The Pratt Faculty Union » Negotiations

Part-Time Health Benefits Initiative

trotsky — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:18:55 +0000

A group of union members has initiated a much-needed awareness campaign to draw attention to the following:

75-80% of Pratt faculty are currently deemed ineligible for any form of health insurance benefits through the Institute
Of Pratt’s yearly operating budget of 170 million, less than 20% is spent on faculty (that’s including all part-time and full-time faculty benefits).
The Pratt administration has agreed to provide healthcare benefits for part-timers in the past 2 contracts, but has yet to honor these agreements in practice.
Every other college of Pratt’s prestige and caliber in NYC provides healthcare benefits to both full and part-time faculty (including The New School, Cooper Union, School of Visual Arts, CUNY, NYU, and Columbia).
UFCT’s current demand is that Pratt grant all part-timers (who teach a 50% workload for at least two semesters) access to healthcare benefits with a 25% contribution by the employee.
This is just the beginning of a multi-pronged campaign. Check out the website, or download the Healthcare FactSheet to find out how to support this endeavor.

Preparation for Negotiations, Update 3/27

trotsky — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:34:44 +0000

Dear UFCT Member:

The Union has thus far, conducted no less than fourteen discussion/preparation meetings with an eye on our spring-summer negotiations w/the Pratt Administration.

There are just two such sessions remaining, both this coming week: (1) Monday, 3/28th from 5:00 to 6:30, and (2) Wednesday, 3/30th from 5:00 to 6:30 (both meetings will be held in the UFCT conference room: 123 North Hall). Originally, Wednesday’s meeting was to be held during the 12:30 to 2PM time-slot, and was to be, the “final” or “send-off” faculty meeting. This has changed. Therefore, please stay tuned, as the “final” or send-off meeting has not been scheduled as yet, but will take place within the first two weeks of April.

Lastly, we are finalizing the UFCT’s “slate of demands” which we hope to have completed, and sent to all union members on email by week’s end.

In Solidarity,

-Kye

Negotiation Preparation Meetings

trotsky — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:54:24 +0000

Dear UFCT Member:

The current 2007-2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is due to expire on August 31, 2011. It is imperative that we build on the accomplishments of the last two Contracts (2003-2007 & 2007-2011)…

Any and all dues paying union members (agency fee payers are strictly prohibited from participating in collective bargaining) are free to attend and participate in all discussion meetings leading up to negotiations.

Schedule (I have alternated weekly TUES-THURS meetings w/MON-WED meetings to accommodate as many varying schedules as is possible; sorry, no Friday meetings…):

Tuesday, February 15
Thursday, February 17
Monday, February 21
Wednesday, February 23
Tuesday, March 1
Thursday, March 3
Monday, March 7
Wednesday, March 9
Tuesday, March 15
Thursday, March 17
Monday, March 21
Wednesday, March 23
Monday, March 28
Wednesday, March 30

All meeting times are from 5:00 to 6:30 PM…
All meetings will take place in the UFCT conference room located next door to the UFCT office: 123 North Hall, except our March 30th meeting which will be a ‘General Membership Meeting’ where we will ratify the slate of demands; location TBA…
Lastly, the UFCT will gladly attend and make itself available for other faculty group meeting(s) if this is the wish of members in your department/area…

In Solidarity,

-Kye

Meeting Notes (November 22, 2010)

trotsky — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:42:35 +0000

At least fifty faculty attended the November 22 meeting. Kye Carbone reported that 210 petitions were delivered to the administration in support of obtaining a 50% buy-in for adjuncts’ health benefits, in addition to explaining the history of this issue (the joint union-administration committee on the Visiting status), and the gradual shrinking of the number of Visiting faculty vis a vis the Adjunct/Full-time status. Pratt’s faculty is currently composed of 130 FT, 325 Adjunct, and 430 Visitors, marking great progress over the past 6-7 years, when the Visiting category had ballooned. Next, he began to cover issues related to the upcoming negotiation, beginning with salary, and emphasizing that the Union can only negotiate minima (floors), and that it is to the benefit of the whole faculty when a new faculty member’s salary raises the bar. He also addressed workload. Topics from the floor included raising minima for PT faculty, the FT/PT faculty ratio, and the procedures for insuring that members’ have a voice in the preparation for negotiations. Kye assured those present that there will be weekly open meetings in Spring 2011 to allow faculty to voice their desires and concerns.

Please try to attend the December 8 Meeting, 5-6:30, Alumni Reading Room (Pratt Library). RSVP keycarbone@gmail.com, or 718-636-3614.

VOTING RESULTS

holly — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:26:17 +0000

1:25 PM

The 2007-2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement has been ratified.

The ballots were counted and the results are as follows:

149 Yays

25 Nays

26 Invalid Ballots (unmarked by any name, signature, or return address)

200 Total Votes Received