Union notes from Union / Management Meeting

Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, David Scott, Jackson Schultz, Jeri Sykes, and Will Silvio.

Management – Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Kari Juusela, Matt Marvuglio, Darla Hanley, Chris Connors, Jeanine Cowan, Rich Vigdor, and Nikki Kirk.

1. Jay opened the meeting. Jonathan made a motion to make a contribution of $2,000 to the fallen firefighters fund. Jackson seconded and the vote was unanimous to make a donation to the firefighters fund.

2. Jackson brought up the spousal and dependant Life Insurance change by the college. This change has happened without consulting the Union in any way, this has to stop! This is the similar to what happened last year and we ended up in court at the NLRB. We are happy to engage in a conversation over this topic and I present to you a demand to bargain over this topic.

Mac: I have always approached the Union with respect and will continue to do so. We have been very transparent with many of the major issues as of late and have consulted the Union. I can assure you that we don’t take this cavalierly; we will take this under consideration and get back to you.

Jackson: my door is always open and we can discuss this at any time.


3. Issuing electronic contracts and cover letters to faculty, Rich Vigdor is here to discuss. We would like to begin the process this month for summer and fall contracts. We have been moving towards electronic method with pay stubs and W-2’s. This would save a lot of time and money regarding printing, folding, and mailing. The faculty member would print sign and return or if the faculty have Adobe they could add an electronic signature. If this system is not ready this month, we will start in June with 5-Week contracts.


4. Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 - pay date (banks closed); propose to change date to Jan. 2. We need to consider the calendar year with 26 paychecks in each year, the 31st will cause 27 and 25 and may cause tax issues.


5. Enhancing the Early Alert program (students at risk)  & Second Semester Student Success Program - taking class attendance on the Berklee Courses site. About 35 faculty are involved with on-line attendance with 1st semester classes and the second semester success program. The main issue for students failing within the first year is missing class. The program is a success right now; we are looking at updating the attendance feature by the fall. We are getting feedback from faculty on the current ol.berklee.edu attendance feature and will hopefully making changes to be implemented by the fall. This is all about students at risk, we are taking their money, we need to try and assist them with the help that they need to succeed at Berklee: sometimes the help they need is to leave the college, they may not belong here.


6. 150 Mass Ave update, phase 1 is complete, phase 2 involves the former dining area, the practice rooms, the one story edition on Belvedere, the front red brick slabs. We will be relocating labs to the upper part of the caf and the lower part will be a space for an 80-musician rehearsal space. Timing, we are now in the schematic design phase, next is developing specific drawings: then planning. Construction should start in calendar ’15.


7. Update on Fall Semester Admitted Student-Principal Student Breakdown: We have 2581 students admitted for the fall, 1050 is our target. The actual breakdown will be mid May.