Here is a short summary of what happened at the Union meeting that took place yesterday from 12:30-2 in 110 Engineering.

1.  WHO IS A MEMBER?

There was some confusion at the beginning of the meeting over whether faculty members who are not members of the union were permitted to be present at the meeting.  A "member" is defined as someone who pays union dues and has filled out the paperwork.  This is a confusing situation because even though many members of the faculty are not currently members of the Union, they are still covered by the terms and conditions of employment laid out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.  Obviously, one of the greatest benefits of membership is the right to be present at meetings, to have a say, and to vote on such crucial matters as the new contract.

A fundamental change in this new CBA, should it be approved by the membership, is that the Union has gained what is called an "agency fee."  This means that all faculty will be required to either pay an agency fee to the union (since the union bargains on their behalf and represents their grievances) or to join the union.  We will obviously be having many more discussions about the significance of this change, should it be approved by the current membership.

2.  ELECTIONS

The first item on the agenda concerned the election of executive officers.  Nominations for the positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer were solicited from all members last fall.  All positions only received one nomination, as follows:

President: Kye Carbone (current UFCT 1460 president; member of 2007-2008 negotiating team; adjunct professor of Foundation; CCE)

Vice-President: Suzanne Verderber (current UFCT 1460 secretary; member of 2007-2008 negotiating team; full-time associate professor of English and Humanities; tenured)

Secretary: Holly Wilson (member of 2007-2008 negotiating team; full-time assistant professor in the Library)

Treasurer: Anne Turyn (current UFCT 1460 treasurer; adjunct professor of media arts; CCE)

NYSUT rules stipulate that if only one nomination for a position is received, a secret, mail-in ballot can be waived and elections can be held by a hand vote.  The membership, by hand vote, approved this method, and by the following vote approved those who had been nominated:

Yes: 37

No: 1

Abstain: 6

3.  GENERAL DISCUSSION OF NEGOTIATIONS

Kye Carbone took about 15 minutes at the meeting to explain the general structure of negotiations.  2007-2008 negotiations consisted of around 10 sessions of about 3 hours each; the Union team tried to work together to make gains for all members of Pratt's complex faculty, both full-time and part-time.  Kye also reminded the membership that all of last year was spent defining issues for negotiation from the membership by way of the delegates in each department.

4.  DISCUSSION OF THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

Kye Carbone next reviewed each article in the MOU, in reverse order, leaving the obviously controversial topic of Article 3, concerning academic freedom, to the end.  He asked that all questions be held until the end of the meeting.  Many concerns were addressed: the potential "chilling effect" of the article; the need for more discussion for such a difficult, far-reaching issue; and the need for broader Institute discussion of academic freedom in general.  There was also frustration expressed with the fact that this important stage of the process was taking place at the end of the semester (ballots voting for or against the MOU are due May 23), when faculty are especially busy, and are getting ready to leave campus.  The discussion was passionate and engaged in a way that I cannot quite capture here.  The outcome of the discussion was that Kye promised to have more meetings in the next few weeks to allow further discussion of the MOU and especially of academic freedom.  I will post the date, time, and place of these meetings as soon as I have that information.

I invite anyone to contact Kye or me (our contact information is in the "About" section) with any questions or concerns you may have. 

Best regards,

Suzanne Verderber 

Several items of note:

1.  Ratification of the Collective Bargaining Agreement/Elections

As you probably know by now, on April 17th the Union and the Administration signed the Memorandum of Understanding (often referred to as the "MOU"), a document that lists the changes to the contract brought about through the collective bargaining process. 

These changes will be presented to Union members and discussed at a meeting to be held on May 1, from 12:30-2:00, in 110 Engineering. At this time, elections for the executive committee will also be held.

In the next stage of the process, all members will be sent a paper secret ballot and will be asked to vote on whether they accept the changes or not.  Ballots must be received back by the Union by May 23 at noon. 

This information has been outlined in greater detail in a letter sent by Kye Carbone to the Union membership, along with a copy of the MOU.

Please feel free to contact Kye, me, or any member of the executive committee if you have any questions at all, or would like more information (see the "About" section for contact information). 

2.  WWW.PRATTFACULTY.INFO

I just became aware of a website at www.prattfaculty.info that lists some, BUT NOT ALL, proposed changes to the CBA (I am a bit out of the loop because I am on sabbatical this year).  The site places, side by side, new, proposed CBA language and the old language, from the 2003-2007 CBA.  I checked the information that is on the site, and it appears to be correct, if incomplete.  

I want to make it clear that the UFCT 1460 executive committee is not responsible for this site, and we have no idea who is (unless again I am out of the loop and one of my colleagues knows something that I don't). 

THIS website–the one you are looking at now–is run by the Union executive committee.  In my capacity as UFCT secretary, I am the main person who has been posting on it.  Anyone–members or non-members–is invited to comment.  My "philosophy" of the site, if you allow me to put it this way, is to post basic information that is important to members, as well as general union-related issues of a more global significance (health care issues, strikes, labor issues at the state and federal level) .  This is why even readers outside Pratt are invited to participate.  I do this because I see our Union as part of the larger context of global labor and the fight to maintain workers' rights.  So far, I have not been very successful at generating input, despite a previous plea.  I do find it strange that faculty would rather debate Union-related issues on the academic forum than here, but again, that is just my opinion.  

I always sign my name to these posts because I want to make it clear that they are coming only from me and do not speak for the whole membership.  Indeed, I don't think I want to be part of an organization where one person is capable of speaking for the whole membership.  Again, as far as I can tell, www.prattfaculty.info is anonymous. 

3.  Collective Bargaining

There has been some discussion on the Academic Forum listserv about the proposed changes made to Article 3, the article protecting academic freedom.  Just one point about the way the discussion is proceeding: the way I see it, some posts create the impression that the COLLECTIVE bargaining process consists of the Union ALONE, as paradoxical as that may seem upon close inspection. 

The process consists–and I have just seen it myself for the first time with my own eyes– of representatives from the Union and the Administration literally looking across a real, concrete table at each other, each side holding a "wish list" of changes they would like to make to the CBA.  A lengthy process of series of back and forth discussions–i.e. negotiations–ensues.  

I just wanted to paint a more vivid picture of what is actually taking place to attempt to dispel the impression that I received from reading some of these postings that the Union alone initiated all of the changes in the MOU. 

Yours truly,

Suzanne Verderber 

 
AGAIN: Union members, please try to attend the meeting on May 1, 12:30-2, 110 Engineering, to discuss the MOU and to vote on the members of the Union executive committee. 

At that important meeting (date TBA) elections will also be held for the Union executive committee.  The following nominations have been made:

President: Kye Carbone (PT, Adjunct Professor of Foundation, CCE)

Vice-president: Suzanne Verderber (FT, Associate Professor of English and Humanities, tenured)

Secretary: Holly Wilson (FT, Assistant Professor in the Libraries)

Treasurer: Ann Turyn (PT, Adjunct Professor of Media Arts) 

Dear UFCT Members:

The following members have volunteered to serve on the UFCT's Elections Committee: (1) Kathryn Filla (ID, FDN) (2) Danny Gerzog (ENG) (3) Martin Skalski (ID) (4) Gerson Sparer (Math & SCI) (5) Holly Wilson (Libraries) These five members are duly charged with conducting our elections. The Committee will set all procedures and deadlines for the sending, receiving and tallying of both the nominations ballot and the elections ballots.

In Solidarity,

-Kye

Dear UFCT Member:

It is hard to believe that the UFCT will be once again conducting its elections, the current three-year terms for all four officer positions: President, VP, Secretary and Treasurer expiring on December 31, 2007. All UFCT members will have an opportunity to vote-in officers for all four positions for the next three-year term, which runs from January 1, 2008 thru December 31, 2010. 

Please contact the UFCT office if you are interested in serving the Union's Elections Committee. A call for volunteers was included in my fall 2007 status report. This report was sent to members both electronically and distributed to member's mailboxes. Thus far, three members have stepped forward. A committee of five or six would be sufficient.

The Elections Committee should be in position to start the elections process shortly as we are at the halfway mark of the semester. As is our custom, first a nominations ballot is sent to all UFCT members, followed by an elections ballot [which is both blind and secret]. It will be the exclusive task of the Elections Committee to conduct all balloting and tallying of ballots.

The UFCT's current officers are:

PRESIDENT: Kye Carbone, Adjunct Professor w/CCE, Foundation Art,

VICE PRESIDENT: Steve Doloff, Full Professor (w/tenure), English & Humanities,

SECRETARY: Suzanne Verderber, Associate Professor (w/tenure), English & Humanities, and

TREASURER: Anne Turyn, Adjunct Professor w/CCE, Media Arts.

Please contact the UFCT office ASAP if you are interested in serving this committee.

In Solidarity,

-Kye