General Membership Meeting 3/2/2016 6:00pmNEC 223
Minutes
Bargaining
- Next bargaining date: 3/21
- Michael Moats cannot be in attendance
Where are we now?
- Denied Articles 2 & 12 flat out
- 23: denied increase min 12K, offered 400,000 toward min stipends (3/4 to PhD candidates) 1 time bonus, based on .5 FTE; take away 100% language for health care and cap at our current premium price
We have time to work through these before the 21st, will have a pre-bargaining meeting
Strategy:
- Accept 1-time bonus
- Increase amount to go toward raising minimum stipends (ex. 600,000)
- Still working toward decreasing the gap between masters and PhD students
- $500 bonus offered twice in a row; means they have 1.5 mil on hand – argue that they have the money to meet our demands
- Concede on summer appt status and tuition waiver language
- Don’t touch our healthcare
- Their concerns of how much health care is increasing not valid for future projections
IRS stipulation – employees cannot be considered students
Grievance
- Open grievance is going to arbitration
- Influence on ability to concede tuition waiver language in bargaining, because we will now have the court to address this
Organizing
- Opportunity to address our experiences bargaining, Communications Dept and reps from grad office and GAU
- Great to have the opportunity to in this dept, not always the same – some GAs may fear this type of conversation
- Keegan is incredible!
- If you have leverage and comraderie in your department, please use it and try to discuss more!
- Now organizing for 5th round
- Escalation: Bargaining 5 will coincide with timing to pay fees – let’s screenshot our “FEES” and how misleading they are
- If you have a specified ask, bring it up, even if we are conceding fee language, still useful
Try to make the proposed $500 bonus to read “toward fees”?
- up to legislature at this point
Treasury
- Tax exempt status revoked in 2008?? No institutional memory for this
- We did not know we were supposed to have been filing since 2008
- Process re-filing, hopefully since our budget is low, will not be a huge burden
President
- Senate last weekend
- Great way to understand how our chapter, other unions and organizers/activists are working
- UFF gets overwhelming, important we show up as GAU
- Resolution passed: maintaining contact with adjuncts, once a term
- Resolution to review endorsement process for unions – current lack of democratic procedure (AFT/NEA support HC)
- FIU commuter/urban, very international campus – trying to organize new GAU chapter, mostly students from engineering
- Need to show support, but will also learn more about engineering issues – we have very little penetration in dept here at USF
Guest speaking about adjunct issues
- GAU 13 years ago
- Adjunct in TB area
- Recognizing that adjuncts here are not well organized
- SEIU working with various adjunct unions in US
- Healthcare for adjuncts
- Writing newsletter keeping up with different campus’ adjuncts
What can GAU do?
- How can we help?
- Distribute the newsletter?
- We’ve got knowledge and contacts, no money
- UFF has more access to cost-related help
- Bringing issues up with other GAs (“future adjuncts”)
- Social media / video collaboration?
- No repository where all this adjunct organizing info can be found – all working individually and not connected, huge problem
- Facebook page, serves as a way for all these articles and stories all over the US can be found in one place
- Where organizing IS happening, things are improving; elsewhere folks are getting fired for organizing
We need to identify how many people in our unit are adjuncts, because right now we do not know
- Can be catalyst for organizing
- More people will get involved if we know who to contact/organize
GAs in departments, we know adjuncts, if we find them, get contact info and let them know folks in TB are organizing
- collecting stories
- building cases and accountability
SURVEY – develop through Communications
- Are you and adjunct? Have you in the past year?
- Do you know an adjunct? Contact info
- How many classes? Etc etc
- Printing proposals from UFF
Stacy adjunct at USF
ELECTIONS
All-call for nominations will go out this next week
- Through mail-chimp list
- Stewards, help us get this out to interested folks not just entire unit
- 2 weeks deadline to return expression of interest
- Contested election: we need to *physically mail out to unit the choices since we cannot use univ resources
- Ballots // set up way for people to vote online
- APRIL GMM count votes, positions take effect end of April
- Timeline based on by-laws
Bargaining Chair
- potential chief negotiator
- supplemental/release appt
Grievances
- procedures of filing grievances, protect our contract
- respond to complaints, spokesperson
Organizing
- Planning and constructing organizing campaigns
- Processing new members
- Coordinating orientations and actions
- Socials
- St. Pete contact
Communications
- Send out all communications to unit
- Internal and external communications
- Web presence
- Newsletter, interviews
Treasurer
- chapter budget
- end of year essentials report
- filing taxes
Secretary
- Keep minutes
- Data-minded toward unit
Chief Steward
- gets out communications
President
- Runs meetings
- Manages elections
- Spokesperson/liaison media and internal university
- Senate
- General liaison to other GAU
- Appts
9 Senate seats open
- twice a year weekend commitment
- meet with other UFF chapters in state, vote on budget, propose resolutions, special projects
MOVING
- Temporary space, SVC
- Will affect all literature with address
- Stay vigilant!! Know your CBA
- Reprisals like this possible
- Possible action with all these boxes!