Berklee Faculty Union: Minutes

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 29, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Guests: Diane Frey AFT-MA, Clay Hoener, President Longy Faculty Union, Jonathan Kohler, Longy Faculty Union

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Marti seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Preliminary meeting to set-up language for proposals Tuesday May 25 at 4:00 pm. Bargaining team meeting Wednesday June 2 at 4:00 pm.

3. Guests: Diane Frey AFT-MA, Clay Hoener, President Longy Faculty Union, Jonathan Kohler, Longy Faculty Union. The campaign to have representation at Longy has been quite long and arduous. They are now at the table and have received a lot of push back from the administration. They read a resolution of support, that they have drawn up and would like us, to sign off on, Mike will send a copy of their resolution to all of us for review.

Mike: We cannot pass this resolution until the entire Executive Committee has had a chance to review and comment on the language that you presented, but we certainly support all of your efforts to give the Longy faculty a voice.

Beth: It is disappointing that one of our members was treated with disrespect when she came to speak to Longy faculty about Yeshiva issues.

We discussed the Longy situation and the struggles that they are currently facing establishing a faculty union. There have been representatives from our Union Executive Committee at a Longy meeting to share our insights into the development of a successful union. The main struggle facing Longy is that management at Longy is currently not recognizing the union. Management has limited the number of faculty that are allowed to join the union. The environment at Longy right now is toxic.

4. Benefits Committee report (Jackson, Rick and Wendy) with discussion of vote or statement in Friday’s meeting. Management wants to cut the defined benefit plan and push more money towards the 403b. This will put older faculty vs. newer faculty. Jackson made a motion that the we stay away from any vote during this meeting – we will address all of these issues during bargaining. Mike seconded the motion and we discussed the topic. Rick: let’s make an open ended recommendation to continue the discussion, Beth seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

Minutes from Union All-Faculty Meeting
April 22, 2010

Mike opened the meeting with a statement regarding the upcoming bargain and the important issues that we face. We have many proposals from last year and a few new ones. Mike and Larry met to discuss the bargaining terms, every Monday starting June 7, from 3-6; our committee will have a prep meeting from 2-3. We will be meeting in 855, 7th floor. All faculty are welcome to attend a session or two, please call or e-mail to confirm attendance, there are a limited number of seats.

Bargaining team: Mike Scott, Beth Denisch, Rick Applin, Marti Epstein, Jackson Schultz, Jonathan Holland, Will Silvio, and Jeff Perry: Danny Harrington and Prince Charles Alexander will be alternates, and Wendy Rolfe will be special counsel for part-time and benefits. Jeff Jacobsen will be our counsel; he has done all our contracts since 1986, Haidee Morris will also participate.

Larry Simpson anticipates we will be completed by July 4th, Mike is not as optimistic, we may go into October. Management opened their books last year, we asked them to open the books for us before we begin bargaining this summer, they essentially said NO. For us, that means they can accept all of our proposals.

We are going to basically give management the same package from last year with a few additions: clean up language regarding wage renegotiation, have seniority be a primary factor regarding lay-offs, benefit threshold reduced for part-time, weighting system change for performance (Ear Training) and classroom faculty, more conversions from part-time to full-time (with a minimum years of service at 5, or perhaps after a certain numbers of automatic conversion, other criteria?), defined benefit plan for FT be accessible after the 3-year transition contract, increase PT benefit with the 403b, clean up language around the 3-year contract, and more.

We discussed PT conversion at length with many good ideas; we will put together several options for bargaining. Mike moved to adjourn.

Minutes from Department Rep. Meeting
April 15, 2010
UEC Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting, Rick made a motion to accept the minutes from last meeting, Jonathan seconded, and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes. Rick made a motion to accept the revised notes from the Union/Management meeting, Jonathan seconded, and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Mike continued with a discussion on the upcoming bargain. We will begin June 7, the first Monday in June. We will meet 3-6 pm and will not meet July 5. The negotiating team will meet an hour before the bargaining sessions and Mike will continue to send out the weekly updates as we progress. We will not accept the results from last year. There are a few dates that stand out – Opening Day is one – Management wants to get the contract done by that day. This may be a source of leaverage for us – perhaps not – we may need to go beyond that date – in which case we will need to rally the faculty and increase the communication from the negotiating team to the rest of the faculty. Rich Grudzinski will lead the communication to the Division Reps, then the Department Reps, then to the department. Please send in your cell phone numbers and e-mail address (home, not college) to Will Silvio (wsilvio@berklee.edu) so we can get in touch with everyone as soon as possible.

3. Management will not be opening their books for us this year, as they did last year, when we saw their book, it did to prove to us that they could not pay us. It looks like they have the money this year, but they do not want to show us. Most likely we will be going into September or beyond for bargaining. We need to keep the faculty involved throughout – we have always had tremendous faculty support and we need to keep that happening. We need to keep communication up – the team will be working hard through August – then we will need the department reps to get involved.

4. New items for the bargain – check with your department in the next few weeks to see if there are any new items. We will propose Faculty Property rights – to control your work, as of now the college owns all the work that faculty do to create a class. Evaluations are also an issue, there should be a warning before an Unsatisfactory is given – faculty need an opportunity to address the issues before the evaluation process, perhaps a verbal communication before a written one. There is a model already in place for public school systems; perhaps we can use that as a starting point. Chair observation is another issue – we need to get specific language in the contract – announce before the visit and faculty get to choose the class that the chair attends.

5. We will send all the Department Reps a list of all the proposals that the Executive Committee will be presenting during bargaining. Please contact your department in the next few weeks to see if your faculty have any issues for bargaining.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 8, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Rick seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Mike and Larry met yesterday regarding the bargain this summer. We will meet from 3-6 pm on Mondays all summer starting June 7. Essentially we will be dealing with the same management team. We will be working with the same team as last summer with the same alternates. They are not planning on opening their books this time; they have already backed away from sharing that information with us.

3. Other bargaining topics: one bright spot coming is the 50-minute lesson with several options including lessons, labs, and ensembles. Raises and workload are on the top of our list. Class size may also be a discussion during bargaining. Service to the college is becoming an issue – the new ACI course is requiring a lot of extra preparation time, professional development, and visitation to other classes. In regards to service, we need to communicate with faculty and make sure that they are not being exploited; if they are they must come forward and file a grievance – that is the only way we can regulate.

4. Grievance update – we are working on two unsatisfactory evaluations being changed to satisfactory. We are still working out the details.

5. Next two weeks in room 118 for Dept. Rep meeting the following week will be an all faculty meeting.

Union Notes from Union / Management Meeting
April 1, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Stephen Croes, Jeanine Cowan, Amelia Koch, Chris Connors, John Eldert.

1. Larry opened the meeting. College financial picture – union request. Let’s clarify the current financial picture at the college earlier in the bargain so we don’t waste time. Larry mentioned that the college is in the middle of the budget process right now, Larry and Mike will get together outside this meeting.

2. Jay discussed the Voice department and their new scheduling block scheduling approach that should alleviate some of their space issues and limit their movement. Matt will also be applying this concept to other departments in the Performance division. The bathrooms at 1140 need to change to meet code requirements – there will be change in the near future in 1140, John Eldert is working on that right now. We now have 956 voice principles and will soon take over guitar. We need to accommodate this growing population and their faculty. The 2W room is now a faculty lounge again and will be going through renovations to make it more comfortable, sound proofing, new carpet, a couple of computers, and small lockers for faculty use.

We are looking at A&I, the recruitment process, and how we can best serve Berklee. Currently 6,000 applications for fall, we have admitted 1700, we are hoping that 975 come, typically 60-65% show up, we are starting a waiting list again, about 350 on it right now.

Beth mentioned that perhaps we can limit how many of each instrument we let it. Other schools have a limited number of spots for each instrument, and perhaps Berklee could do the same.

Larry: we are trying to look at the market and how to bring in the best class. Currently, A&I is auditioning 6,000 students.

3. CRI Initiatives – Mike asked to reschedule the History of European Music meeting from Thursday at 1 to a different time to accommodate several of the Executive Committee members. How about the 50-minute lesson, where are we in relation to labs, ensembles, etc.

Jeanine: three new CRI elements will be implemented this fall. Music Application and Theory, First Year Seminar, and 50 minute lesson for a certain population around 300, the lab program may be trimmed to accommodate the extra lesson times – the lab teachers that get their classes cancelled will then teach private lessons.

Larry: the lab program grew out of Berklee’s 30 minute lesson, as we implement the new 50 minute lesson, the lab program must change. We are in the process of communicating these changes to the entire college community.

Eight sections of the MAT course will be involved in the fall, 20 faculty will be teaching the new ACI (first year seminar), 38 faculty will be going through faculty development this summer. Jeanine mentioned the population will be limited to 15 because ”we want to set them up for success.” When fully implemented the entering student will have seven classes as opposed to nine. A lot of faculty development this summer for Ear training as well as all of their first semester classes will meet for three hours a week.

4. College space moves – we are trying to get more classrooms in 22 the Fenway, but for this summer 22 will be used as a way station – admissions will be taking over the CDC, so the CDC will be over in 22 the Fenway. Seven current moving projects underway.

5. May meeting: Special needs – continuing discussion

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
March 25, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio, Haidee Lorrey.

1. Rick asks for clarification on the process for part-time rate re-negotiation. Jackson suggests that if a faculty member wants to wait to re-negotiate later than the 3rd year, that the faculty be able to and renegotiate in a year better for the faculty member.

2. Prince Charles asks why we don't have salary stats by department. Mike answers that some departments are so small, it would identify particular faculty members.

3. Grievance update - Marti's grievant is not happy with the proposed rememdy to her grievance. Mike's grievant isn't happy with just having the evaluation changed to satisfactory. The grievant wants some language removed from the evaluation. Mike's other grievance regarding double punishment may go to the NLRB for an unfair labor charge.

4. Danny reads a couple of threatening emails that he received from a student he had 21 years ago. It's up to Danny if he wants to file with the Boston police.

5. Diane gives a report on the voice department meeting. Issues discussed: Space issues, A&I, getting a councilor of physical problems not just psychological, level of respect or lack of respect that vocalist get.

6. Rick passes out some stats that he generated on salary and gender.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
March 11, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Marti made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Rick seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Charlie passed out the faculty report. 524 total faculty, 233 FT (44%) and 291 PT (56%). We are scheduled to have four conversions for next fall.

3. Grievance update – we have several grievances at different stages, one may be going to arbitration. We may be able to file an unfair labor practice for failure to bargain in good faith regarding discipline.

4. We should propose a two-step warning system before a faculty member receives an unsatisfactory review. We will discuss in future meetings to get the correct language before bargaining this summer.

5. We are currently working on a new salary analysis from several different perspectives, we will review the material next meeting, and then disseminate to faculty.

6. All-faculty meeting in April (2nd or 3rd week).

7. Department rep meeting in April.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
March 4, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Matt Marvuglio, Stephen Croes, Jeanine Cowan, Josh Singeltary, Mark Campbell, Bob Mulvey, John Eldert, Amelia Koch, Chris Connors.

1. Jay opened the meeting. Personal information security protocol, Josh Singletary is here to share information on the new law to make sure we have compliance around personal information that can lead to identity theft. IT has studied best practices on maintaining the security of all this information. Faculty advisors and other faculty that have access to colleague, have access to personal information. IT has closed the loopholes that would have allowed the information to be accessed – the information is now secure. Work-study timesheets used to have social security numbers on them – they are now electronic and the social is no longer on the form. Getting the word out – department meetings, union website, e-mail to all faculty,

2. New class cancellation policy – we are still encountering issues. We need to keep the phone line, we don’t always have access to a computer, and the students don’t always have access before the class. We would like a history of why the change has taken place; we would like to have the white notices on the door to cancel class.

3. CRI changes and faculty retraining – Jeanine gave us a broad overview. For every class that is new there will be time set aside for faculty training; during the year not during the summer. PT will be paid and FT will get service to the college credit. Rick brought up a specific situation – Counterpoint 2 will no longer be required by all – there will be a loss of hours of some kind to faculty. Jeanine mentioned that there will be a shift in faculty schedules when all the CRI changes take effect. We will table this discussion and continue at continuing meetings.

4. Bob Mulvey and Mark Campbell are here to discuss special needs students. Mike asked how do we get the support we need and how do we get the training we need. There is a specific situation regarding a blind student and breech of confidentiality. What is the protocol? There is no obligation for faculty to go beyond “reasonable accommodations.” The chair needs to waive the student into the class. Management will remind chairs about the protocol, etc. Mark Campbell is working on information sharing ahead of time to increase communication throughout the college.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 25, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Marti seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Mike opened the meeting and we discussed special needs students and the need for faculty support to teach them: training, additional compensation, or service to the college. There is a specific situation that we are working to resolve regarding a blind student. Additional time is hard to find, maybe release time for faculty training. The administration needs to support both the faculty and the students. We have discussed this for years and the administration has not supported the special needs students and the needs of the faculty. The college is acting criminally by NOT supporting the students and their needs. Another issue is that faculty names that have allegedly refused to teach students are being shared with students.

3. Class cancellation policy and the “user errors” will be discussed next week with management.

4. Faculty are being taken out of classes to travel and audition students, faculty are supposed to find subs, perhaps we could request that the faculty pool be increased to take the pressure off the performance faculty. This is starting to impact our day-to-day operations.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 18, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Rick made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting as amended and update the website. Jackson seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Private Lesson policy – any student adding a private lesson will start the week after it is added, this is in the registration manual – we need to check prior manuals – how long has this been in effect? This will be an item at the next Union/Management meeting, we need to see the history – when did it start and how was this communicated to faculty?

3. Lost teaching hours in Composition Department – the Counterpoint 1 course will be three hours a week not two, and Counterpoint 2 will no longer be required by degree, only Film Scoring and Composition majors. This will result in a loss of about 13 hours, which is equal to one full-time position, or, most likely; several part-time faculty members will lose a course. The chair is trying to lower the class size to create more sections, but there is no guarantee.

The Music History course will be moving over to the Liberal Arts department, it will change to be one semester and not two, and we don’t know who will teach the course. Currently, the class size is 85, if we can reduce the class size, we may not lose the hours. The History component of our curriculum is actually going up to six credits with Western Music (2), African/Roots (2), and Music of the Americas (2).

We need to discuss how these CRI changes are effecting our current faculty at a Union/Management meeting. We have a NEASC deadline, when? What timelines have been imposed on all of us?

4. New Benefits Committee member is needed as Jonathan will be stepping down – he has meeting at the same time. We will fill the seat at a later date. We will set a meeting between the three union representatives on this committee and Mike to discuss any recommendations that we will make as a part of this committee.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 11, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings and update the website. Mike seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Grievance update – an unsatisfactory review of a faculty member will be going to level two. A grievance has been resolved in favor of a faculty member in a meeting with the faculty member, two representaives from the union, Chair, Dean, and Senior VP/AA. We are currently working on several other grievances.

3. Late private lesson sign-up policy. If a student signs up for a lesson, they are supposed to wait a week – according to one chair – due to payroll – which is done on Monday. This does not seem like a real policy, we need to check further into this, and need to see this in writing. We should discuss this at a Union / Management meeting.

4. Service to the College requirement. We have a proposal that the service component for full-time faculty should be around 60 hours per academic year. We will pursue this during bargaining. Training through the CRI curriculum development is going to be considered service – i.e., training for the new First Semester Seminar. There are several committees that are reaching across the college and not just in the faculty member’s dept.; we need to pursue this further as well. Overall, there is confusion regarding service, committees, CRI, and what qualifies as service for full-time and compensation for part-time.

5. We will discuss lost teaching hours in Composition Department and Performance Division due to the CRI changes and Rick will make a presentation.

6. AFT-Massachusetts Convention, April 30 and May 1 at the Quincy Marriott.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
February 4, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Matt Marvuglio, Darla Hanley, Chris Connors, Jeanine Cowan, David Berndt, Stephan Croes.

1. Larry opened the meeting. Chris Connors talked about the changes to co-pays and deductibles for insurance. BCBS has not raised our rates since 2005. Prescriptions and the HMO plan will not increase. Most of the co-pays that are changing will only have a $5 increase. There is information that will be disseminated to the entire college. By increasing some of the co-pays the college has been able to lower the percentage increase of our premiums from 13% to 9% and with the increase of some of the co-pays, the overall increase is actually going to be around 6.43%. We talked about how to share this information with the rest of the college.

2. Class cancellations – the policy has been revised (now on-line at campuscruiser). The Union is not opposed to the change, we just want to have the procedure discussed. The Union feels that Management has once again changed a policy without contacting the Union. Issues are: the students don’t always check e-mail before class, a note on the door is very important, and not all faculty are on-line all the time. We recommend that the phone cancellation line stays permanently.

Jeanine: Student Affairs has made e-mail the official form of communication and the student e-mail capacity has been increased to one gig.

Larry: I feel that we have been communicating to the Union before changes are made. If you do not feel that is true, it is unfortunate. We have not changed the policy, only the process. We are trying to provide the student with a more comprehensive way for communication. Our intent was not meant to be disrespectful.

Mike and Larry discussed the policy versus the process. We will leave the x8888 and the note on the door will continue.

3. Mike and Larry moved to adjourn.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
January 28, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Rick seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Marti made an announcement that Fiona Merrill Holland was born yesterday; congratulations to Jonathan and Sarah Holland.

3. Mike brought up the recent e-mail discussions regarding course cancellations on-line with campus cruiser. There are a couple of glitches – there will be no notice on the classroom door and campus cruiser does not work well with iPhone, and other smart phones. There is a written policy that classes will be cancelled via phone and management must bargain with the union to change any policy and/or process. There should be multiple ways to cancel a class, there needs to be note on the door, not everyone has a smart phone – usually classes are cancelled for an emergency, we may not have internet access. The real issue is management needs to review the contract and/or contact the union before they make unilateral changes.

4. We discussed space issues in the voice department. We should add this to the agenda for next week.

5. CRI and faculty job descriptions changing – i.e., an Ear Training faculty member teaching a Liberal Arts course? Specific re-training programs?

6. Union/Management meeting: class cancellation policy, space issues for the vocal department, CRI faculty development, we want to give notice that we would like to see management’s financial information: St. Cecilia’s, selling parking lot next to Boston Conservatory, etc.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
January 21, 2010
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting, we discussed the minutes from the last union/management meeting. Jeff will send out revised minutes for approval next week.

2. A chair’s son has tragically passed away. We will send a card. The current grievances that need the chair to be present will be in abeyance until the chair returns.

3. A faculty member that changed syllabus during the semester is still awaiting decision from the dean and the SVP/AA, this member has received an unsatisfactory review, the union will be grieving that as well. With an unsatisfactory review, this faculty member will lose their three-year contract. The syllabus is a legal document between the student and the school.

4. A faculty member was reprimanded for using computer during a department meeting. We met with the chair and dean, and will be meeting the SVP/AA. We are only asking for a letter of apology from the chair.

5. A faculty member was given an unsatisfactory review for behavior in a past year where the faculty member was given a satisfactory review. This is not the proper procedure – the issue was not documented in the previous evaluation.

6. The benefits group has been meeting and sharing information about possible options for the school. The next step will be to talk about pension and the options for the school. Everything has been on hold until Washington works a few more things out. The main thrust from the administration has been for us to take the responsibility – self-insured, we manage our own pension portfolio, etc. We are not committing to anything, we are listening to ideas, and this summer during the bargain is when the decisions will be made.

7. We need to put the CRI on a Union/Management meeting – how will the hours be affected for part-time faculty, etc. We need to investigate the options for OUR faculty. Workload issues, we would like to reduce the Full-Time workload, which means more hours for part-time. The new Liberal Arts course First Year Seminar has a lot of issues in it that have not been worked out yet – extra prep time, advising, etc. There are a lot of issues to be discussed before bargaining sessions start this summer.

8. Three-year contract – we have language to make the hours mandatory, we can make adjustments to that language – instead of 27 units per year, average 27 units for three years. We will discuss in future meetings before bargaining begins.

9. Three-year contracts, 50-minute lessons, workload reduction for FT, increase weighting for hours – 1.5 and 1.25, we need to discuss what we are willing to trade for these big ticket items.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
December 10, 2009
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Amelia Koch, John Eldert, Mark Campbell, Jeanine Cowen.

1. Larry opened the meeting, student evaluations. Mike brought up several issues. The public report of individual response rate for each faculty is inappropriate.

Larry responded: we just wanted to make more data available to everyone. We have agreed to do an on-line evaluation to prevent faculty from using class time. We wanted to create a possible dialogue between faculty, not alienate or shame people. We want to get the response rate higher.

Mike: what about the model that Emerson uses, the grade will not be released until the student fills out an evaluation. The old procedure took away class time, we may need some kind of forced mechanism.

Larry: as of now, we will not go to the extreme of holding up grades to increase the response rate. We will not be sending out the individual information to all faculty. Mark Campbell mentioned that right now we are not using Colleague to do the evaluations, we would need a module or mechanism to manage the data.

Mike: the work resides with the students, they need to fill out the evaluations, and perhaps Student Affairs can help them understand the importance of the evaluation process. Also, the fact that one class has been separated out of all other classes is not acceptable. We all agreed to a specific set of questions and content, if that is changed, it is a violation of the contract. The intent is ok, but it must be bargained or at least agreed to by the union. It is a breech of contract.

Larry: I have not seen the separate evaluation, I would need to see that and we can follow up at a later date. Mike passed out the list of questions. We discussed them and their intent. Larry, the intent is connected to the CRI, we should come back to this.

Mike: we need to hold the information until we can bring this issue to a conclusion. Had we been consulted, we would have provided a service and helped the process along.

2. Faculty Performance Reviews – Mike. There have been a significant amount of negative reviews, 8-10 faculty have contacted the Union about their reviews. It is across all divisions and departments, no one particular department or division.

Larry: we have asked chairs to accurately evaluate all faculty in a fair manner.
In the past, chairs have given faculty satisfactory reviews when the faculty are not performing up to par.

Mike: in the past, chairs have given warning about the possibility of receiving an unsatisfactory review. Perhaps we can set-up a warning procedure, there are a lot of ramifications from an unsatisfactory review: wage renegotiations, part-time to full-time, three-year contracts, benefits, etc.

Larry: there is no requirement for a minimum of unsatisfactory reviews in each department, we are asking the chairs to do their job, evaluate the faculty. The grievances that are to be presented will help us learn about our procedures and evaluate our evaluation process.

3. Article XXV Benefits Study Committee meetings – update. Jay, we have had three great meetings, we have only talked about health, but more to come, it has been very eye-opening and educational.

Minutes from All-Faculty Meeting
December 3, 2009
UEC Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting, we presented a large package to management last summer during the bargain, we want to go ahead and present the same package again next summer. Highlights include, lowering FT load, increase classroom teaching weighting to 1.5 and performance classes to 1.25, increase minimums for each rank – specifically Professors, PT 3-year contract, defined benefit plan, benefits, PT conversions to FT, etc.

2. Recent arbitrations – 3-year contract issue and guaranteed hours vs. pay, 27 units. We lost the arbitration and now have a lot of work to do to adjust the language of the PT 3-year contract during the next bargain.

3. We currently have the largest student population ever at the college, 4,130. They chose to spend their money on buildings and remodeling those buildings.

4. Charles Cassara presented this year’s budget, electronic copies have been sent to all faculty and are available on the website. Jackson called for a vote to accept the budget for 2009-10 that Charles presented, Jeff seconded, and the vote was unanimous to accept the budget.

5. Elect delegates for AFT-Massachusetts conference: Beth, Marti, Jonathan, Mike, and Rick Applin, Jackson and Jeff will be alternates. Rich made a motion to accept the delegates, Scott Free seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

6. Discuss and vote on extending current Union Executive Committee members’ terms by one year to maintain continuity in the event next summer’s negotiations go beyond September 1. (This would mean the union elections scheduled to take place in April 2010 would, with the approval of the members present at this meeting, be rescheduled for April 2011.)

A faculty member mentioned the possible solution: have the elections and any new members would join the bargaining team, and take over in Sept., perhaps not very conducive to the bargaining process. Discussion continued.

Peter C. made a motion to accept the extension, Rich G. seconded, 44 in favor and 1 opposed.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
with Department Representatives
November 19, 2009
UEC Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting. We introduced ourselves. This position will become very important this summer. Duties, there are two main tasks for Department Reps, one is to funnel issues in your department to the Division Reps on the UEC, to improve communication, and the reverse process – Division Reps to the Department Reps, first announcement to make, remind faculty about the all-faculty meeting December 3, in room 302, a very important meeting. Jackson mentioned a chain of command tree, a flow chart – Mike on down through the ranks.

We will also circulate minutes from the UEC minutes and put the flow chart on the website. This summer during bargaining we may need the use of the phone tree, as the bargaining gets a little more intense, we will need to get the word out. Communication is the key to coordinate our strategy.

Back in 1986, the faculty was so much smaller, we knew everyone and we knew what our support was. We need to know where ALL faculty stand, Department Reps are the only way will be able to know that. We will send out information to all the Reps regarding possible actions and their ramifications.

Communication, do Reps need to collect cell phones? home numbers? The UEC will gather a lot of the information, but the Reps could collect private e-mail, a very important way to communicate.

2. Charles presented the audit, and fiscal report to the UEC, this information will be in the Union Newsletter, on the website, and available at the all-faculty meeting December 3. Marti made a motion to accept the documents as presented, Rick seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
November 12, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings and update the website, Jonathan seconded, and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Department Reps are in place and we will meet with them next week.

3. Contract signing will be Tuesday November 17 at 2:15 in Roger’s office.

4. Retirement bonus agreement, the date will be changed to September 1, 2009.

5. Possible upcoming grievances – several simmering, more specifics to follow in the coming weeks.

6. December faculty meeting will be the first Thursday in a larger room TBA. Possible extension of Executive Committee terms by one year.

7. Charles passed out budget information for fiscal year 2010. Rich made a motion to accept the budget as amended, Jackson seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

8. Proposed scholarship recommendation changes – Tod Oliviere made a presentation regarding possible changes in the current process. BAS, one possibility is to create an on-line form on my.berklee.net, this will solve a lot of issues, streamline the process, and make it more accessible. Additional changes in the process may include only one application time per year during the spring semester – not both fall and spring. All information will be confidential and will not be posted publicly. Rick made a motion to support the change in process, Rich seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

Minutes from Union / Management Meeting
November 5, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

Management – Larry Simpson, Stephen Croes, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, John Eldert, Amelia Koch, Matt Marvuglio.

1. Larry opened the meeting, H1N1 flu – update, only one reported case of a student, a few staff members may have had it, as well as a few faculty, but no real major situation. No word on the shot for H1N1

2. College and faculty benefits study group update. There will be three meetings scheduled this semester to start the work and we are trying to get the meetings in the faculty schedules next semester. No real power in this group, only suggestions, gathering information, etc.

3. Art XXVII Wages, Letter F. Larry and Mike had a very productive meeting regarding this topic. The date was supposed to change with all the other dates from the contract. The college has agreed to change the date. We can change the language to remove the date all together, we will be bargaining very soon and this will certainly come up

4. Faculty pay issue – a faculty member with a pay issue has been resolved. Larry and Mike worked well together.

5. Transition Contract Appointments. When a faculty member enters the three-year transition contract, a part-time faculty member will be converted to full-time. There are several issues, do we replace the full-time faculty immediately, when they become part-time, or when the six years are over. There also may be more than the four that we have agreed on for this contract.

Management position is that FT faculty on TRC will be not be replaced until year 4 of six.

Is this a person for person conversion, each department gets a replacement, or is this a body for a body, regardless of department? As long as there is a conversion of a part-time faculty member, that is the main point.

The contract will be signed very soon, all issues have been resolved, and we would like to move forward before December. Our next Union/Management meeting will be December 10.
6. Voice Department working conditions. Jay, John, and Matt met with the voice department yesterday; many enlightening issues were brought up. There will be ideas being presented in the very near future, Matt will be looking at re-organizing the courses, the locations, and when they are scheduled. Perhaps we can get Performance Division teaching studios to maximize space and facilities. It is a high priority in the Academic Affairs area.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 29, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting; the Benefits study group has been solidified. Management outnumbers us two to one, but this group will not be making the decisions, only suggestions. We will still make the final decisions in bargaining next summer. Tuesday 3 pm meeting scheduled with our reps.

2. Department Reps – a list was passed out and discussed. We will settle all the final names in the next couple of weeks, contact everyone, and set up a meeting before the end of the semester. Rich will be in charge of the phone tree and the department reps will assist us to get the word out.

3. Contract language was submitted electronically, there is one clause regarding a retirement benefit that is currently unresolved. Mike made a motion to postpone the signing the contract until we resolve the issue, Marti seconded, 1 abstention, and 15 in favor.

4. All-faculty meeting will be Thursday, December 3rd, 1 pm, room TBA.

5. We have discovered an individual faculty pay issue, we will look into it and resolve the issue.

6. 3-year contract arbitration has been resolved, unfortunately, in favor of management. This sets us back on many levels: for the individuals involved, the union, and the future of the 3-year contract for part-time faculty.

7. Several age discrimination issues have come up. We will be looking into them and submitting a grievance.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 22, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. PWD - Three faculty have come to complain about their spring schedules. A chair removed one class from a faculty member on a 3-year contract that didn't need all 6 classes to maintain their 3 year contract. A chair removed classes from another faculty member so he could give them to another faculty member who has young children to take care of. Mike should bring this up with Larry.

Is this something that is happening across the college? Faculty on the CRI committees are receiving release time, causing the need for classes to be covered. This would be a good topic of discussion for a union/management meeting.

2. There is a language problem in the contract that needs to be corrected. A date needs to be changed regarding eligibility for the $500.00 per year of service given to faculty who retire.

On a related topic, the college needs to fulfill its obligation to replace faculty on the transitional retirement. Larry has yet to get to Mike on how the college is going to handle them.

3. When will faculty submit their request for conversion. Mike thinks it will be around February.

4. Mike reports on last weeks issue regarding a faculty member’s performance review. The chair has re-written the faculty members review however Mike still doesn't believe it is satisfactory. Mike is meeting with Kari to discuss this issue on Friday.

5. Rick reports that zoomerang cannot do what we want regarding the faculty survey of chairs. Mike is inclined to send it out in hard copy.

6. There is a possible harassment grievance in the percussion department.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 15, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings and update the website, Jackson seconded, and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. We discussed several issues with faculty evaluations by chairs this fall. We need to have chair evaluations by faculty soon, perhaps this fall. Let’s investigate on-line options, zoomerang, etc. We will discuss the form and options next week. What about evaluating Deans?

3. The voice department will be meeting regarding space on Nov. 4 with members of Academic Affairs and administration.

4. We discussed department reps.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 8, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings and update the website, Peter seconded, and the vote to accept was unanimous.

2. Jackson will be serving on the benefits committee with Rick, Jonathan, and Wendy. Rick and Jonathan will focus on retirement and Wendy and Jackson will focus on health. All members served last year on the bargaining team and will also serve next summer.

3. An interesting fact about the transition contracts came up regarding the replacement of the full-time position from within the given department. More information to follow.

4. The contract language has been approved.

5. We are going to schedule a meeting for all faculty in December. Maybe the second week in December. Topics, AFT-MA conference, budget: this year v. last year. Mike made a motion to possibly extend the current UEC terms by one-year – due to bargaining next summer, Jeff seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

6. We discussed the next bargain and the fact that we should be bargaining each month in our Union/Management meetings. We still have a lot of issues on the table.

7. Department Representatives – we will discuss next week.

8. Fall newsletter – we will discuss next week.

9. Audit and budget report – Charlie, all information has been sent in to the accountant, Oct. 21 is the date of the audit.

10. Chair classroom visitations, the process needs to be clarified.

11. Notification of spring registration duties – we will discuss next week.

Minutes from Union / Management Meeting
October 1, 2009
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, David Berndt, Darla Hanley, Gary Haggerty, Matt Marvuglio, Stephen Croes, Amelia Koch.

1. Jay opened the meeting, Larry is at an off-campus event. Dave Berndt is here to discuss faculty scheduling issues. Location, back-to-back classes in two separate locations with no travel time allotted, and a class that meets more than once a week in two separate locations. Dave works with faculty preferences and will try to avoid all these issues if possible, but it may not be. Some faculty want a compressed schedule, some want a break, Dave will do the best he can to schedule everything as good as possible. Schedules are made by the 4-7 week of the semester for next semester, Dave encourages chairs to give out the schedules to faculty to see what their next schedule will be, changes are easy at that point. Once the information is published, it becomes harder to change. Room changes are sometimes made up until check-in week, due to student populations. Faculty are encouraged to use the comment field for specific issues to be avoided.

2. 7 Haviland should be open in January, with 8 classrooms, not ALL for Liberal Arts. 155, 2nd floor, 2 tech lab/classrooms should also be available in January, both locations will also have offices. We will lose St. Cecelia’s classrooms after this fall, and we may lose the BAC next fall.

3. Class times on the hour, Roger wondered why we started 10 minutes after the hour. SO, we changed to have class on the hour, because most real life situations do not start 10 minutes after the hour. The CRI workgroups will be looking at a lot of options for lessons, etc. that may help scheduling issues.

4. College Benefits Study-Group. Moving forward we would like to have a broad college wide scope for membership, but we want it to be small enough so scheduling will not be an issue. We may have two groups, a pension group and a health group, but we are not sure right now. We want to have regular meetings to make progress before May 31, so we can use this information for the bargaining next summer. We may want to consider having a diverse group in terms of early in their career and later in their career. Mike will communicate the faculty to Jay and Larry as soon as possible, maybe we can get the scheduling worked out.

5. Contract language was looked over yesterday, overall, things are looking good, but there are a few minor changes, words, grammar, etc…

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
September 24, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings and update the website, Rick seconded, and the vote to accept was unanimous.

2. Charles – the audit will be taking place on October 21, our paperwork will be prepared in the next few weeks. We will set-up a meeting in November for all faculty to present the budget, etc.

3. Faculty raises will be retroactive and should be in the October 1 checks, if not, October 15. We will scrutinize all the financial information that we received from management before next summer.

4. Grievance update – we were unable to get the new 3-year contract grievances linked with the current 3-year contract grievance in arbitration. The new grievances are the same concept and our intent was to link the decisions together. We should receive a decision from the current grievance in October.

5. Mike will explore the issue of management telling faculty that the union is to blame for many unpopular management decisions.