stccpa.org

All day faculty members.

By  the end of the fifth week of classes, immediate supervisors are required to return all course materials to faculty along with the Checklist of Course Materials (Form XIII-E2).  While these materials were in the possession of the immediate supervisor, the confidentiality of these materials should have been maintained and the  employer should not have distributed these materials to anyone without your permission. It is a violation of the contract for the employer to place your course materials in the personnel file, to make additional copies for desk copies, or to distribute your course materials to FT and adjunct faculty.

If any of the 10 items listed on the checklist were missing or if the immediate supervisor had concerns, the faculty member should be notified and given an opportunity to submit materials or respond to the concerns within fourteen (14) calendar days.  If the missing items and/or concerns are identified,  I recommend that you respond in writing to the immediate supervisor with the updated or missing item(s) and provide your students with the updated information.

The intent of this 14 day response period serves two (2) purposes:

1. To give the faculty member the opportunity to correct an oversight without a negative comment being placed in the summary evaluation.
2. To insure that students have all of the items on the checklist.

NB: Please note that faculty have full freedom in the selection of course materials and if the faculty member believes that a directive from the immediate supervisor to change the course materials infringes upon academic freedom,  then the faculty member has the right to initiate the grievance process.  Faculty have full freedom in the selection of course materials.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Dennis Fitzgerald
119 Rocky Pond Road
Plymouth, MA  02360

email mcccfitzy@comcast.net
tel 508-746-2533
fax 508-746-5258

Our next PA meeting will be on Monday, February 8th during the college hour in 13/114.
MCCC Vice President Donnie McGee and Margaret Wong, MCCC Executive Committee at large member will be guests at this meeting.  Please make every effort to attend.  As always pizza and soda will be served.  Please see attached agenda for the meeting.
thank you,
Lynn McDonald
Secretary
STCC Professional Association

Hi everyone,
I hope you enjoyed some rest over the holidays.

I have some news to share regarding our day unit contract. As we feared, our employer has requested a meeting to discuss re-opening our recently ratified and submitted Agreement. Peter Tsaffaras, DHE Deputy Commissioner for Human Relations, sent me the following email earlier this week:

“As you are aware, the Office of Employee Relations (OER) of the Human Resources Division of the Commonwealth has been meeting with unions representing collective bargaining units in the Executive Branch and for whom the Secretary of Administration and Finance is the employer, in order to request that said units reduce the overall economic cost of their respective Agreements by, among other items, delaying the effective date of certain salary increases and implementing a mandatory employee furlough program for members of the bargaining unit. In some instances, agreements on these issues have been reached by unions representing effected employees and the Commonwealth.

The administration has asked the Board of Higher Education, acting as the employer of individuals in collective bargaining units at the Community Colleges and the State Colleges, to enter into collective bargaining negotiations with unions representing our collective units and secure concessions designed to reduce costs. Accordingly, I am writing in order to formally request a meeting with you and representatives of the Association of Professional Administrators, the Massachusetts Community College Council and the Massachusetts State College Association in order to discuss changes to their respective Agreements.”

My views about this matter have not changed. I oppose reopening our Agreement. To date, three state employee unions have agreed to reopen their contracts and, pending ratification by their members, have agreed to delay negotiated salary increases by one day short of a year as well as accept furloughs.

On a more positive note, I confirmed earlier today that the BHE will soon proceed to implement campus-based items like payments for licenses and certifications points as well as begin the work of the first of three joint workload committees.

In coming weeks, I look forward to having a full and robust conversation with all of you about the serious challenges we face in 2010 and beyond. These exchanges will begin this Friday at our executive committee and continue later this month and next at our board of directors and chapter meetings.

Best,
Joe LeBlanc
MCCC

The contract ratification vote on the tentative collective bargaining agreement between the Division of Continuing Education (DCE) unit of the Massachusetts Community College Council/MTA/NEA (“Association”) and the Board of Higher Education/Council of Community College Presidents shall be conducted by mail ballot.

All materials, including the ballot, were mailed directly to all unit members during the week of November 16th, 2009.  In the event you that you are a MCCC DCE bargaining unit member and you do not receive a mail ballot, contact the MCCC Office at (508) 890-6688.  All ballots must be sealed in the proper envelope and received in the MCCC Office before 4:00 p.m. on December 10, 2009.

The proposed agreement contains an agency fee provision.  If the Agreement is ratified by a majority of those voting, the agency fee provision will require each bargaining unit member who elects not to join or to maintain membership in the Association to pay the Association, on an annual basis, an agency fee as a condition of employment.  The amount of agency fee for the 2009-2010 membership year is $206.01 for DCE instructors earning $6,000 or more per membership year, and $139.58 for those earning less than $6,000 per membership year. The membership year is July 1 – June 30.

The ratification vote is open to all employees in the DCE bargaining unit who are covered by the proposed Agreement, regardless of their membership or non-membership in the Association.  All employees in the bargaining unit are eligible to vote by secret ballot.

All sealed ballots will be opened and tabulated at the MCCC Office on December 10, 2009, at 4:00 p.m.  All members of the bargaining unit are welcome to observe.

The Association’s most recent financial report, in the form of a balance sheet, is available for inspection during regular business hours at the MCCC Office. The current collective bargaining agreement as well as the proposed agreement are available on the MCCC website: http://mccc-union.org.

This is an important notice for all adjunct faculty– Please Read!

ORP Members,
To date, I have received many emails from you regarding your interest in SB1173.  The ORP Committee members and the MCCC Vice President have asked for feedback from your legislators if they do or do not support the bill by November 8,2009.
The Committee urges ORP faculty to ask their State representative and Senator to contact the Co-Chairs of the Public Service Committee and move the bill forward with a favorable recommendation.  Your Representative should contact House Chair Robert Spellane and Senator should contact Senate Chair Thomas McGee to let them know they support the bill.

To send an email to a representative,go to: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenuh.htm
To send an email to a senator, go to: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm

The State House number is (617-722-2000) and ask to be connected to your legislator.

Please email me when you receive a response from your legislator.

ORP Members, MCCC Vice President Donnie McGee and members of the ORP AD Hoc Task Force Committee are meeting on Wednesday October 21 at the MCCC Office in Worcester to determine which legislators have been contacted and support SB 1173. The bill would provide a one-time opportunity for faculty and admnistrators enrolled in the Optional Retirement Plan the chance to make an informed decision about their retirement security and provide an opportunity to buy into the State Employees Retirement System. Would you please email me if you are interested in having the opportunity to buy into the State Employees Retirement System and/or if you have contacted your State Representative and Senator (via email) asking their support of SB1173.