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Volume XII |
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Number Ten |
In This Issue:
In the summer of 1987, the MCCC lost one of its most respected leaders when the MCCC Treasurer Raymond C. Lemieux from Springfield Technical Community College died suddenly of a heart attack. Ray Lemieux was a man who was committed to the teaching profession. He was equally committed to representing and defending the professional rights of his colleagues. He was actively involved on his campus and in the MCCC, MTA, and NEA, and he earned the respect of faculty, professional staff, and administrators alike. His command of the college and state accounting systems made him indispensable when we needed to set up new salary schedules and integrate all the members onto the schedule.
In 1991 the MCCC established an award in Ray's memory. It is given to a unit member who personifies the qualities and characteristics ..."of an individual whose service, leadership, and dedication have contributed significantly to the Massachusetts Community College Council. Criteria for the award are service to higher education and to the labor movement in the quest for improved working conditions, and the maintenance of high standards of professional excellence and demonstrated leadership in the MCCC and higher education.
At the MCCC Delegate Assembly on April 23, 1994, the third Raymond C. Lemieux award was presented to Jim Rice. Jim is a professor of Speech and English at Quinsigamond Community College and was the MCCC President for ten years.
Unions and work have been partners throughout Jim's working career. At 17 Jim worked part time as a truck driver and was a member of Teamsters Local 170. He remained in the Teamsters for 10 years until he began teaching summer school at Quinsigamond Community College.
After being graduated from Assumption College with an A.B. in English, he was a teacher/coordinator of the Uxbridge High School Reading Program for three years. He then went to Westborough High School, and in 1971 Quinsigamond Community College hired him to teach Speech. He had by now received an M.Ed. from Worcester State College, and subsequently did post masters work at Worcester State College and the University of Massachusetts.
A few years after being hired, there was a salary freeze by the Dukakis administration. Also, in the mid 1970's, Chapter 150E passed allowing state employees to organize for collective bargaining. Jim actively worked for the unionization of the community colleges, and in 1976 the MCCC elected its first officers. During the first year of its organization, the treasurer's seat became vacant, and Jim was elected. He remained the treasurer until 1982 when he was elected MCCC President.
In 1982 the MCCC was in the middle of a decertification campaign. He worked with campuses to defeat the decertification and created order where there had been chaos. Along with a strong leadership team, Jim took a badly divided organization and revitalized it. He oversaw the ratification of a strong, professional contract that emanated from a factfinder's report. He supported vigorous contract maintenance "because the member's all benefit when the contract is enforced." According to Rice, "The MCCC has an excellent contract, one of the best higher education contracts on a national level. A union's job is to try to improve the conditions of employment, wages, and hours for all members. I believe the MCCC has been very successful in adhering to that philosophy."
>While Jim was president, he became involved in other union activities. He was the chair of the MTA Higher Education Leadership Council (HELC) from 1984 to 1992, a trustee on the Health and Welfare Trust Fund from 1987-1992, and chair of the Massachusetts Higher Education Caucus from 1988-1992.<
He also became involved at the national level. In 1989 NEA President Keith Geiger appointed Jim to the NEA Higher Education Standing Committee where he helped develop programs and policies to improve NEA's service to higher education. Jim remained on that committee until 1993 when the committee was disbanded. In 1990 he was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), a position he still holds. The NCHE is a higher education caucus within the NEA. Its officers and Executive Committee monitor NEA meetings and budget deliberations making sure that higher education gets service and program monies from the NEA.
During the ten years he was MCCC President, Jim worked to create an organization that would be responsive to members. With a new leadership team and the Board, he took the structure that existed in 1982 and expanded and improved upon it. Coordinators worked with MTA to provide legislative monitoring, newsletters went from three or four per year to eleven, research data was collected and analyzed, and strong, effective, and efficient grievance/arbitration procedures and reporting mechanisms were established.
"There was always something happening, always a big issue that needed to be addressed," said Rice. "From 1982 after the decertification to late 1988 when the budgets began to get tight, the community colleges were expanding. We received good raises in the 1983-1986 and 1986-1989 contracts, had strong contract language, and the equity suit was in Federal Court. We organized the part-time and DCE employees because most had not received a raise in nearly ten years. Then the term "reversions" became part of our vocabulary as the governor tried to end the fiscal year in the black. Tuition increases got tied to tuition retention, even if fleetingly. We had moved from a state-funded system (though never fully) to a state-supported system, with now more than 50 percent of the colleges' budgets coming from other sources than the state's appropriation."
Ernest Therrien from Springfield Technical Community College was a close friend and colleague of Ray Lemieux. In his presentation to Jim, Ernest noted the similarities between the two. "Ray had been very active at the chapter, local, state, and national levels. Jim, also, has been active in all those places as well. Jim, like Ray, has been a longtime contributor to the labor movement." In his closing remarks, Ernest quoted a passage from Theodore Roosevelt's writings. They apply to Jim and to Ray and to the members within the union who choose involvement in a difficult arena in difficult times.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt
Articles and Graphic Designs Wanted for Journal° Articles. Dr. Peter Meggison from Massasoit from Massasoit Community College, chair of the community college interdisciplinary Journal, The Scholar, has sent a letter to all chapter presidents asking them to distribute a request for articles for the first edition. The journal, due out in the Fall, will be an academic sampler. If any unit member has published an article that he or she would like to have printed in the journal, Please contact Peter Meggison at Massasoit (One Massasoit Boulevard, Brockton, MA 02402). ° Graphic Design. A letter was sent to
Graphic Arts Department Chairs in the community college
inviting unit members to submit a cover design for the
journal. Anyone interested in submitting a Proposal should
contact the Journal editor, Catherine Boudreau for the
criteria for the design. Award: $300 plus credit in the
journal. |
The vacancies within the community colleges are easily accessible on the MTA Bulletin Board System (BBS). You can read, download, and/or print these vacancies at your terminal. If you do not have access to a modem, a printout can be faxed to you. Fax your request to the Communications Coordinator at 617- 236-0448. You must include the name of the college(s) where you work.
to access the BBS from within Massachusetts dial 1-800-523- 8883.
(enter your baud, 8 data bits; 1 stop; NONE parity). Enter your name
and password. Sequence: Check for New File (N); LWBulletin-Q(uit) and
enter. F(ile); 6 (Vacancies in community colleges); (F)files in this
area; (V)iew and type in full number on last entry e.g. 11-01-94.
Specific questions about the bulletin board go to the systems
operator (SYSop) Ron Miller, preferably through the BBS. Questions
about a particular aspect of a job go to the individual colleges.
The MCCC has been at the bargaining table for nine months. From the Bargaining Updates, unit members know that management has put a contract on the table with dramatic take backs in language with no economic package. The MCCC has asked repeatedly when the presidents would put money on the table. The answer has been consistent; "We have no authority to offer any money."
On March 2, 1994, Roy Milbury, Director of Labor Relations for the University of Massachusetts wrote a letter to Joseph A. Trainer, Assistant Secretary of Administration and Finance (A&F) as a follow up to a meeting between U. Mass. President Michael Hooker and A&F Secretary Mark Robinson. The meeting concerned a proposed salary package for faculty and professional staff at the University. Milbury wrote, "... the University would like to offer a salary pool of 4.5% to 5% in each of the three years of the collective bargaining contract period." His letter outlined the rationale for the salary increase and presented data comparing the University to other peer universities in the country. This request was to be passed onto the governor. Last week, the University put a salary package on the table of 5%-5%-5%. There are many problems, however, with the president's offer from the union's perspective--it is all merit, and it does not provide a full 5-5-5 for the full three years. But, the fact remains that there is a move with respect to money at the University level.
On May 5, 1994, Chancellor Koplik wrote a letter to the governor suggesting . . ."that salary increases in a range at least reflective of the regionally adjusted consumer price index be authorized for use by our negotiators [for state and community colleges]" And, on May 9, 1994, one community college president wrote a letter to his colleagues asking that the community college presidents put an economic package on the table (see below). €
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HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE 303 HOMESTEAD AVENUE HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS 01040
Cynthia Denehy's April 28 memorandum quotes Mr. Fitzgerald as saying that the workload proposal was unnecessary, vindictive, and evidence that the College Presidents have nothing but disdain for the MCCC members. This is the incredible, typical rhetoric that comes about when we place ourselves in an impossible situation. We are attempting to negotiate a contract to ask for a more demanding workload and other changes without having one thin dime to place on the table in terms of economic reward. Fundamental to a bargaining process is some sort of economic incentive and that is totally lacking from our side. We should be spending less time with the Union officials and more time with Chancellor Koplik, Richard Wiley, Chairman of the H.E.C.C. Board, the Secretary of Administration and Finance and the Governor. If we want change, we have got to convince the aforementioned to give us an economic slice rather than ask the Union to increase workloads without offering an incentive. We have been at the process since November, at least two or three meetings per month. We have expended thousands of dollars for attorneys. Although the session with Conflict Management, Inc. on May 23 is free, I am sure we might end up spending additional dollars with this organization. I clearly believe they will only tell us what we already know, i.e., there has got to be some economic incentive. I also believe it is important that we do not lose our way over the fundamentals of collective bargaining. People want economic rewards; 92-96% of our professionals at Holyoke don't need a hundred page Union Contract on how to do their jobs. In fact, most of them already exceed the contract in every way to help students. The professional union members at Holyoke, and in the system, want more dollars in their pay checks. Once again, I would like to emphasize that instead of meeting 10 or 15 times with the Union Officials, we should be spending our time with Chancellor Koplik, Chairman Wiley, Secretary Robertson and Governor Weld. These people hold the keys to resolving the issues regarding a Union Contract. |
The MTA will hold its Summer Leadership Conference August 15-19 at Williams College in Williamstown. The MCCC will fully fund two individuals from each chapter to attend this conference.
This year, the conference will have a more thematic approach. For the past couple of years, more tracks were being added, and last year 27 separate tracks were available. To streamline the conference, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings will begin with a plenary session for all attendees. A series of workshops will flow from the plenary session for the remainder of the morning. The afternoon will be for all other workshops and tracks.
The higher education track will continue as in previous years. It will begin with a higher education luncheon Wednesday, and the Chancellor of Higher Education Stanley Koplik will be the keynote speaker.
The Conference agenda is still in the planning stages. MTA will
mail the full Conference packet by the middle of June to last year's
attendees. The June Newsletter will have the full agenda and
application information. If you have any questions, contact your
chapter president.
By a strong roll call vote, the House refused to delete the early retirement program for higher education from the House budget. It was a short debate between Rep. Teague (for deletion) and Rep. Lambert (against deletion) culminating in a vote of 15- 122 rejecting the amendment to delete.
Other amendments to improve the language did not pass. The MTA amendments would have deleted the provision to have campuses pick up the increased pension and insurance costs and would have deleted the cap on refills. Rep. Phil Travis' amendment to make it easier to refill by aggregating the cost limits rather than having the cost limit apply to each particular position was adopted.
The Senate will be debating this budget by the time you read this.
It is imperative for all unit members to fill out the cards for their
legislators. The bill that is before the legislature is the same bill
the governor vetoed last summer. If we are to prevail on getting an
early retirement bill, all unit members must join to ensure enough
votes for an override if the governor vetoes this outside section
this summer. The MCCC and the MTA believe there is an excellent
chance of getting an early retirement program for higher education
passed, but this cannot be accomplished without the sup port and
participation of the membership. Susan Dole, MCCC Vice President, is
coordinating this campaign. Please contact her if you need additional
cards or information.
The MCCC and the presidents have signed an agreement to offer cost savings options to unit members. This agreement, originally offered three years ago, consists of a menu of options from which individual colleges can choose to offer. No college is obligated to offer any of the options.
Options: Early Retirement Incentives; Unpaid Leaves of Absence; Cost-Savings Sabbaticals; Reduced Work Week; Ten- Month Contracts; and Calendar Changes.
Each college will determine if it will make this available to unit members, and each college will determine a "window" period. No proposals will be accepted after the deadline.
If anyone is interested in seeing the complete agreement, please
contact your MCCC Director.
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May 30 |
Professional Staff submit (E4) & (E5) |
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May 31 |
Latest Academic Year Ends |
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June 1 |
Professional Work Assignment submitted |
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June 1 |
Professional Work Performance Evaluation |
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June 1 |
Part-time faculty receive student evaluations |
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June 5 |
Fall sabbatical's awarded |
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June 6 |
Fall 1994 Leave of Absence decisions due from President |
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June 10 |
Professional Staff receive E and E5 evaluations |
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June 15 |
Professional Staff Post Evaluation Conference |
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June 15 |
Professional Staff Summary Evaluations E9 |
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June 23 |
Spring 1995 sabbatical proposals due |
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Catherine A. Boudreau MCCC/MTA Newsletter |
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 acknowledgment of its source. For further information on issues discussed in this publication, contact Catherine Boudreau, Massasoit Community College, Brockton, MA 02402. |
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