American Association of University Professors
University of Delaware Chapter


301 McDowell Hall, University of Delaware, Newark, DE  19716
Phone: 302-831-2292; Fax: 302-831-4119; E-mail: aaup-mail@udel.edu


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Minutes from January 14, 2005 Executive Council Meeting

2-4:30 pm; 347 McDowell Hall; Revised January 20, 2005

Present: Linda Bucher, Leon Campbell, David Colton, Steve Dentel, Kevin Kerrane, David Smith, Gerry Turkel and Judy Van Name

President Linda Bucher called the meeting to order. Minutes of the Dec 13, 2004 and Jan 5, 2005 Executive Council meetings were approved. The collective bargaining proposal was discussed and each revised section was approved (see 1-14-05 proposal).

Highlights

Article VIII Grievance Procedure

  • The CMO will continue to handle sexual harassment issues.

Article VIII "Just Cause" provision

  • Include all faculty covered by the CBA
  • Use "adequate cause" and include definition
  • Reference the faculty handbook
  • Insert additional paragraph from faculty handbook

Article IX Personnel Benefits - Healthcare

Delaware State law defines marriage as heterosexual couples. The Board of Trustees blames state law for not being able to offer health care benefits to domestic partners. Administration is in favor of offering health care to domestic partners.

A couple of problems with the current proposal include: One can only apply it to upgrade benefits and therefore may not be able to spend it all. The problem from the bargaining point of view is that you should not ask for money that you could not use. Also, it does not address domestic partner coverage.

Rather than the current health care proposal, it was agreed that the following Letter of Understanding be added to the end of the contract:

The Administration and the AAUP agree that it is highly desirable that the recommendations of the June 27, 1995 final report from the Committee on Benefit Options for Domestic Partners be implemented during the term of this agreement and will appoint a joint committee dedicated to the task of trying to achieve this goal.

Domestic partners are defined in the report as same-sex partners. It was agreed that should the joint committee be convened, the definition of domestic partners would be revisited (ex. to include heterosexual couples) as would other elements of the original report given that 10 years have elapsed since its origin. The intent of the original report was that U of D would provide a lump sum to provide insurance for this group. The Committee could obtain information from other universities such as M.I.T., Princeton and Delaware companies (i.e. duPont, MBNA) as well as New Castle County regarding their domestic partner benefits. It was noted that this is difficult to get done through the union. No one is willing to file a grievance or go to court. Montana Supreme Court says gay couples are due benefits.

Article IX Wellness Dollars

  • $200 wellness dollars...

Article IX Parking

  • Delete the part about paying per use.

There are 4,645 gold parking spaces on campus. There are 1,189 commuting students with gold permits, including 821 grad students. David Bellamy serves on the Parking Advisory Committee as the AAUP representative. He has indicated to Linda that this committee and his role on this committee are not very effective in terms of influencing parking changes.

Article XII Salary

  • It is proposed that we ask for COLA + 3.5% merit in each year (assuming a two year contract).
  • TIAA-CREF increase will be saved for later bargaining.

There are COLA and structural adjustments. COLA is calculated yearly. Comparable institutional date will be computed in February.

Article XII Merit

There was discussion about the process of awarding merit. Department policies vary. The greater the percent of merit, the more we will hear from the faculty. Stronger departments have a greater merit pool than weaker departments. Chairs developed the merit policies and faculty ratified them.

Article XX Term of Contract

  • It is proposed that the bargaining team ask for a two-year term for the new CBA.

Develop a letter of understanding that a committee is convened to formulate University guidelines for buyout policies.

Respectfully submitted by Judith Van Name