotiations still continue, however, and tentative
agreements on some articles have been signed -for example,
an early retirement provision, abolition of the workload
panel, resolu-tion of work outside the academic year,
28-step salary schedule, and transferability of just cause
standard from one college to another. The teams will meet
again on April 3, 9, and 10.
NEGOTIATIONS
A prohibitive practice charge was
filed on behalf of Carol Sokolowski from Massasoit Community
College concerning management's interference with the
Union's rights to resolve grievances with the Board of
Regents. This charge was resolved prior to the hearing at
the Labor Relations Commission. It was agreed that all
parties would cease all written communications related to
Sokolowski's and Assistant Dean of DCE Naomi Louison's
affirmative action claims and the specific charge of
prohibited practice. The president of Massasoit, Gerard
Burke, would send a letter to administrators George
MacDonald and Naomi Louison requesting that they cease all
communication with Sokolowski related to these matters.
President Burke will meet with Professor Sokolowski, as well
as a representative from the association and management, to
hear Professor Sokolowski's final thoughts on these matters.
Reasonable assurances were given that in the future,
Professor Sokolowski will be offered DCE courses on the same
terms available to similarly situated day faculty.
A chapter grievance was filed by the
Roxbury Community College chapter concerning the
diminishment of promotional opportunities after a quota
grievance was filed. The president agreed to increase the
number of promotional oppor-tunities from three to seven as
originally announced before the grievance was filed.
• The Higher Education Task
Force, has been formed by the MTA to look at the reports
which have been published in the past year concerning reform
in higher education. This task force evolved from the
statewide Higher Education Conference held in November. The
task force is hoping to have a recommenda-tion ready for the
June MTA Board of Directors meeting. Ernest Therrien from
Springfield Technical Community College and Dennis Martin
from Cape Cod Community College are the only two faculty
from the community colleges on this committee.
RESOLVED
GRIEVANCES
NOTA BENE
Apr.
10 Leadership Training Conference for
local leadership of Worcester, MA Apr.
25 MCCC Annual Meeting, Mt.
Wachusett May
8-9 MTA Annual Meeting, Boston Apr.
8 Sabbatical Recommendations due to
Board Apr.
15 Recommendations for tenure and
one-year appointments from Dean Apr.
24 Fall courses assigned
CALENDAR
KNOW YOUR
CONTRACT
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Editor: |
The MCCC Newsletter is a publication of the Massachusetts Community College Council. The Newsletter is intended to be an information source for the members of the MCCC and for other interested parties. The material in this publication may be reprinted with the acknowledgement of its source. For futher information on issues discussed in this publication,contact Catherine A Boudreau, Massasoit Community College, Brockton, MA 02402. |
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