AAUP Executive Council Minutes
Monday, April 28, 2008
Room 302 McDowell Hall, 9:00 AM
PRESENT: Linda Bucher (presiding), Gerald Turkel, Danilo
Yanich, Sheldon Pollack, David Smith, Steve Dentel, Pat Barber and
Kevin Kerrane (secretary).
The meeting began in Executive Session with a report from the
Grievance Officer, David Smith.
Regular Meeting:
L. Bucher announced an addition to the
Agenda: request by the Retired Faculty subcommittee (of the Faculty
Senate) for a meeting with a representative of the AAUP Executive
Council.
Minutes for the March 17 meeting were approved with two cuts
(from the last paragraph on p. 1, and the first on p. 2), both
revealing specific details in the ongoing contract negotiations.
Office Update: L. Bucher announced that materials were being
prepared for members to vote on the new contract once negotiations were
complete, and once the Steering Committee had met and approved the
proposed contract. She also mentioned that Quick Book training for Rita
Girardi still needs to be arranged.
Treasurer’s Report: S. Pollack announced that the
chapter had lost $12,000 on investments since January 1 because of
downturns in the market.
AAUP Voice: G. Turkel said that the new issue, to be
distributed within the week, would include information about the change
in the bylaws restricting eligibility to vote on the ratification of
the contract to AAUP members. In addition, the chapter would be
providing such information on-line. He noted that the by-laws do not
specify how information is to be conveyed, other than requiring an open
meeting for the members.
The May-June issue of The AAUP Voice will include
full details of the contract as well as news about the fall election of
AAUP officers. L. Bucher noted that the Grievance Officer and Contract
Maintenance Officer will also need to be formally appointed (or
reappointed) in the fall. She requested that each member of the
Executive Council and the Grievance Officer and Contract Maintenance
Officer think about their individual plans for continued service or
succession.
Old Business:
L. Bucherannounced
that chapter members had approved, by a 206 to 15 vote, a revision of
bylaws that would restrict voting on all proposed contracts to members
of the UD-AAUP.
Update from Bargaining Team: G. Turkel
summarized these key points in the current negotiations:
-
On the article dealing with the appointment or
reappointment of department chairs, the dean on the administration team
(Bobby Gempesaw and Tom Apple) saw no problem with language proposed by
the AAUP. According to Maxine Colm, the provost is agreeable, but also
wants the language to be included in the Faculty Handbook.
-
Maxine told the AAUP team that an across-the-board salary
component of 2% would not work because the administration wants
increments increasingly based on merit. The AAUP had countered that
this policy would increase the number of grievances, and that in any
case the new contract should be viewed as transitional.
-
The AAUP had also argued that this bargaining position
could have—and should have—been announced by the
administration earlier in the process, when full attention might have
been directed to Article 12.4, and to anomalies in ways that merit
increases are calculated in various departments. As our Grievance
Officer, D. Smith, has observed, most grievances are about merit, and
it is in the interest of the administration and the AAUP to minimize
avoidable conflict.
-
The administration is adamantly opposed to increasing its
11% contribution to the retirement plan, but might prove willing to
increase the multiplying factor (now 2%) for calculating the one-time
payout at retirement.
-
When the administration returns to the table with its own
proposals on salary, the AAUP need not make an immediate counter-offer.
-
At the Steering Committee meeting scheduled for
May 7, the bargaining team could report on the state of
negotiations without recommending acceptance of contract terms. A
quorum of 17 would be needed to move the contract forward, but only 15
would be required to approve the acceptance of proxies.
-
All terms of the contract, and all problems with it,
would be up for discussion at the General Membership meeting
scheduled for May 12.
After this summary, D. Smith suggested that the AAUP’s
proposed agency fee, which the administration opposes vigorously, might
be finessed by asking for an additional course reduction, which could
free the Grievance Officer to pursue cases on behalf on the whole
faculty.
New Business:
National AAUP: G. Turkel explained the organization’s
new tripartite structure, and said that the surprising outcome of the
recent election is likely to weaken the Collective Bargaining Congress.
Some of the larger chapters seem poised to put their resources into the
Foundation while leaving the Congress (which is dominated by smaller
chapters) and affiliating with AFT.
The final issue—the request from Robert Taggart and
Judy Van Name for a meeting with AAUP officers—led to a
discussion about how the AAUP could bargain on behalf of those who are
no longer part of the faculty. L. Bucher said that she and P. Barber
would attend the meeting.
The lastExecutive Council meeting of
the semester is scheduled for Monday, May 19, at 9:00
a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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