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April 12, 2017

FSU Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, Wednesday, April 12, 2017

 

Members Present: Marlene Kim; John Hess; Peggy Walsh; Andres Henao-Castro; Tina Mullins; Sofya Aptekar; Steve Levine; Askold Melcynzuk; Karen Suyemoto; Ellen Frank. 

 

Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator; Caroline Coscia, FSU NTT Grievance Officer

 

  1. ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

1.FSU elections: Marlene Kim spoke with Kathy Kogan and Joseph Brown re staying involved in FSU.  Kathy has agreed to continue to serve as the HR liaision. 

2.MTA Annual meeting:  Friday and Saturday, May 19-20, 2017, at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA.

3.FSU Annual Meeting:  April 26, 2-4 pm Crossley Lounge W 6 47.

  1. UMB budget update:  Sixty Summer courses were cancelled without department input. We received an offer from the Administration to have courses run with delayed payments. Cancellations for Fall 17 still unclear. Discussion of how UMB deficit will likely carry over into FY18.
  2. BOT update: Report on 4/12 BOT meeting union action.
  3. All union meetings update: Discussion of the discussion with those who attend this meeting.  We were requested to inquire if we can point to another Facebook page and add a disclaimer to this.  Mickey’s response was the same:  We should have a separate Facebook page for this group from the  SaveUMB Facebook page, we should have a different name, and an accurate description.  We should not point to another Facebook page. 
  4. Taping of Faculty In Class: Mickey Gallagher, MTA Consultant, stated that taping of classes by students can only occur with faculty permission (only faculty permission is needed for discussion classes, not the permission of other students in class). Faculty can limit the use of such recording (e.g. not post these).  Mickey is looking into whether or not faculty can take action against students for violations. We may contact Dean of Students and send information to members after we get further feedback from Mickey pending this information.

 

  1. BUSINESS

 

  1. Approval of the March 8, 2017 Ex Com meeting minutes: Motion is made to approve the minutes. Motion is seconded. Motion to approve March 8, 2017 Ex Com meeting minutes passes.
  2. Discussion and possible approval of the bylaws changes: Marlene and Caroline discuss proposed changes to Article 5, Section II. This would clarify that special sessions can be called by 10 members representing each constituency. Motion to approve changes in Article 5, Section II is made. Motion seconded. Motion passes [CONTACT FSU FOR DETAILS ON PROPOSED LANGUAGE—LN]. Discussion of possible proposed change in Article 5, Section 3 (possible addition of ‘virtual’ to language), and whether or not it is better to have in-person attendees. It was decided to keep ‘virtual’ but institute a policy on specifics of virtual participation at a later date. There was a discussion of the need to amend proposed changes in Article III, Section 6. It was suggested that language be changed to ‘at least 5 business days’, to not delete last sentence, and to change bylaws revision dates to 2017. [CONTACT FSU FOR DETAILS ON PROPOSED LANGUAGE—LN]. Motion to amend proposed FSU bylaws changes (Article III, Section 6) accordingly is made. Motion seconded. Motion passes.

 

ELLEN FRANK ENTERS

 

  1. FSU budget: Ellen: Discussion of budget scenarios- 1 with dues increase, 1 without. It was agreed that whatever FY18 FSU budget is approved for recommendation to members, we will add explanations for each line item for members to look at. There was discussion of whether or not to increase dues at all in 17-18 and if so, whether to increase by $5 annually as initially recommended by Ellen Frank or $10 annually (the difference between amount generated by $5 increase and amount generated by $10 increase would be allocated to additional grievance officer stipends). The FSU is operating on a thin margin re surplus and needs to plan for special circumstances. Motion made to approve recommendation of FSU FY18 budget with a $10 annual dues increase with the difference between amount generated by $5 increase and amount generated by $10 increase to be allocated to additional grievance officer stipends. Motion seconded. Motion passes.
  2. Newsletter editor: Jennifer Berkshire, old newsletter editor, is willing to work on possible proposed FSU blog. There was discussion of the possibility of hiring students or someone from Labor Resource Center to do this work (importance of helping students in tough budget times was noted). The question was raised to whether or not Jennifer could start blog and then ‘train’ other students to job after that. There was discussion of whether or not the FSU Communications Committee should oversee possible new position of blog writer, of whether or not it should be in charge of hiring writers, and of constructing the blog. The suggestion was made to have FSU Communications Committee members talk with Jennifer and work out details of a contract, inclusive of workload, etc.  Motion was made to have FSU Communications Committee work with Jennifer to set up details of a possible individual contract, inclusive of workload, etc. by the time of the next Ex Com  meeting. Motion seconded. Motion passes.
  3. Update on non-members list activity: Peggy and Sofya spoke with their listed members. Sofya: no one has responded yet. There was discussion of who to target for suspension from list. It was noted that it was not necessary to decide this immediately but that it should be decided soon.
  4. Organizing meeting on workplace conditions: Discussion of this meeting on Friday and the issues involved.  Recommendation to expand working conditions to class sizes. 
  5. FSU Meeting in May/retreat?  Some Executive committee members thought there was a meeting scheduled on May 8 from 2-4 pm.  The members attending suggested a meeting on May 10 from 2-4 pm. 

 

  1.  Bargaining:  brief update on Article 8, 17.  Concern that Article 17 would be interpreted too broadly.  Update on other bargaining issues with request for feedback.