STCC Professional Association

Membership Meeting

February 15, 2005

Location: 2/7th Flr.

Call to Order: 12:30 PM

Attendance: 32 Signed In (appeared to be closer to 50+ in attendance)
Reports

Secretary, L. Kleindienst. Minutes of November 9, 2005 distributed via e-mail. Motion to accept C. Mathison. Passed.

President, C. Mathison.

* Higher Education Reform Act in the Senate. Members should call their Senators to urge to support amendments #13 and 16 which would keep decision making processes on the campuses.

Nominations and Elections Committee, D. Buckley (Chair)

* Other members of the committee are T. Glanville and M. Mazeika.
* Nominations for chapter leadership positions open February 18. Description of the various positions was distributed during meeting. Nomination forms will be distributed by PA reps to mailboxes within next couple of days. Nominating forms due to the committee by March 30 at 4 PM. Election will be held on two consecutive days, April 18 & 19 at locations to be announced. Count will take place on April 20 also at a location to be announced later. The time frame will allow for a 2 week campaign period.

Delegation Report, N. Camerota

Nick addressed the membership noting that this was a preliminary report. "Seriousness of issues requires serious attention."

* Despite scheduling difficulties, numerous meetings have been held.
* Much has been discovered, and the protracted time frame of the discussions has afforded opportunities for remedial actions.
* Delegation wants to be able to assess Fall 05 and Spring 06 administrative actions before releasing final report which will come when the process is complete.
* Distributed list of recommendations and letter from R. Rodgers. (See Attachhed).
* Carol Mathison called to members attention that the "resolves" in R. Rodgers' letter had no force of action as they had not been discussed or voted upon by the membership.

Guests

President MCCC, R. Doud

* Discussed recent negative Globe articles in relation to Higher Ed Reform Act. Noted that reporter just yelled at him when he was contacted for interview. Described coverage as "yellow journalism" and that it was all really about was the BHE and the legislature seeking to control the campus decision making powers. The community colleges need to retain control of tuition and fees.
* Payout process for new contract difficult at best. Everyone will be receiving new points statement (M004) for review at the end of the process. The new grids should help all to verify their new salaries.
* In response to question from R. Rodgers, Rick noted that rankings for licensure and certification have been defined and the issue is on the table for the next contract negotiations.
* D. Hebert asked what it would take to get us back to 75th percentile and Rick noted that the study was being updated, but that it could be as little as 4% despite the fact that we have dropped 40-50% behind the comparable states. R. Rodgers asked him to clarify how it could possibly be only a 4% increase that would take us back to the 75th percentile. Rick's response was that the money needed to get back to the 75th percentile does not equate to say a 35% increase - might only be a small amount.
* M. Donovan asked about hiring abuses above the salary schedule. Rick replied that once the point analysis was complete at the end of the payout period, we should know how many members across the system are above the grid. Part of the problem is supply and demand driven. Mary noted that it seemed new hires were coming in at Assistant Professor levels in order to place them higher on the grid. Rick acknowledged this was true, but once again said we should have a better handle on the situation after April 7.
* D. Buckley raised the "one college concept" in relation to the higher Ed Reform Act and how it might impact the union. Rick has asked MTA for a legal opinion, but it could be a situation of one union with 2 units. Doug was concerned about qualifications of adjuncts. Rick noted that there are 3500 adjuncts and 1800 full timers. The legislation calls for a study committee to make a report within one year of passage. Rick also noted that DCE has actually had better contract outcomes than the Day unit.

Vice President MCCC, J. LeBlanc

* Joe reviewed recent SAC activities and bills currently before legislative committees. See R. Albano's Director's Report (attached) for full details.
* College Presidents and BHE have agreed to begin negotiations on new contract before Spring break.
* Online Negotiations Committee questionnaire should be available soon. Look for announcement and please respond.
* Joe is running for President of MCCC and reviewed his background and qualifications - teaching and years of service to MCCC and his chapter.
* When asked by D. Hebert about endorsing a candidate for governor , Joe said that we would stay neutral for now.
* K. Thomes noted that there seemed to be enough money around to create special administrative positions often moving people out of the union.

Motion to Adjourn 1:30 PM, T. Glanville, C. DuPont. Passed.

Secretary,

Lynn Kleindienst

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE STCC/PA MEMBERSHIP from the Delegation's Continuations Committee

1. During the last 18 months there has been a noticeable shift in job positions and responsibilities, plus a proliferation of new positions. Although we recognize the president's right to redeploy non-unit personnel or alter established duties for such positions, we strongly urge that all job openings at this college be posted and that unit members be made aware of changes in existing titles, positions and responsibilities in a timely fashion. Such transparency would, we hope, avoid the appearance of nepotism or cronyism and increase the chances of hiring the best qualified candidates.

2. The delegation recommends that new faculty and professional staff be hired at salaries conforming to the existing pay scale and ranking system. Paying such new hires off-scale (especially at much higher salaries) creates inequities which might deepen divisions on campus and further depress morale.

Moreover, we discovered some full-time faculty who are teaching without sufficient academic credentials. To avoid this situation in the future, we recommend that all candidates considered for full-time faculty positions be required to have degrees appropriate to their subject area (e.g., a faculty member teaching psychology should possess the minimum of a master's degree in psychology).

3. While work-to-rule was invoked by the administration to explain their lack of communication with the faculty, wide-ranging changes were effected without consulting senior faculty or others with a long history of service to this college. We suggest the formation of an advisory committee as part of a broader effort to enhance communication between the administration and the entire college community. Such a committee could play a part in the campaign to revive shared governance.

There have also been continuing expressions of concern regarding the college's reliance on outside consultants. (The delegation will provide a tally of the costs involved in hiring private consultants in its forthcoming report.) We maintain it is far more prudent for the administration to actively seek the advice of knowledgeable individuals on campus before contracting outside consultants.

4. All faculty and staff are regularly evaluated. In particular, faculty members are evaluated by their students, department chairperson, and dean. For the sake of fairness and greater efficiency, we recommend a more searching institutional review which allows faculty and staff to evaluate their respective supervisors (deans, directors, vice presidents).

5. We strongly urge more release time for the STCC/PA's president (if faculty, a 3 course reduction) and the STCC MCCC Director.

Please feel free to phone x4806, or email camerota@stcc.edu with questions, comments or information for the delegation.

MEMO

To: Nick Camerota

From: Rob Rodgers

Date: 2/10/06

Subject: Administration's disrespect toward faculty and staff.

During the delegation's second meeting with the President and other members of the administration there was a discussion about new hiring practices and diversity. As a part of this discussion, the administration mentioned the hiring, promotion or job changes of several people, including the hiring of a vice-president's daughter and the reassignment of another vice-president's wife to a different division for reporting purposes.

At that same meeting, Vice-president Keller, stated (in answer to a question by Mary Donovan) that, from now on, all search committees for faculty or staff positions would not be allowed to rank their recommendations but would have to submit three or more names in unranked order. Mr. Keller further stated [again without disagreement from the President] that the reason for this change in procedure was the administration's concern that if faculty/staff were allowed to rank candidates based upon the committee's determination of their qualifications, that the faculty/staff would then be likely to recommend their "cousin" and the college would thus be forced to hire someone based upon nepotism and not upon that person's merit.

In light of the earlier discussion involving the other new hires or transfers of administrators family members and after some thought concerning the number of other examples of various administrators having hired family members to work at the college, I find this highly insulting to every faculty/staff member at this institution.

THEREFORE, as long as this attitude of distrust/disrespect prevails amongst the administration, and in order to prevent any appearance of additional 'cronyism,' and in order to return to the long-standing past practice of faculty/staff ranking the top three candidates based upon their best professional judgment of the candidates' qualifications;

BE IT RESOLVED that the membership of the STCC/PA agrees that no faculty/staff member of said Association shall serve on any hiring committee until said policy of not allowing faculty/staff to make ranked hiring recommendations in all faculty/staff hiring situations is ended. And BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the college administration and to all member of the STCC Board of Trustees.

MCCC Board of Directors Report

February 6, 2006

1. The BOD met on Jan. 20, 06. President Rick Doud reported he is working with Peter Tsaffaras to see that payout to members goes smoothly.

2. There are two new pages on the website: appeals and questions pertaining to appeals and legislation we are following.

3. The Negotiating Committee has completed work on the Day Bargaining Questionnaire which will soon be forwarded to members.

4. Chapter members are asked to attend the MTA and NEA annual meetings and respond by February 2, 2006.

5. SAC Leadership met with Public Service Committee Rep. Jay Kaufman and C-Chair Senator Pat Jehlen concerning the following:

a. HB530 This bill would amend Chapter 150E. Rep Kaufman plans

to meet with union officials, college presidents and various

lobbyists to discuss how to fix our contract funding system

The goal is to push this bill out of the Public Service

Committee with a favorable recommendation.

2. SB1535 and HB189 The bills provide some of our adjuncts with

health insurance and pension benefits respectively.

c. SB2294 This bill would allow state employees to buyback up to

four years of 03 service. The PS reported this bill out

favorably on December 1, 2005. It is now in the hands of

Senate Ways and Means

d. Higher Education Reform Act This bill is expected to move this

spring. President Rick Doud has written our concerns relative to the current draft.

6. Once the bills are reported our favorably, we will pursue an inside and outside

State House strategy to lobby for the bills to become law before the legislature which goes out of formal session in July, 2006.

7. Day Bargaining: President Doud has sent out the payroll schedule for the new

Agreement. Questions and concerns are being followed up.

8. On Jan. 31 Rick Doud, Joe LeBlanc and Katie D'Urso met with the College

Presidents Labor Relations Committee. Results of the data on our salaries and the 75 percentile from 10 classifications states were discussed.