Romney Plan for Higher Ed.

Take the "public" out of public higher education; take the "community" out of community college; tax students with much higher tuitions; eviscerate the right to bargain for professors, librarians and counselors; put all but our senior members into a pension plan not worth the stock it's based upon. These are some of our new Governor's plans for his most dedicated employees.

Governor Romney has proposed sweeping plans for a radical reorganization of public higher education with the essential theme of privatization. Romney would like to cut loose the Maritime Academy, Mass Art, and UMass Medical within four years, and dissolve the bonds of the five University of Massachusetts campuses, realigning them regionally with state and community colleges.

The plan was formulated by a whirlwind two-week study of higher education in the Commonwealth done by Bain and Associates, an outfit often used by the governor in his career as a venture capitalist. Peter Nessen, the governor's appointed Secretary of Education, collaborated in formulating the plan, which loosely supports the fiscal proposals embodied in House One, the first iteration of the state's 2004 budget set forth by the governor.

Tuitions would be initially raised 15%. As colleges become progressively more privatized, they would need to raise tuitions to market levels to offset eliminated state supports.

Additionally, Governor Romney has filed legislation that would essentially gut Massachusetts General Law 150E, the 1970s collective bargaining law which is the basis for the Commonwealth's higher education unions, and unions of various sectors of the state's employees. The proposal would limit bargaining to wages alone, taking working conditions off the table. The employer would dictate hours, duties, discipline, hiring and firing, and seniority.

The Governor has proposed a sharp cut in the state contribution to employee health insurance, which would have a significant impact on higher education employees. The state's share would drop from 85 percent of any plan to not more than 75 percent of the plan.

The Governor has also proposed the dissolution of the retirement system for new state employees including teachers. Workers would be encouraged instead to participate in 401k investment schemes. 401k's have become a widespread retirement planning practice in traditional businesses because they shift the burden of retirement planning, and the cost, to the employee. The current economic recession has depleted 401k accounts, with some lifetime employees left without realistic funds for retirement. MTA President Cathy Boudreau has publicly questioned whether this change in retirement security would discourage people from pursuing a teaching career, as the retirement plan has been an attractive provision, particularly in light of the modest salaries for teachers.

Peter Nessen, Romney's choice for Secretary of Education, oversaw the state's shift to more privatized healthcare delivery beginning in the '70s. The resulting practice of outsourcing health services to non-profits with "-08" contracts has had mixed reviews related to accountability and oversight. In Nessen's association with the Pioneer Institute and charter schools, he has consistently espoused "rationalization" of the state's operations. "Rationalization" as a business principle generally has translated into centralization of control and consolidation of agencies, and limits the range of services actually delivered by state employees, i.e. privatization.

The ideological thrust for privatization began during Governor Weld's tenure in 1990, but was somewhat deemphasized during the Celluci and Swift administrations. Thus far, the new charter schools, and publicly funded scholarships for students attending private colleges are the most overt effects of that paradigm for education in the state.

Regionalization and merging of community colleges would "take the community out of community colleges" according to David Hartleb, President of Northern Essex Community College of Haverhill and Lawrence. Local boards of trustees would ostensibly remain intact, but with the trustee chair appointed by the governor, and administrative review and control shifting to a new regional layer of administration.

At a March 10th Ways and Means hearing at Bridgewater State College legislators seemed skeptical of the cost savings which Romney had initially pegged at two billion dollars. University of Massachusetts President William Bulger criticized the plan at that meeting as disadvantaging those students from our state who must struggle for an education.

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Picture of MCCC Executive Committee meeting for the first time in newly remodeled meeting room, Suite 105, Mechanic Street, Worcester March 7, 2003. Clockwise beginning front left; MCCC Treasurer Joseph LeBlanc, Geri Curley BHCC, Abe Sherf NSCC, MCCC Treasurer Phil Mahler, Sandra Cutler STCC, Communications Coordinator Peter Flynn, Office Manager Phil Kennedy, MTA Consultants Michelle Gallagher and Katie D'Urso, MCCC President Rick Doud, and MCCC Secretary Phyllis Barrett.

MCCC 2003 Delegate Assembly This year's MCCC Delegate Assembly, convened annually in the spring, will be held Saturday, May 10, 2003 beginning at 8:30 A.M. at the Ramada Inn Worcester, in, Auburn. The Ramada Inn Worcester is conveniently located at the intersections of Interstate Highways 290 and 90 (Mass Pike) and Route 12 in Auburn, Massachusetts. (See directions at end of this piece). The meeting will feature brief presentations from the officers and coordinators. The proposed budget will be presented to delegates for adoption. Each chapter is requested to send at least as many delegates from your chapter as the minimum target. A quorum requires about 80 delegates. Each chapter is asked to strive to get at least their "Goal" number of candidates. Dinner choices must be pre-ordered by one week before the meeting. That's May 3rd . Delegates will also receive a Delegate Packet, with reports and the proposed budget at least one week before the meeting. Directions Auburn - Ramada Inn Worcester 624 Southbridge St. Auburn, MA 01501 Phone: 508-832-3221 Fax: 508-832-8366. Off Mass Pike (I-90), take Exit 10 (Auburn), and follow signs for Route 12 North. Off Route I-290 take Exit 8. Go left at the end of the exit, then right at the lights.

MCCC Elections Voting Deadline April 4 All MCCC members are urged to participate in the MCCC 2003 elections. Ballots were mailed March 7th for this year's elections for delegates to the 2003 MTA Annual Meeting and 2003 National Education Association Representative Assembly, "the RA". Ballots must be received at the MCCC office in Worcester by 4 p.m. April 3rd. Ballots will be tabulated the following day, April 4th, 2003. Results will be posted on the MCCC website by Monday evening, April 7th. There are currently 28 candidates for election as delegates to the "RA" and 49 candidates for the MTA Annual Meeting. The MTA annual meeting will convene in Boston, Friday afternoon and Saturday, May 25 and 26th. Elected delegates attending the annual meeting whose residence is more than 25 miles from Boston are entitled to a hotel room for the evening. The NEA Delegate Assembly will be in New Orleans, Louisiana July 1-6, 2003. The fifteen MCCC-elected delegates with the most votes who attend the "RA" will receive subsidies of a maximum $800 for hotel, meals, and travel expenses from the MCCC.

Conferences of Interest 7th Annual Massachusetts Community College Conference on Teaching & Learning "Collaborative Learning Strategies in the Digital Age" Friday, April 11, 2003 8:00 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. Cape Cod Community College, West Barnstable, Massachusetts. Keynote speaker is Dr. Mark David Milliron, President and CEO of the League For Innovation in the Community College, Phoenix, Arizona. Sponsors:The Community College Executive Office, The Massachusetts Community College Council, and The Council of Senior Student Affairs Officers Teaching Online Summer Institute Sunday- Thursday June 8-12, 2003 Middlesex Cyber Café, Lowell MA. Sponsored by Middlesex Community College. For faculty and administrators. Includes 4 days of individualized on site instruction and two weeks of follow up consultation online. Contact Kim Burns at Middlesex. The MCCC News will post a brief description of conferences of interest to our members and sponsored by public colleges in Massachusetts. Information must be received by the Communication Coordinator by the 10th of the month prior to the month the notice will run.

Highlights of Annual Grievance Report Excerpted from report of Dennis Fitzgerald, February, 2003 MCCC Board of Directors Meeting.
	Dennis Fitzgerald, MCCC Day Grievance Coordinator presents at March 2003 Board of Directors Meeting

Present Contract 1999-2003

The present Contract was executed on June 14, 2000. During the first 2 years of the Contract, 310 cases were filed. These cases included 271 grievances, 12 Charges of Prohibited Practices, and 27 Unit Determination Petitions.

Over the past 2 years, the vast majority of grievances were filed at N. Essex where there was a continuing problem with the manner in which the employer had implemented the new workload. One chapter workload grievance included 53 violations - Five faculty were assigned advisee overloads up to 135 advisees, 3 faculty were assigned a 6th course, 9 faculty were assigned over 70 instructional hours, and 36 faculty were assigned instructional overloads without a reduction in non-instructional hours.

All of the N. Essex workload grievances were resolved in mediation this past year.

Mediation

In 1995, the MCCC and the Board of Higher Education agreed to a mandatory mediation procedure at Step Two of the grievance procedure. The intent of the procedure was to reduce the number of cases that had been certified previously for arbitration under the former grievance procedure and to improve the relationship between the parties. In 1995, the year preceding the 1995-1998 Contract, there were 91 cases scheduled for arbitration. Since 1995, the mediation process has resulted in settlement of 169 out of 220 grievances, a resolution rate of 77%. In addition, the number of arbitrations appealed via the mediation process has been significantly reduced to 51 arbitrations over a 7-year period, an average of 7 per year.

Presently, there are only 6 cases certified for arbitration of which 5 are scheduled for a hearing this year.

The table below breaks out 1999-2003 grievances according to college

The following table shows the number of grievances by articles of the contract. The majority were filed under Article 12&endash;Workload regarding the manner in which the new workload was implemented.

Pending Grievances

At the present, the MCCC has 62 cases pending at all levels of the grievance process. The majority of these cases are pending at either Step One-the President's level or at Step Two-Mediation. Mediators have been booked through 2003 with 6 mediations scheduled each month.

Arbitration

Since the certification of the MCCC in 1976, 106 arbitrations have been decided - 57 in favor of the union and 49 against. The following table shows the distribution of arbitration decisions by contract period.

During the past year, 2 arbitrations have been decided that unfortunately resulted in dismissals of both cases. In the first decision regarding a final exam policy, academic freedom was actually preserved and strengthened by the dicta presented by the arbitrator. In the second decision, the arbitrator upheld the employer's assignment of evening work to professional staff. (See the

Fall 2002 report Grievance report for the summary of both cases.)

There are 5 arbitrations scheduled to be heard this year. They include termination (2 cases), discipline, distance education adaptation fee, E&endash;7 objectives, and department chair workload reduction. One arbitration decision is due regarding priority of consideration for a vacant position.

Since the MCCC was certified in 1976, the MCCC has achieved a 54% success rate in prosecuting arbitrations.

Operational Audit Review Committee Submitted by Kathleen McDonough Exactly five years to the day after the MCCC Board of Directors approved the Operational Audit Review Committee's recommendations for change, the Board received, at its February 2003 meeting, a status report as to what work has been completed and what remains to be done. In 1998, the OARC Report had proposed some broad sweeping reforms in the way the MCCC managed itself and conducted its business. Thirty-five proposals had been put forward by OARC and endorsed by the MCCC Board, including the establishment of a central business office, a reconfiguring of the functions of the officers, and the development of tighter financial and personnel policies among others. Overall, 23 of the original 35 proposals have been implemented over the past five years. Some of the remaining 12 proposals will be considered through motions from appropriate committees and some may need to be reexamined in light of the establishment of the MCCC Office and unionization of the MCCC Coordinators. It was gratifying to see that the MCCC has made tremendous progress towards its goal of being a highly effective and professionally run union. In the months to come, there will be more than enough political action work to keep us all busy. It is good to know that our organization is strong and capable in these trying times.

Kathleen McDonough, Operational Audit Review Committee

President's Message

April 2003

I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas. It was great to get away for awhile. The weather was warm, the people friendly, and I actually felt it was safe to pick up a newspaper again. There wasn't a word about Governor Romney's attempt to privatize public higher education. No mention of his desires to destroy collective bargaining. No rumors of his plan to eliminate the state employee pension system. Not a whisper of his goal to increase our health insurance payments.

It really was nice to be away. I don't know if it was the desert and all that sand, or maybe the gambling, but when I returned home I began to think in poker terms.

Perhaps the governor is sandbagging us. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, Webster defines sandbagging as an attempt "to conceal or misrepresent one's true position or intent, especially in order to take advantage of." Perhaps by attacking higher ed, collective bargaining, pensions, and health care he hopes that one or two of his proposals will survive. We won't know if he is sandbagging until his actual budget comes out on May 1, and we'll see which of his current proposals he really wants.

What we do know is that his plans to save millions from higher ed reorganization were not warmly received at a public hearing held by a joint House/Senate Ways and Means Committee. I was present at the hearing and the legislators present were quite skeptical that Romney's reorg plan could save the Commonwealth any money at all. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the claim of millions in savings is just a smoke screen to privatize public higher education.

What was also apparent at the hearing is that legislators have two choices: they can either slash higher ed budgets more severely than ever before, or they must raise revenues. Based on the November ballot questions, legislators are very reluctant to do the right thing by raising taxes. Donnie McGee, the treasure at Bristol CC has suggested that rather than talking about raising revenues, we start using the phrase "restoring revenues" in our conversions with our legislators. I think it is politically wise and also economically correct. Since 1990 the state has cut taxes 42 times, losing an estimated 4.9 billion dollars in revenues for the FY 04 fiscal year.

This is going to be a tough sell. We must convince our senators and representatives that there is no other acceptable alternative. Revenues must be restored!

We need to act now. Pick up that phone and send your legislators the message that tax restoration is the right thing to do for the future of the Commonwealth. The budget must not be balanced on the backs of state workers and public higher ed students. All of the citizens of the Commonwealth must share the burden of this fiscal crisis.

Tax revenues must be restored if the state is to maintain its commitment to an affordable, accessible system of public higher education.

In Solidarity, Rick

SAC REPORT

Exerting Our Collective Political Power

If you get involved, we'll all get results this spring

By Joe LeBlanc, MCCC Vice President

Gov. Mitt Romney is attacking us and we are lobbying to repudiate his budget and its vision so out of touch with the values of this Commonwealth.

Union workers, state employees, tens of thousands of public college students, and hundreds of thousands of our neediest citizens will suffer if his blueprint for the Commonwealth's future is allowed to become law in FY '04.

Releasing his House I budget with considerable fanfare and spin, the governor is coming up short. He is failing to deliver on his promise to balance the budget by eliminating waste and without increasing taxes. Instead he proposes to dismantle the public higher education system, kill the collective bargaining laws, increase our health insurance contributions, and privatize our pensions.

House I eliminates hundreds of line items, including those for individual colleges. The document, which one legislator called the most poorly drafted he has seen on Beacon Hill in 20 years, presents a fuzzy and dishonest assessment of a difficult situation, showing little respect for the role state government plays in the lives of its citizens.

The governor's higher education reorganization proposal seeks to split up the University of Massachusetts and privatize its flagship campus as well as Mass. College of Art, U.Mass Medical School and Mass. Maritime Academy. It will take a system which already suffers from lack of state support and cut it even more. Romney's goal appears to be to move the state from 48th in the nation in public higher education spending to dead last.

With its privatizing, downsizing, corporate focus, the plan also offers consolidation plans for Berkshire, Greenfield, Holyoke and Mt. Wachusett Community Colleges while partnering all state colleges with other institutions with which they may have little in common.

In such a hostile environment, Romney seeks to increase our health insurance contributions while gutting collective bargaining laws and privatizing our pensions. "Bainiacs" (the governor's former colleagues at Bain and Associates) and the conservative Pioneer Institute are driving the governor's public policy initiatives.

Exerting our collective political power is vital if we are to prevail on Beacon Hill in this challenging legislative session. With you and your local chapter's assistance the MCCC will wage one hell of a fight in the next several weeks.

For now, chapters should set up in-district meetings with legislators. Using materials provided by the MCCC and MTA, local chapters should meet with legislators for 30 to 60 minutes with plenty of time for Q and A. Next, write personal letters to reps. and senators as well as letters to the editor. Set up meetings with editorial boards of local and regional papers. Hold teach-ins. Network with other unions and student government. Encourage your students to lobby their legislators.

The focus of all our activities should be as personal as possible. Encourage your colleagues, students, relatives and friends to tell their own stories. Make the cuts to higher education. seem real. Legislators will be moved by your stories which will put a real face to proposed public policy changes. Personal letters or faxes and phone calls always work best.

MCCC leaders, including the Strategic Action Steering Committee, are meeting in Boston with House and Senate committee chairs. We will also visit with other legislators who received campaign support from MCCC volunteers and our Political Action Committee. In addition to all of this, we are attending fund raisers and networking with as many legislators as possible to raise awareness of our issues.

MCCC lobbyist Charles Flaherty and MTA Governmental Services lobbyist Arline Isaacson are providing an inside focus and strategy and are helping us to build the right kind of long-term relationship with legislators.

In speaking with your legislators in coming days, please keep your messages personal and positive. With just a few contacts with your reps. and senators in coming weeks we will create a majority of support for our positions. With your help we prevail in repudiating the governor's attacks on us and our professions. We will become a union which sets opinion on Beacon Hill.

Editorial Comment

RomneyVision

by Peter Flynn

Judging by what we know of Governor Mitt Romney's resume, his plan for restructuring public higher should not come as too much of a surprise. It's a universal principle of psychology that, under pressure, we humans tend to revert first to what has worked for us in the past. Only when those behaviors are thwarted repeatedly are we likely to accommodate by developing innovative behaviors.

Chris Gabrieli, Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor in the recent campaign, tried to point out that, while he was, like Romney, a venture capitalist, he (Gabrieli) did start-ups of high tech companies. The Governor typically did leveraged by-outs and corporate raiding. Mitt Romney, with the help of Bain and Associates, sought struggling companies that were undervalued. After buying a controlling interest in their stock, they would typically sell off assets, and put the companies in receivership, thus gaining relief from the burden of debt, liens, and contractual and retirement plan obligations. Sometimes, divisions of the companies would be spun off or restarted. Sometimes they'd be dust in the wind.

Comparisons with the recently touted reorganization plan for public higher education are apparent. And a projected three billion dollars shortfall in the state's budget is a daunting pressure.

At first blush, the jewels of the Commonwealth's public education system, Mass Art, Mass Maritime, U. Mass Medical School, and the University of Massachusetts, might seem irrational vanities in light of imminent fiscal realities. And the far-flung community colleges might appear redundant from the standpoint of the numerous nursing, medical-tech, liberal arts, computer training and various other programs they offer.

Both of these initial impressions fail to see the fabric of relationships on which the respective institutions are based. The presence of Mass Art, Mass Maritime, U. Mass Medical School, and the University of Massachusetts elevates the status and effectiveness of the state and community colleges in that they are perceived by students and the general public as being part of a public education system. The organic relationship to the needs and identities of the communities in which they are embedded makes the community colleges so successful with what they do.

The Romney plan, perhaps by the influence of Bain and Associates, seems to be based on a bean counter mentality-- the notion that beans can be centrally processed, so why do the colleges insist on replicating services in so many locations around the state?

But there are beans, and there are human beings.

Thanks to Phil Mahler, our treasurer and resident webmaster, our legislative agenda Powerpoint slides are now available on the MCCC's website.

Point your browser to the following link: http://www.mccc-union.org. The slides are located at the top of the page. You can view the presentation within your browser as text or slides. You can also download the Powerpoint file.

Please use this presentation at your in-district meetings with legislators over the next few weeks as we work together to lobby the legislature to reject the governor's proposals/attacks on public higher education, chapter 150E, health insurance and pensions.

MCCC Finance Committee 2002 - 2004: Left to right, standing: Phil Kennedy, MCCC Operations Manager, Ken Czuchra, Chapter Treasurer, Springfield Technical, Phil Mahler, Treasurer, Tom Parsons, Director, Mass Bay, seated: Lois Martin, Chapter Treasurer, Massasoit, Geri Curley, Director, Bunker Hill; not shown: Clark Grain, Director, Roxbury

MTA Rally, February 25, 2003	Romney Visits Berkshire CC, March 7, 2003
MTA Rally to Protest Romney Plan for Higher Education Reorganization. February 25, outside Suffolk University where Governor Romney delivered his "State of the State" address. MTA President Cathy Boudreau visible in lower left of top photo. Students, faculty. and AFSCME members from Bunker Hill CC and Massachusetts College of Art were heavily represented among demonstrators.	Governor Romney visited Berkshire Community College March 7, where he was met with a chilly reception by 100 students and faculty from three western Massachusetts colleges, who protested his reorganization plan for higher education Photo by Robert M. DeLuca. Berkshire CC.

Know Your Day Contract

April 2003
April 4	Ballots must be received for 2004 MCCC elections
April 6	Dean's leave of absence recommendations due (p19)
April 15	Dean's tenure recommendations due (p.30)
April 15	Title changes announced (p.49)
April 30	Fall assignments to faculty, fulltime schedules to chapter (p.32 )
May 2003
May 1	President's tenure recommendations and sabbatical decisions due (p.30)
May 10	MCCC Delegate Assembly 2002
May 15	Faculty submit college service and student advisement form (p.41)
May 21	Tenure decisions due (p.30)
May 25-26	MTA Annual Meeting, Boston
May 30	Professional staff College service and student advisement forms (p.42)
May 26	Memorial Day observed

N.B. Dates may vary depending on the first day of classes. Most of these dates are "last date" standards. In many instances the action can be accomplished before the date indicated.

Suite 105 Remodeled As readers probably know by now, the MCCC purchased an office condominium last spring in downtown Worcester. The new MCCC offices are situated at 27-29 Mechanic Street, Worcester, and consist of two adjacent suites, numbers 104 and 105. Suite 104 houses offices and records previously stored at another site. Suite 105 was previously dentists' offices, but has now been converted to open meeting space. The monthly executive committee meeting and the larger monthly Board of Directors meeting, as well as meetings of various committees, both of which previously met at other sites in the area, will henceforth meet in there. After a bidding process, a contract was awarded to the R.L. Whipple Co., Inc. of Worcester to rehabilitate suite 105 from a warren of small dental offices into a large meeting room suitable for Board of Directors and other MCCC meetings. A wrinkle in the rehabilitation process was encountered when a wooden weight-bearing beam was found unexpectedly. Additional structural measures were necessary beyond those apparent in the structural plans available before the project began. The MCCC Executive Committee had its first meeting in the rehabilitated room on March 7, 2003. The MCCC Board of Directors met there for the first time March 21, 2003. A photo-essay documenting the stages in construction of the project is located on the MCCC website beginning at http://www.MCCC-union.org/Office%20082102/105/index.html.

"If You Want To Be Heard, It Helps To Have A PAC" So says political consultant Joel Blackwell in his book, Personal Political Power. A few months ago, the MCCC created its own Political Action Committee in an effort to further strengthen its clout on Beacon Hill. So far: Our PAC quickly raised funds to use in the fall election Our PAC contributed to 14 races Our members will visit these legislators soon to get further acquainted In these challenging times on Beacon Hill, we need your contributions to our PAC TODAY! Signed, PAC Co-chairs and retired faculty Thelma Halberstadt and Priscilla Caira and PAC Treasurer Phil Kennedy Send your checks payable to the "MCCC PAC" to MCCC Political Action Committee, 27 Mechanic Street, Suite 104, Worcester, MA 01608

Abe Sherf, MCCC Representative to the MTA Board of Directors Report Your Medical and Dental Insurance Concerns Anyone having concerns about the GIC medical plan or Delta dental should report them to Abe Sherf 402 Paradise Road Swampscott, MA 01907 Fax or Phone 781-592-1330

Communications Coordinator Posting MCCC personnel policy dictates that the position of communications coordinator be opened up for applications in the first three appointments. Position Description The Communications Coordinator oversees and coordinates internal and external communications of the Council, reports on events and activities related to the Council and its members, and publicizes activities of the Council. This Coordinator publishes at least nine monthly issues of the newsletter of the organization per year, creates pamphlets, flyers, etc., for the MCCC as necessary, attends the meetings of the MCCC Board of Directors and Executive Committee and other events, encourages and assists chapter newsletter coordinators, including offering training opportunities. Qualifications A candidate must possess strong writing and speaking skills, must be a team player, and must be proficient in common mediarelated computer applications. A candidate must provide evidence of writing, editing, and word processing and other print production skills, must be familiar with the journalistic process from writing to printing stages, must demonstrate effective skills in the areas of interpersonal and public relations. Desirable qualities include knowledge of and experience with desktop publishing and public relations experience. MCCC Support An initial appointment is for two years. A beginning stipend of approximately $7,900 is provided, and, if a full-time MCCC member, two sections of reassigned time are available. Application Process Applicants for this position should send a letter of application and résumé to Communications Coordinator Position Application MCCC 27 Mechanic Street Worcester, MA 01608-2402 Applications must be postmarked no later than May 1, 2003. As a minimum the application materials should address the qualifications listed above.