AAUP Steering Committee Minutes
November 27, 2012
Meeting
called to order by UD-AAUP President
Calvin Keeler. Our agenda is primarily about preparing for contract
negotiations next spring.
1. UD-AAUP
office is currently 011 Hullihen Hall, moved from McDowell Hall because
of
space problems in Nursing. We and the administration recognize that it
not
offices to be in the basement of the administration building, and we
hope to
move elsewhere as the current wave of building and remodeling proceeds.
2. (Contract
Maintenance Officer Gerry Turkel) A new financial analysis before
contract
negotiations will be performed by Rudy Fichtenbaum, who is now national
AAUP
president, using data that will come out this month.
3. (Turkel)
Special salary adjustments have been made, and will be discussed in the
upcomingAAUP Voice. More transparency
in the process is needed, and also clarity in the next round of
negotiations
that we will receive salary information earlier in the contract.
4. UD-AAUP
and administration plan to co-sponsor on-campus forums featuring
speakers from
national AAUP on topics such as academic freedom and tenure, faculty
governance, tenure and contingent faculty. Possible speakers have been
discussed with national AAUP. March may be the optimal time for visits.
5. The
appropriate letter requesting opening of bargaining on a new CBA next
spring
has been sent to the administration. The lead negotiator has been
appointed by
the Executive Council: Gerry Turkel (Sociology). A slate of candidates
for the
remainder of the team, chosen by the Executive Council, was presented
to the
steering committee. After some discussion, they were approved without
dissent.
The team will include Theodore Davis (Political Science), Kevin Kerrane
(English), Beth Morling (Psychology), and David Smith (Biological
Sciences).
Further
discussion of the procedure for appointing the bargaining team led to a
consensus that future candidate slates should be circulated to the
steering
committee a couple of weeks in advance to allow time for discussion of
the team
and additional nominations.
6. University
Senate President Sheldon Pollock reported on Senate resolutions of
interest to
UD-AAUP. Members of the administration, defined as faculty who are not
in the
bargaining unit, will not be allowed to be Senate officers or Committee
Chairs.
Output from the AAUP/Faculty/Administration ("3-3-3") committee to
resolve CBA/Faculty Handbook inconsistencies is beginning to be brought
to the
Senate in the form of resolutions. Removal of Section V (Benefits) from
the
Faculty Handbook will be among the first things.
7. Remainder
of the discussion primarily related to the upcoming bargaining. Most
proposals
regarding terms in the new CBA, from the administration or from the
Executive
Council, will be circulated to the steering committee for feedback well
before
bargaining team meetings. An exception will be some salary items, which
the
administration wishes be kept within the University community until
finalized,
for reasons that the UD-AAUP concurs with.
Topics
of concern included online learning, growth of the administration, and
potentially balancing short-term budget issues via resources for
faculty.
Making sure that the steering committee is fully engaged through the
process
and ongoing needs to raise membership numbers and awareness were also
brought
up.
Respectfully
submitted,
Brian Hanson
Secretary
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