March 3, 2008

NEWS: Rule of Thirds

Last week I took off time from the college to move. I've missed a few news items but will post them in the coming days.

Here's a message passed along to me by someone at the college. It originates from Faculty Association President Mike Martin. It seems two-thirds of FA members approved the final year of their multi-year contract.


Happy Monday,

I am pleased to report the vote of the bargaining unit members that ended this past Friday at 6pm. 233 faculty members voted (232 for and 1 against). It passed by an overwhelming margin and, by another yardstick, represents that 67.25% of eligible-to-vote bargaining unit members are in support. I have conferred with Dr. Calaway and Trustee Mitchelson over the weekend and we now stand agreed. Through the dedicated work of the benefits committee and the human resources staff, we’ve got things settled for next year. Thanks for all that have been involved with this.

We are, however, at a point where we will need to negotiate a new contract during the next academic year and to begin in ‘09-10. It will likely be a similar multi-year contract with annual vote and based on our already mature contract. What do we need to change? What do we need to add? We are forming small groups of interested individuals around certain key issues and looking to engage with administration collegially between now and negotiations time to look for resolve and consensus. We will hold an all-faculty meeting to provide a forum for negotiations issues and our approach to them. For now, the board stepped up and held to a long-standing philosophy of full-family health and dental and basic life insurance covered within flex dollars.

Mike