Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting

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Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros,Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, David Scott, Will Silvio and Jeri Sykes.

  1. Marti made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Peter seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.
     
  2. We discussed “The Advocate” union paper: they are seeking articles.
     
  3. We discussed the demand to bargain over the Masters Program starting on campus fall of 2015. There is still no response from management; we may file an Unfair Labor charge if they don’t respond in a timely manner. Many topics to cover: weighting, hours, office hours, teaching assistants, who will teach, etc. Jackson will ask for information regarding the Valencia program and their model. Beth, Peggy, Jonathan, Jackson, Wendy, and Marti will set-up an additional meeting to discuss these topics.
     
  4. We discussed our website and the visibility or lack of, maybe a Facebook page? Looking forward to the next bargain and communication with faculty. Maybe we hire a social media guru to assist in the creation of the pages with perhaps a Newsletter attached to increase our visibility and getting our message out. Michael Johnson made a presentation at BTOT regarding social media; we will try and bring him in to discuss options. We need to get someone to handle a Newsletter as well.
     
  5. The UEC has been invited to address the Board of Trustees at their December meeting; we will organize a strong presentation.
     
  6. Roger has issued an Ice Bucket Challenge to Jackson. Danny is going to be in charge of setting this up Wednesday at 1:00 pm in front of 1140.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting

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Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Jeri Sykes, and Will Silvio. 

Management – Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Jeanine Cowan, Phil Lima, Chris Connors, Camille Colatosti, Carin Nuerenberg, Nikki Kirk.

  1. Jay opened the meeting.
     
  2. New PPO Plan for open enrollment, Phil Lima and Chris Connors. Review new option for medical offerings. Open enrollment is Oct. 14-November 3, this is the only time to make changes to medical/dental, etc. effective next calendar year. High Deductable Health Plan-PPO is a new option, a variation on the PPO. Same as PPO except there is a deductable, first $1500 for individual and $3000 for double. Overall, about 15% less than current PPO. This comes with a Health Savings Account – not flexible spending – to prepare for the deductible. This is not a “use it or lose it” account – once you put the money there it stays there. Money goes in pre-tax, any money pulled out is not taxed, and any interest earned is not taxed.

    Why is Berklee offering it – we want to offer the HSA, for the triple tax benefit, and it has to be attached to the HDHP-PPO. This is designed to offer the freedom of the PPO with the HSA, and a second choice for the out of state faculty. Obamacare brings in the “Cadillac” tax in 2016, if the cost of your plan is too high you have to pay a tax. Right now, Berklee is looking at a $200k tax bill based on the current figures.

    Any thoughts on communication? A video link may be an option.

    The HSA will be housed with a provider, like Transamerica, etc.

    Medical inflation is about 5.5% … our premiums will be going up for all plans.
     
  3. Bill Whitney – 150 Mass Ave. renovation, 1st phase, new elevator and lobby, next phase, Old Caf, 3rd phase – dorm entry in 150 with extended entryway to engage the dorm elevator. Phase 2 will begin in Spring of 2015.
     
  4. Focus on Sexual Assault and Title Nine work has been very busy, hired two consultants to work with us regarding the climate here

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting

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Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio, Jeri Sykes. Guest - Mike Scott.

  1. Rich made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Peter seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.
     
  2. E-mailing contracts – they have gone out. Most faculty did not receive any increase beyond the contractual 2.5%.
     
  3. Life Insurance for dependents policy change – Monday 2 pm bargaining session. We will also meet with the graduate studies MOU group from 1-2 with our lawyer. The committee has met several times and there have not been many decisions made.
     
  4. Paychex is taking over payroll and Celia Petrillo is taking over as bookkeeper due to our current bookkeeper/CPA being too ill to continue as our bookkeeper.
     
  5. Wendy reported on the AFT national convention in Baltimore several weeks ago. She attended several sessions on part-time issues and on-line learning. Part-time issues can be communicated and brought to the front page with press, web, etc. How can we get support throughout the college? Alumni? Perhaps we can get additional office help to get the word out, etc. social media guru? Focus on part-time faculty member of the week, etc. Bio? Video? Audio? All things are possible.
     
  6. Some of our part-time faculty travel from out of town, NYC, etc. to teach here – what about housing through Berklee? Any options or support from the college.
     
  7. Roger Brown is setting up a meeting with the Board of Trustees for Jackson and perhaps the entire UEC. We want to let them know who we are and how we can help get Berklee more faculty and student oriented.
     
  8. Vision 2025 meeting Tuesday – Dave Mash and Larry Simpson. Perhaps Business majors don’t need to play an instrument … As long as we are giving a Bachelor of Music degree, the answer is YES they do!