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Volume XIII |
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Number Two |
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In This Issue: |
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Parsons Urges
Council of Presidents...
Do What is
Right!
Speaking before the Community College Council of Presidents On September 22, 1995, at Quinsigamond Community College, MCCC President Tom Parsons asked that the presidents (1) reconsider their decision not to support ourjoint proposal ofa compacted salary schedule with steps and (2) settle the DCE contract fairly and equitably. Faculty and staff from 12 campuses filled the room to capacity.
He urged the presidents tojoin with the MCCC to try and persuade Weld and Cellucci's Administration and Finance office to let the presidents and union come to a mutual agreement on the distribution of the financial package. He reminded them that the MCCC has worked hard in the legislature arena helping to secure increases in the higher education budgets and helping with the legislative override of the governor's veto of $19.2 million, despite explicit threats from the Weld administration that it would withdraw money from the bargaining table.
Parsons also focused on the plight of the DCE bargaining. "The union is continuously affronted by the presidents' offers to work with us against the Weld/ Cellucci Office of Administration and Finance while at the same time treating us no better than the Weld/Cellucci Office of Administration and Finance on the DCE contract.
"The impact on faculty and professional staff is more profound. Systemwide about one-third of our full-time members also teach in DCE. They are told by their presidents that on the one hand faculty and professional staff deserve to be treated as professionals by the Weld/Cellucci Office of Administration and Finance, but on the other hand, when it comes to DCE, the faculty are not treated with respect. The presidents must address this dichotomy by making a fair DCE offer that reflects a sense of true equity and respect."
In his closing remarks, Parsons paraphrased from a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson 150 years ago. "Character is of a higher level than intellect; knowing what is right is not as important as doing what is right."
President
Cowan to HECC
We Need You
NOW!
On Thursday, September 19, 1995, over 50 MCCC unit members showed up at the Higher Education Coordinating Council (HECC) meeting to lend their support to MCCC President Tom Parsons and MTA Attorney Judy Neuman in their presentation to HECC. In addition Middlesex Community College President Carol Cowan, Chair of the Presidents' Council, made an appeal to HECC asking them to bring bargaining to a close.
Tom Parsons correctly placed the major problem with our day bargaining on the shoulders of the Weld/Cellucci Administration and its Administration and Finance (A&F) office. He reminded the HECC members that he had been before them in December 1994 asking for their help, and since that time, HECC has missed opportunities to support its employees by acting like the employer. Instead, it has allowed A&F to intercede into the bargaining process by micromanaging negotiations. In addition, when the MCCC and the presidents reached agreement in May, consistent with A&F's parameters, HECC would not sign off on the agreement. Parsons noted that the MCCC and the presidents, HECC's representatives at the table, moved to a collaborative bargaining model. "The presidents have taken risks. The union has taken risks. HECC, however, has not been an aggressive advocate for the MCCC and the presidents, and it has not acted like our employer," said Parsons. He implored Chancellor Koplik and the HECC members to allow the parties to continue negotiations without interference from A&F and to execute an agreement when it is reached.
President Carole Cowan also remarked on the risk the presidents and the MCCC had taken over the past year and one half to change the relationship between the two parties. She concurred with Parsons' statements and expressed her frustration, as a president, that the faculty and staff are on work to rule. She stated, "I can speak for my campus; work to rule creates almost paralyzation. We need the faculty. We are only asking for the ability to reconfigure the money so that people feel they can move ahead on a salary schedule." She congratulated the large contingency from the Middlesex chapter (25 unit members) for being there. She stated, "I stand with Tom [Parsons], the union, and the Middlesex union chapter. I need these folks to work with me. I do not want to tell the American Electronics Association, Motorola, Coming, or U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich that they'll have to take their partnerships to Silicon Valley. I am embarrassed to tell them that Massachusetts can't get it together in their labor relations." Cowan then asked HECC "to be our advocates and colleagues; we need you, now!."
Needless to say, both Parsons and Cowan received a standing ovation. It was a unique example of the presidents and the union standing on the same side before the statutory employer asking that HECC exercise its right under the law to execute a contract that their representatives bargained according to the guidelines provided them. MTA attorney Judy Newman said to HECC, "execute the agreement and pass it on to the governor. Let him be the one to say no, not HECC. If he says no, then everyone will head to the legislature. We did it before; we can do it again."
Thank you to the unit members from Bristol, Bunker Hill, Holyoke, Mass. Bay, Massasoit, Mt. Wachusett, No. Shore, No. Essex and Roxbury for lending their support.
If You Are Tenured and in a Nonevaluation Year
For tenured faculty who are not scheduled for an evaluation year, you are required to submit only your course syllabi, college service, and student advisement forms to your immediate supervisor. He or she should prepare the Workload Materials form that acknowledges (1) receipt of the above materials by the supervisor and (2) the materials have been returned unit member. This same procedure is done in the spring semester for all tenured unit members.
There is now a $37 million reserve for unfunded collective bargaining contracts in the supplemental budget. The MTA is solely responsible for bringing this issue to the attention of the legislative leadership.
MTA lobbyists met with Senate Ways and Means Chair Birmingham's office since there was no collective bargaining reserve in the House's version of the supplemental budget. The senate put in $30 million. MTA lobbyist Jack Flanagan then met with House Ways and Means Chair Finneran's staff and asked for their support in the Conference Committee. The budget came out with a $37 million reserve, thanks again to the legislature.
This money, however, is not earmarked for any particular contract as there are a number of contracts which remain unfunded. But, at least there is a reserve from where to start once we can get our contract to the legislature.
The MCCC Board approved a Political Action Campaign geared to getting our two contracts funded. MCCC Vice President Susan Dole is the statewide campaign coordinator and is working with each chapter's Political Action Coordinator, Crisis Committee, and chapter president. MTA Consultants Donna Sirutis and Michelle Gallager are also working on the statewide committee.
During the month of October, the focus will continue to be on phone calls from the members to Administration and Finance and other offices as deemed necessary by the coordinating committee. Presently, the members should be calling Administration and Finance (617-727-2040) and asking them to let stop interfering with bargaining--they have no right to determine how the money package will be distributed.
Each unit member should have received a packet of letters with a request to send a copy of the letters to his or her representative and senator. The mailing of this packet was triggered by A&F Secretary Charles Baker's letter to all legislators outlining A&F's activities in bargaining. Baker's letter was written, we believe, in response to two activities. (1) A legislative hearing was requested by the University of Massachusetts concerning the bill proposing a change in the collective bargaining law (Chapter 150E). This bill would allow the higher education unions to go directly to the legislature once their contracts were executed. It would remove the step of the employer having to submit the contract to the governor who then, under law, can or cannot submit it to the legislature. Prior to the hearing on September 7, 1995, Baker's letter was distributed to all legislators. (2) MCCC chapter presidents have been talking to republican legislators and asking them to inquire of A&F and the governor as to why they are interfering with the bargaining process as it relates to distribution of the economic package.
As a result of the Baker letter, the MTA and Team Chair Dennis Fitzgerald wrote letters to all legislators responding to Baker's letter. The MCCC is providing these letters to unit members to not only give them a perspective on what is happening at the state level, but to also send them on to their representatives and senators. Since legislators get a lot of mail, not everything gets read. By having constituents send information, it is more likely that legislators will read the material and get a better understanding of the situation.
It is critically important that the members get involved in this campaign. Though the MCCC Board voted to recommend that chapters vote to go on work to rule by October 16, eight chapters are already on work to rule. Working to get the college presidents and trustees to actively work is important. One college president was asked by the chapter to go on work to rule with it. The president wrote a letter to the unit members stating that even though the president could not endorse work to rule, the president recognized that the college could not do business as usual and agreed to postpone professional staff meetings and recommended that the deans and chairs defer committee meetings.
Any goal worth achieving is only as good as the commitment people are willing to make. The MCCC is asking that each one of you help. Show your support by helping the chapter leaders and crises committee members.
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The Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission (MLRC) has issued probably cause complaints against No. Essex and Bunker Hill Community Colleges.
Bunker Hill. Article 11 of the DCE contract provides that a classroom observation will be conducted on faculty prior to their reaching the reappointment threshold/seniority pool. After that point, observations are only conducted for state written reasons.
Shortly after the contract was implemented in 1991, the DCE Dean announced that seniority pool faculty would be observed once every three years. This action was grieved, and the Step I decision stated that this policy was contrary to the provisions of the agreement and the files of impacted faculty were expunged.
In 1992 Division Chair Michael McSweeney began to observe senior faculty who he claimed had not ever been observed. When this issue was grieved again, the union discovered that many of the faculty in question had been previously observed. The grievance was settled; however, within weeks of the settlement, seniority pool faculty began to be observed, again. The stated reasons were to the effect of, "...you have not been observed for two years."
In issuing the complaint, the MLRC noted that some faculty have already had their file expunged twice, now going on three times! It would be acting in bad faith to negotiate an agreement and then blatantly violate its terms.
No. Essex. The MLRC has issued a complaint for discriminating against a unit member, Roger Dufresne. On a number of occasions, he had become involved in contractually related disputes with the college administration. As time went on, the college began to single him out for reprisal. Most notable of these actions include a cancellation of his DCE course for underenrollnent when another section of the same course with fewer students was allowed to run.
Higher Education Under Republican Rule
It is certainly no secret that the Weld/ Cellucci Administration has been anything but supportive of public higher education. From the day the governor took office, his footprints have remained on our backs. His first step was not to submit the 1990 executed and ratified state contracts to the legislature for funding. It took two years of coalition building and collaboration with other state unions and the legislature before the legislature bypassed the governor and voted to fund our contract. The governor vetoed it. Again the legislature supported us. Weld's next steps included furloughs, an increase in our health insurance contributions, and nearly level-funded budget proposals that were increased by the legislature. It has been the legislature that has allowed public higher education to keeps its nose just above water. The Weld/ Cellucci Team has taken any opportunity it could to keep walking over public higher education all the while coming up with tax breaks for business--all which need to be paid by someone. Also, let us not forget the early retirement bill which he has vetoed three times.
This past year, the governor vetoed $19.2 million from the higher education budget and made it sound as if he was doing it for the employees' benefit by making sure there was money for collective bargaining. The $19.2 million cut would have pushed public higher education back three years. The legislature, to its credit, again, overrode his veto. And, while that shoe was dropping, the governor' s Administration and Finance Office decided they were going to interfere with the community college bargaining and tell the union and the presidents how to distribute the money offer--their way or no way!
All the employees must stand up and object to the governor's treatment of public higher education. We must call our legislators and thank them for their support and make them aware of what the Weld Administration is doing to our bargaining process. Silence or limited activity sends a message--we don't care. That is what Weld expects--silence.
Any time you do one of these activities, please report the results to your chapter president, board member, or political action coordinator.
The vacancies within the community colleges are easily accessible on the MTA Bulletin Board System (BBS) (1-800-523- 8883) 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.
For the first time user. When you call into the BBS, you will need to provide some information to the systems operator. You can get on the BBS immediately and choose your password. Once you get on the BBS, follow these steps to get to the vacancy area. Enter your name and password, Select F(ile); 6(Vacancies in community colleges); (F)files in this area; (V)iew and type in the first two numbers of the last dated entry e.g., 42-11-1996 (You would type 42).
Only questions specific to the MTA BBS should be directed to the systems Operator (SYSop) Ron Miller (1-508-653-7244), preferably through the BBS. If you have specific questions about a vacancy, call the college.
Anyone having a complaint or concern about the Blue Cross Dental plan and coverage should direct his or her comments to
Abe Sherf,
North Shore Community College.
He is the community college representative on the Health and Welfare Trust Fund.
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Oct. 1 |
Sick Leave Bank Open |
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Oct. 1 |
Tenure Eligibility List Distributed |
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Oct. 5 |
New full- and part-time list due MCCC |
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Oct. 6 |
Course Materials Evaluated (E-2) |
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Oct. 15 |
Full-time seniority list due chapter |
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Oct. 15 |
Letters of reappointment due for employees with four or more years seniority |
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Oct. 15 |
College payrolls due to chapter |
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Oct. 22 |
Leave of absence decision for spring due |
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Oct. 22 |
Spring sabbaticals awarded |
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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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