Berklee Faculty Union: Minutes

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.

Minutes from Ratification Meeting
September 17, 2009

Present UEC – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio, Jeff Jacobsen.

1. Mike opened the meeting, we had a difficult bargain, but we did have over 300 responses over the course of the summer from faculty. We will continue to update you as we go through this all over again next summer.

2. Mike went over the contract specifics.

3. A faculty member asked about the faculty evaluation language, “Do we have input?”

4. A faculty member asked “was the survey of other music schools used during the bargain?” Yes, 33 schools were used as information during bargaining. Rebecca Cline, Peter Cokkinias, and Peter Alhadeff were instrumental in gathering and presenting the information. Mike went over the information.

5. Next year will be just a difficult as this year, however, we have the information and are ready to go.

6. A faculty member asked, “the student enrollment is up, we have 4100 students, the most ever? Where is the panic?” They had accounted for a lot of the financial input, but if the numbers stay up, we have a position for bargaining.

7. A faculty member asked, “why a 1 year contract?” The economy will change next year, we do not know what will happen, but we did not want to lock into a raise or other economic items. This 1-year contract has no bearing on your personal contracts, if you have a 3-year contract, it still is in effect for the next 3 years.

8. A faculty member asked, “What about all the new buildings? Will we be hearing this as an excuse next year?” Yes, unfortunately, we may have this issue for a while.

9. A faculty member asked, “What about going for promotion now in this climate?” If you are up for promotion, you should go for it.

10. A faculty member asked, “Do you feel that the faculty are afraid to challenge the administration?” The faculty responded quite positively to all the information we shared and I feel that we are ready to push next year.

11. A faculty member asked, “How can we find a way to present all of the survey information more convincing?’ We meet with management once a month throughout the school year, we will be discussing this with them, and pushing forward.

12. A faculty member mentioned, “These proposed take-backs are offensive to me and all faculty, it is very inappropriate to take advantage of us during a tough time. We need to stay strong, our strength is in our numbers, we should talk to our fellow faculty members and keep all of us informed!” Perhaps we can find a way to get this feeling to administration collectively, we will not stand for this treatment!

13. Jonathan and Peter counted the ballots. 100 yes and 1 no.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
September 17, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, 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 meeting and update the website, Jackson seconded, and the vote was unanimous in favor of acceptance.

2. Ratification meeting today, we will discuss with members present to possibly include proxy votes.

3. Committee members answering mass emails regarding benefits loss to a faculty member. Our policy is, any UEC member should not respond to mass e-mails. The only way a faculty member can lose benefits is if they teach less than 45 units a semester that is 3 hours a week for 15 weeks.

4. Department Reps (Division Reps should know the people from their respective divisions). We will go over all the names next week and we would like to connect with all of them, invite them to a meeting, and create a plan for organizing and contacting all faculty. The next bargain will be harder than the last one.

5. According to our by-laws, elections are scheduled for April. In the past, we have asked for an extension of the current committee by one year to accommodate no major changes during a bargaining year. The second option is to have the elections and move ahead, the term does not end until September, it is possible that the bargain will be done by then.

6. Contract language is currently being drawn up, after we have our ratification meeting today, we will look at it when it becomes available.

7. Arbitrations, there are two other 3-year contract issues on the table, we will file for arbitration in both cases.

8. Class/classroom issue – some multiple meeting courses have meeting times in separate rooms. Let’s figure out what’s going on.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
September 10, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

Guests: Jay Kennedy, John Eldert, and Roy Murphy.

1. Mike opened the meeting. The ratification meeting will be Thursday at 5:00 pm in 1A. An e-mail will be sent out to all faculty with the contract specifics.

2. We need to confirm our reps in each department and invite them to an Executive Committee meeting.

3. A discussion commenced regarding bargaining and tactics for next summer.

4. Our guests made a presentation on pandemic issues at Berklee. We have been building a team regarding facilities and all the issues around them. Working with all the schools in the area to create a greater Boston collective of schools. We get daily reports on what’s happening in the area on all levels. All rooms now have Purell dispensers, etc. to try and contain the transfer if there is an issue. What happens if there is an outbreak? There is a lot a material that will be flooding the college, FAQ, etc… get informed. The biggest thing to take away from this meeting – get a seasonal flu shot! The H1N1 flu shot is two separate shots. Education and cleanliness is our best effort for prevention. There will be a lot of information coming out next week to all faculty and everyone in AA to share with all students regarding policies and procedures, etc…

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 30, 2009
Present – Charles Cassara, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, 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, Danny seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Contract re-appointment or promotion is the opportunity for faculty to re-negotiate pay. This is the ONE opportunity to increase the base rate and has NOTHING to do with the contract negotiations. AA has declared that we must wait until after the faculty contract has been negotiated. This is incorrect, unless they change this approach, we will file an unfair labor charge or a grievance, this is a violation of the current contract. This is a false benefit, a unilateral change without cause. We have 15 days from now to file a grievance, and three months to file an ULP. We are in a good position to put pressure on AA to communicate in a timely fashion and to keep with past practice. If there is an ULP during bargaining we can have a free strike, management cannot hire replacements … more on that later. There may be a precedent based on the last contract and individual faculty re-negotiation in 2004-6.

3. No meeting next week.

4. Meeting in the first week of classes for negotiating team, maybe Tuesday May 26, 8 am – 10 am?

5. Marti motioned to adjourn, Mike seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

Minutes from Union All-Faculty Meeting
April 23, 2009

Mike opened the meeting with an opening statement regarding the upcoming bargain and the important issues that we face. Two items that need faculty attention, the AFT-MA conference is next week, with two very important issues, a vote on dues increase and Charles Cassara service award.

Delegates: Mike Scott, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Beth Denisch, Rick Applin, alternates: Peter C, Jackson Schultz and Jeff Perry. The motion was seconded and the vote was unanimous.

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. The motion was seconded and the vote was unanimous.

Contract negotiation begins Monday June 8, from 3-6; caucuses will be in the fishbowl, 150 Mass. We will also have the option for observers. Jeff Jacobsen will be our counsel; he has done all our contracts since 1986. Jeff spoke about this as a very important time for the bargain, tough economic times, they may want to withhold things because they can in this tough time. Their team will consist of Larry Simpson, several vice presidents and deans.

For a complete set of minutes from this meeting, contact the communications committee at baftunion@berklee.edu

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 16, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

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

2. Grievance updates – gender discrimination hearing had its second day of arbitration and things went fairly well, there will be more to come at a later date TBD, at least two more days of arbitration. Three-year contract hearing has been moved back to a later date TBD, at least two more days of arbitration.

3. Negotiating issues and the upcoming bargain. All-faculty meeting next week. Negotiating team up for approval, delegates and alternates up for approval, and a presentation of our survey results.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 9, 2009
Present – Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, 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, Peter seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. AFT-Mass Distinguished Service Award to Charles Cassara, which brings the total to five of our UEC members to receive the award.

3. Delegates and Alternates to AFT-Mass Conference, May 1-2, we have a list of delegates to put before faculty on the 23rd. Mike, Marti, Rick, and Danny are the proposed list. Jeff and Peter will be alternates. Will, Danny, and Rich will be providing musical entertainment.

Mike made a motion to accept the list, Danny seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

4. Negotiating Team – Mondays 3-6 in the Davis Room starting June 1st. Jeff Jacobsen will be representing us and Haidee Morris, AFT General Counsel will be observing, she will be taking over for Jeff in our next bargain. Mike, Beth, Rick, Marti, Jackson, Jonathan, Will, and Jeff: Danny and Prince Charles will be alternates, and Wendy will be special counsel for part-time. Other members can attend any and all meetings as an observer.

Mike made a motion to accept the list, Danny seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

5. Survey and Analysis Presentation next week, we are still compiling information, and Rebecca Cline will present results. Suzanne has shared the results from the Zoomerang survey, we will discuss the topics for negotiation next week.

6. All Faculty Meeting on April 23, 2009 in 411, Uchida building.

7. Armsted Christian sent a heartfelt thank you for our contribution to his foundation.

8. Michael Heyman will not be able to continue next year. Mike made a motion to accept Haidee Lorre as a replacement next year, Jonathan seconded and the vote was unanimous.

9. Honorariums will be passed out next week by Charles.

Minutes from Union / Management Meeting
April 2, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Stephen Croes, Darla Hanley, Jeanine Cowan, and Amelia Koch.

1. Charles opened the meeting, made a motion to make a $1000 contribution to the Armsted Christian foundation, Danny seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Summary of Part-time issues. The minutes from last week’s part-time only meeting were passed out for discussion. April 23, we will have an All-faculty meeting; we will present ideas from that meeting as well as information that we are gathering from our survey of similar schools.

3. Larry jumped in to discuss the economic crisis and how we are being affected as an institution. Amelia Koch discussed our current financial state. We are spending money to keep things stable. A 5% budget cut, 1M cut from strategic planning, overall operating expenses have been cut. The tuition increase (6.24%) is more for scholarships than our operating expenses. Returning students are the issue, a possible 5-10% reduction. The entering class seems to be OK, may be down 100 for the summer, not sure.

Continued enrollment is our main focus. Guitar Sessions is down 50%, most other programs are down 5-10%. The effort for the summer program is for the possibility of the fall class not being as strong – not only entering students, but also continuing students.

In terms of our peer institutions, we are significantly lower; the original increase of 8% was a little too hard to handle long term. We did not want to be an outlier. The government creates a “bad list” of tuition increases for schools. The top school in our group is Oberlin in terms of our peer institution.

4. We discussed several topics from the part-time meeting last week: part-time conversions and promotions with clearly posted criteria, more job security with 3-year contracts with clear language in the contract, benefits “total compensation”, being paid for spring break, private lesson schedules in flux a little too long, and consistent assignment of summer hours.

Part-time Faculty Meeting
March 26, 2009 1W

1. The meeting begins with all the attendees introducing themselves.

2. Mike Scott explains that bargaining will begin Monday June 1st.

3. The Union is currently researching other music colleges and music departments to find comparisons between Berklee and other institutions.

4. The bargain may be difficult due to the economy, even though the college has been relatively untouched by the recession. The college has the largest number of entering class applications in history for the next fall semester.

5. Tuition is going up at least 6.2%.

6. Mike opens the discussion to the faculty present for their input on issues for bargaining:

A. A faculty member in the piano department proposes a systematic conversion process based on years and hours of service. After your 3rd three year contract, you could be up for conversion to full-time.

B. A faculty member in the ensemble department brings up the problem of part-timers who have only been at the college a short time getting conversions over long time part-timers. There needs to be a clearer criteria for conversions.

C. A composition faculty member asks if part-time faculty actually have to be at the college to be considered for a conversion?

D. An ear training faculty member brings up the need to secure the 3 year contracts and maybe add security for office hours and paid meetings.

E. Wendy Rolfe talks about the benefits committee she and Jonathan Holland serve on. She brings up the idea of "total compensations."

F. A faculty member brings up the problem of summer work for part-timers and the need for consistency in assigning summer work.

G. A faculty member brings up his frustration with teaching labs and private lessons and its effect on qualifing for a 3 year contract. The performance div. teachers are at a disadvantage.

H. A composition faculty member brings up the idea that the workload is too high. If there were fewer classes taught by full-timers, there would be a greater need for more full-time positions and more work left over for part-timers. It would also allow for even better quality teaching.

I. A harmony department faculty asks about the possibility of being paid for spring break.

J. Criteria for conversions should be published and adhered to.

K. Total number of hours over the course of a three-year contract should average 27 units per year to keep a three-year contract.