Berklee Faculty Union: Minutes

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.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
March 12, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, 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, Marti seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Charles Cassara – Faculty status report – current ratio 45% FT, 55% PT

3. Update on Grievances/issues – the gender discrimination grievance had an arbitration hearing last Monday; there will be another hearing to be scheduled at a later date. 3-Year contract grievance will have a hearing on May 7. Another 3-year contract issue has arisen, more information came to light, and we were successful in keeping the 3-year contract for that individual.

4. Update on Jeff Jacobsen – he will be representing us during the next bargain.

5. We discussed the upcoming bargain and certain issues that we may bring up.

6. Negotiating team will be determined soon.

7. PT Faculty Meeting will be March 26 at 1 pm in 1W.

Minutes from Union / Management Meeting
March 5, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Matt Marvuglio, Jeanine Cowen, Amelia Koch, John Eldert, Chris Connors.

1. Larry opened the meeting and turned over the meeting to Mike. Mike and Roger met to discuss generalities regarding the upcoming bargain.

Faculty are currently surveying other schools to see how we compare, we have selected 40 schools and will be compiling the data upon completion of the survey: topics include private lesson length, salaries, and benefits. We have set a target date of April to receive all the information back, we will go through the data, and possibly be ready to make a presentation at the next Union/Management meeting.

Monday at 3:00 pm is our target time and day for our bargain to begin in June. April 1st is the deadline to present our demand to bargain.

Larry discussed the current economic situation and Roger’s visit to our meeting last month. We will not really know about the future until the entering class comes in the fall. We are in uncertain times, we are a tuition driven institution, not an endowment driven institution.

2. Mike discussed the Composition Department and the loss of hours this summer, 18 sections of courses are to be dropped, seven part-time faculty lost their schedules and several full-time faculty lost hours. This seems excessive, is this happening in other departments? Maybe the hours could be spread around? Larry mentioned that they will look further into this situation.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 26, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, 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, Rich seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Mike will be meeting with Roger Brown on Tuesday; the topic will be the upcoming bargain. After that meeting Jackson and Mike will be meeting with Larry Simpson to discuss the specifics of the bargain: when we will meet, times, location, etc.

3. Wendy and Jonathan made a presentation on the Benefits Study Group. The entire report and recommendations are attached. Total Compensation = Salary + Benefits, using this as the basis of a plan by which the college should strive to provide fair, equitable, and useful pay to its faculty. Minimum safety net concept (see report available upon request). Let’s table this discussion until our next meeting.

4. The Zoomerang survey that Rebecca Cline put together needs a little more tweaking.

5. There is a faculty member quite ill, let’s consider making a personal donation or a donation to the foundation for research into the illness.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 19, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio, Guest: Josh Rosen

1. Mike opened the meeting, introduced guest Josh Rosen, he is here to discuss part-time conversions.

2. The three-year contract issue regarding an individual on leave during the third year of a three-year has been somewhat resolved. The third year will start in Sept. ’09, the health benefits will continue, and the individual will be paid for 27 units, regardless of the teaching hours during the year. The issue may be renewal of the three-year contract, more on that later.

3. Directed study issue, the number of students is usually four, one faculty member has three, the college is currently paying the faculty member for 1.5 hours as opposed to 2 hours. We will be looking into this issue further, management is changing the credit load of the course without consultation. It seems to be an overload issue, by giving this faculty member 2 hours it would put them over the limit.

4. Summer hours – 18 hours of summer classes will be eliminated from the Composition department, how do they know now what the populations will be? Roger came to the meeting a few weeks ago and told us that 100 more students will be brought in this summer, why are they cutting sections?

5. Josh Rosen made a presentation on part-time conversions an alternative to how they are determined. What is the current process? How are the decisions currently made? There are a lot of issues and ill-will that accompany this process. He presented an alternative approach to the conversion process, following more like the promotion concept. One idea is that we set a time limit, “after the second three-year contract,” represents a commitment to the college and that one has paid their “dues.” Can we put a permanent number of conversions in the contract. We could try and make an automatic conversion process, but that has issues as well … we will continue the discussion. Let’s take another look at the ½ ¾ FT concept.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 12, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Suzanne Dean, Marti Epstein, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio. Guest: Rebecca Cline

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

2. We have another 3-year contract issue and we will be filing a grievance.

3. Rebecca Cline made a presentation. We will be revising the survey presented in the minutes from 1/29; we are moving to a Zoomerang survey and adjusting the questions to suit our specific needs.

We should include tuition for each school in the information that we gather, however, that question should not be in the survey; we will gather that on our own.

Let’s include a couple of local schools, Brandeis and Tufts.

We have two sets of informational questions; perhaps we can adjust the questions between faculty and staff, and target those individuals.

Our main goal is a very narrow focus: benefits, hourly wage for classroom teaching, and hourly wage for private lesson teaching. All of this information is focused on one main point, bargaining. Our focus should be adjusting the sub-standard issues we have, getting us up to speed with other institutions and adjusting the language in the contract to clean up spots that seem to be open for interpretation.

The cost of this survey will be $200, Jeff made a motion to accept that cost, Wendy seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

4. We should have a few of our business faculty to go through management’s tax returns to actually see how things are going, the 990 form and the LM2.

Minutes from Union / Management Meeting
February 5, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Roger Brown, Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, John Eldert, Darla Hanley, Matt Marvuglio, Stephen Croes.

1. Roger opened the meeting with a statement regarding the financial state of the college. The bad news is not nearly as bad as it could be. There are three different times during the year that we get paid, at the start of each semester. The college has taken proactive measures to adjust budgets, lowering by 2 million, to make more funds available for scholarship. The current population is 3940, down 1.5 percent, but could have been much worse.

Many college endowments are down, ours is down over 30% - perhaps as low as 35-40%. Fundraising is down for obvious reasons. The big question is what happens this summer? And more importantly what happens this fall? We have become more selective in the past few years; we may lower the standards slightly to keep a class of 4000. We may see a slight change, but the primary objective is to keep a class of 4000, to keep our stability as an institution. Early applications are up 34%; overall the applications for fall are up. How many do we admit? Do we admit too many and get overpopulated? At this point, yes.

The college is challenging the budgets to make 5-6 million more available, to bring up the total to 25-30 million. Let’s market the summer sooner, make the information available sooner to see how things look. Early signs are good. The general indicators are good for this summer and next fall. The number one reason for a student to come or continue here is the faculty! Having a bigger 12-week program will help the bubble class this fall. We will increase tuition this fall, we are about 5000 less than other schools that our population could attend, we can get the more affluent parents to pay a more reasonable rate in comparison. We are looking at somewhere between 5-8% increase. The A&I process has increased applications, when we show a higher standard, more people want to attend.

The number one goal is to not lay off any faculty/staff. This bargain will be a challenge; it is quite hard to see into the future, and we hope to not cut faculty hours.

If we are overenrolled next fall, let’s try to look inside at our faculty, instead of emergency hires, and then we can control the hours that our current faculty have. Emergency hires are not good for the college. David Berdt is very involved in the process with the chairs to identify certain faculty that can teach across the curriculum.

Currently 10% of our entering class already has a Bachelors Degree. We are going to move forward with the 7 Haviland and 155 Mass Ave. renovations. Valencia is most likely delayed until 2012, the cost is currently not that high with several outside contributions.

2. Faculty activities during BTOT – part-timers are coming off a month without pay, not all departments have activities, this can be quite a financial hit. Can we get a more universal approach towards the BTOT faculty activities?

The contract is clear – the payment for BTOT and Department activities is up to 12 hours. The goal is not to get part-timers paid but to have meaningful activities scheduled. The choice is up to the Dean/Chair to schedule the events outside BTOT. All the activities really depend on the needs of the department; the contract does not mandate department activities. Can we have the chairs communicate their intentions before the end of the fall semester. That way adjunct faculty may be able to attend other department meetings.

3. Snow cancellation policy. In the past, when the Boston public schools cancel, we have cancelled. In this most recent snow event, we were brought in during the worst part of the storm, then cancelled at 2:30, an odd time, when the storm was essentially over, can we at least cancel on the hour?

The closing of school is one of the hardest decisions to make.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
January 29, 2009
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting with updates on current grievances. The gender pay discrepancy hearing has been postponed, the information that we requested has not arrived yet, Management needs to provide the information that we request in a timely fashion. March 9th is the new date.

2. Next meeting will be a union/management meeting, two topics: faculty activities during BTOT and the school cancellation policy. Why bring us in if Boston Public is cancelled, why cancel when the storm is over, and why cancel at 2:30?

3. Voice department issues on space and facilities in general. Management may be in violation of state law; there are not enough restrooms for the faculty and 800 students. We will file a grievance and include several other issues, including a lack of faculty lounge and office space.

4. Peter Gardner would like to open a scholarship in Walter Harp’s name, Charles made a motion to make a donation of $1000, Beth seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

5. Prince Charles discussed the bargaining issues research committee. We are doing research with other institutions to see if our wages, hours, and working conditions are sub-standard in comparison. There are several different categories that are being looked at and several schools: see attached survey (a sample, not definite). All of this information will be put on the website, once we compile the information from the schools and the information we receive from a faculty questionnaire.


Berklee Faculty Union Questionnaire
January 2009

Name of Institution:

Contact person:

Position:

Email:

Phone:

Private Instrumental/Vocal Lesson

1. Are private lessons included in standard tuition?

2. How long are the private instrumental/vocal lessons for
Performance majors?
Non-performance majors?
Music Education majors?

3. How many semesters are students required to take private lessons:
Performance majors?
Non-performance majors?
Music Education majors?

4. How many credits per semester for a half-hour lesson? For an hour lesson?

5. Can students take additional half hour or one hour private lessons? If so, at what cost to the student per half hour? Per hour?

6. Are non-instrumental private lessons required for non-performance majors (e.g. music education, composition, conducting)? How long are these lessons?

7. How many instrumental/voice students are full time? Part time?

8. How many instrumental/voice faculty are full time? Part time?

9. How many hours per week is each full time private lesson teacher expected to teach?


Classroom Teaching Load

10. How many contact hours per week do classroom faculty teach per week?


Compensation

11. What are the average salaries/hourly rates?

12. How are part-time professors compensated for teaching—by the class, by the hour, or some other way?

13. How is the office hour handled/compensated?

14. Is there a weighting system?

15. Are full–time positions tenured at your institution?

16. Are there extended contracts for part-timers?


Human Resources

17. What is the cost (approximately) to the college per half-hour lesson? Per hour lesson?

18. What is the employer contribution percentage, if any, for health and dental coverage?

19. What are the available retirement system/programs (Defined benefit, 403b, 401k)?

20. What is the contribution for:
a. Defined benefit?
b. 403b?
c. 401k?

21. Do part-timers have access to retirement system/programs? If so, what is management’s contribution?

Return to: Neil Olmstead, Professor of Piano
Berklee College of Music, FB191
1140 Boylston Street Boston, Ma 02215-3693
617-747-8301 nolmstead@berklee.edu

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

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

2. Department activities during BTOT. Some issues regarding payment, some departments have not been paid: part-timers have not been paid for over a month and this can be a little hard, financially. Two departments did not have activities; we should allow every department the possibility to participate.

3. We have a hearing next Thursday for the Gender equity arbitration, the three-year contract grievance hearing is continuing next month, and the TIAA-CREF issue was discussed with Phil Lima, Larry Simpson, Mike, and Jackson; we presented them a couple of options and they chose to table until the bargain this summer.

4. Buck Associates presented us a very high estimate for their services; we feel that it is a little much during a bargaining year, so we may be going with another option. Perhaps limiting their involvement to a more specific topic: Salary Compression. They have come down from 60k – 15k, perhaps they can go even lower or maybe we use our in house experts: Rick Applin and Peter Alhadeff to review our salaries from many different angles including: compression, gender, age, ethnicity, rank, and musical expertise issues. We will take a look at other consultant firms, but for now, let’s keep it in house.

Danny made a motion to not hire Buck Associates at this time, Rich seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
December 11, 2008
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, Jonathan Holland, 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, Jeff seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Demand to bargain - TIAA-CREF. Management would like to have only one provider for the 403b and they have elected to take TIAA-CREF away as an option for all future 403b, unilaterally, with no information or input from faculty or staff. We should be allowed to make a choice. They have ignored the Union, once again, to make decisions. What about using the Benefits Committee as a way to communicate with management regarding this issue?

3. Universal access statement – "The Berklee Faculty Union urges the College to adopt and approve an official Universal Access Policy and statement of commitment to Universal Access. On behalf of our members, the Union Executive Committee requests that the College, the Office of Cultural Diversity, and the Berklee Universal Access Committee make this a top priority for the spring '09 semester."

Peggy made a motion to accept this statement and send to the entire Berklee community, Danny seconded, and vote was unanimous.

4. Consultant interview – Buck Consultants, compensation consultants, made a presentation. Some comparisons we would like: gender, race, salary compression, adjunct/part-time faculty and full-time.

Minutes from Union All-Faculty Meeting
December 4, 2008

Mike opened the meeting. Opening statement regarding the upcoming bargain and the important issues that we face. Thanks to all faculty that have agreed to be department reps … they will be very important as they relay information to division reps, and the division reps will bring the information to the Executive Committee. What we want is an open line of communication, which is very important as we move forward. Special thanks to Jonathan Holland and Wendy Rolfe regarding their commitment to the Benefits committee.

Charles Cassara to cover the budget. We use an accrual method of accounting; we needed to complete the month of September to pay our bills from August. We have a CD, money market account, and a checking account to pay monthly bills, etc. All facts and figures from last year and the approved proposed 2009 budget will be on the website ASAP. We will have additional information that was not in the Newsletter that went out via e-mail and in all our mailboxes.

Jeff Jacobsen, our former attorney, retired last year, we would like to hire Jeff to be our representative during this very important bargain, it will a very difficult one, and he is very familiar with us and management.

We are working on a statistical analysis of our salary structure, from all angles, to present to management during the upcoming bargain. Our survey results: salary/compensation is most important to FT; salary, conversion, and guaranteed teaching hours are most important for PT. We are planning another all-faculty meeting and a meeting for PT only for the spring.

Issues for the bargain: Teaching load for FT faculty, 50-minute lesson (this is an equity issue, not just a plus for the students), Three-year contract language to clean up, Benefits, Wages, minimums for the ranks. Summer hours and pay, part-time minimums raised.

The endowment took a 17-30 % hit during the last few months, however, the college’s operating expenses are tuition driven, not endowment driven.

“We can build a school in Spain, but we can’t take care of the faculty that are here???!!! We need to make sure we are taken care of.”

Management wants to get rid of the three-year contract … and they want to give us 2.5 – 3% raises. Will they freeze the tuition? How much will they be able to raise it? They originally wanted to raise it 8%, now they are working backwards.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
November 20, 2008
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Michael Heyman, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting, we remembered Richard Ehrman, who passed very suddenly Tuesday.

2. Updates on the sexual harassment complaints.

3. All-faculty meeting will be December 4, in room 411, Uchida Building. We will go over budget and the upcoming bargain.

4. Beth reviewed the gender and salary equity committee meeting, several consultants will be considered to go over the materials from several different angles, review Barbara Schaffer’s work, and consider new angles. Perhaps we can get a zoomerang survey out to get faculty opinions. Also consider salary compression and racial issues.

5. Charles – Fiscal update. See handout, soon to be up on the website and in the newsletter. Proposed budget presented to UEC. Rick made a motion to revise the budget, Jeff seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Peter made a motion to accept the budget with revisions as presented by Charles, Marti seconded, and the vote as unanimous. The fiscal report and the approved budget will be sent to all faculty in the newsletter and will be posted on the website soon.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
November 13, 2008
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, 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, Jackson seconded, and vote was unanimous.

2. Three-year contract update: hearing was last Friday, our position has been if work is available, the 3-year contract faculty would receive 27 units per academic year and not service to make up hourly difference, unfortunately, there is one more day of testimony and no decision yet.

3. Sexual harassment case update, a settlement has been reached in principle, the details are confidential. Another faculty member that was terminated for sexual harassment last year is now asking for assistance in legal matters and possible litigation.

We need access to management’s investigative process, they are not sharing the information they use to make these decisions, word of mouth is not enough, we need more information. We should clean up the sexual harassment language in the contract as we move forward to the bargain this summer.

We should have an independent investigator for these situations who would file a report to both the union and management.

4. Mike, Rick, Larry, and Amelia Koch met regarding late examinations … currently $15 for MT, and $25 for finals, our position: these should be raised or we should have NO make-up exams. No update from management.

5. Fiscal report next week.

Minutes from Union / Management Meeting
November 6, 2008
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Rob Rose, Darla Hanley, Amelia Koch, Phil Lima, John Eldert, Stephen Croes, Jeanine Cowen.

1. Larry opened the meeting, financial state of the college, Amelia Koch, this years’ budget, we got the enrollment we needed for this year. Next year is key; we have an additional 2 million for next semester financial aid.

The college is reconsidering whether to raise the tuition for next year. Originally the college wanted to raise tuition by 8%, this is already published. We may consider adjusting the raise of tuition for continuing students, to keep it less than new students. Spring enrollment of incoming students will hopefully be around 400.

When would we start to see impact on hours, or reduction of hours? We went through the wait list for this fall to keep the enrollment at 4000. Applications are up 79% for next year. There is a movement of students from certain majors, from music business, 86 students fewer, no real reason that we know of.

The budgets most likely will be flat next year, if they are to be increased, there must be a significant reason.

How will this economy affect salary re-negotiations, how much has been set aside, what computer models are used to determine future salaries, etc…? No information at this time, we will have more later to discuss, certainly this summer when we negotiate the contract.

There is a lot of financial pressure on parents overall. We want to try and alleviate some of this pressure by allowing continuing students to have a lower increase. The goal was to get our tuition a little closer to the norm, the 8% increase would get us closer to other institutions, and we are under priced as we stand.

2. Phil Lima – retirement plan 101. Basically two kinds of plans, a contribution plan (403b) and a defined benefit plan. The 403b has an unknown end result and the defined benefit plan has a known end result, as promised, based on salary history. The economy has affected the 403b positively for the past several years, and in a negative way very recently. The value of the defined benefit plan has shown its importance as of late with the current economy. We have had to add funds to the defined benefit plan in the last two years; in fact, we have over funded the plan to keep the promise of the plan. Market risk v. lifetime commitment, the employer takes on the longevity risk, a perpetual obligation. We assume the responsibility if we take a lump sum at retirement or in the 403b model.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 30, 2008
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, 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, Jonathan seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Updates: Meeting with Larry Simpson today regarding hours and wage renegotiation, looking to clarify the language in the contract.

Sexual harassment suit grievance has been filed with SVP/AA, a hearing has been scheduled for next week and we will be looking at the investigation and due process.

Several chairs and deans have shown animosity towards our grievance officer and we will not stand for this!

Three-year contract grievance update, we will be going forward with a different approach, hearing next week.

3. Finalize Department Representatives; list to be published at a later date.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 23, 2008
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, 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, Rich seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Jackson and Mike will be meeting with Larry Simpson next week after our meeting, issues: lost hours next semester, salary renegotiation for faculty, follow-up on current sexual harassment case – a possible violation of protocol.

3. Letter To Faculty – we are planning a meeting to go over the fiscal report, the budget, and upcoming contract negotiations. We will be doing research on both PT and FT topics, let’s share the list – any volunteers to assist with:
A. Music schools/Departments wages (national)
B. Health and retirement employer contributions (we are 65/35)
C. Private lesson length at other schools
D. Pro-rated teaching loads at other colleges
E. 12 classroom contact hours maximum
F. Class size
G. Health benefits after retirement
H. Salary information in comparison to other schools
I. Faculty survey
J. Maximum teaching load for ensembles and private lessons
K. Service to the college at other institutions
L. Student advising in other institutions
M. Service to the profession requirements in other institutions

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 16, 2008
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Michael Heyman, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Mike opened the meeting with an update on the sexual harassment grievance; new information has been brought to light, more later.

2. We have another financial core member, now a total of two.

3. Budget will be discussed after the audit this month. We will schedule an all-faculty meeting to discuss the budget, as well as other pertinent issues for all-faculty including the upcoming bargain.

4. Salary analysis update, we need to hire an outside consultant, we are in the process of identifying a few choices. When we do find the person, we need to ask the correct questions. We need ideas about how we can get at the core concepts. We want this to be separate from management, our own study for our own information. A plan of action is coming together.

5. Ear Training teaching hours – the mystery of lost hours is creeping into our spring schedules. Not only in ET, but also throughout the college. The loss of department meetings and office hours for part-time faculty due to their “lighter” schedules is saving Management a lot of money, but crowding our classrooms! This is affecting adjunct faculty in addition to faculty within the department. What is the pecking order, FT first (including adjunct); PT on 3-year contract, then PT … this may have an adverse effect on our PT faculty. If we can reduce the FT workload and get the 50-minute lesson, we can create work for all PT faculty.

6. Department Reps – more later.