United Faculty of Ohlone
Minutes from Executive Committee meeting held at Ohlone College, Fremont Rm. 7107
2 April 2014 at 3:30 p.m.
Present:
Carmen Madden, President
Ralph Ballart, Secretary
Janice Jones, Treasurer
Susan Myers, Chief Negotiator
Carol Lawton, Part-Time Rep at Large
Heather McCarty, Acting Vice President
Sheryl Einfalt, Chair of Committee on Committees
Absent:
Darren L. Bardell, Vice President (on sabbatical)
Anu Ganguly, Editor Close Encounters
Rob Smedfjeld, Co-Negotiator
Michael Blaisdell, Full-time Rep at Large
Michele McDowell, CEER Committee Chair
Wayne Yuen, Past President
PROCEEDINGS:
Call to order:
Meeting was called to order by Carmen Maddenat 3:37p.m.
Meeting Agenda. We used the agenda emailed from Carmen on February 25, 2014.
1.Approval of Minutes
After noting the correct spelling of Bennett Oppenheim’s name, the minutes of the UFO meeting held on February 26, 2014 were unanimously approved. (Motion Janice, 2nd Susan)
2.CCCI conference - Susan
Susan discussed the upcoming CCCI (California Community College Independents)conference to be held in Sacramento on April 24-26. The official conference agenda was not yet published but key topics include 2014-15 state draft budget, faculty hiring, Calstrs pension funding liability and support for member units. After discussion, it was agreed that the UFO should be represented at the conference. Susan volunteered to attend and represent the UFO. Sheryl made a motion to approve Susan’s conference attendance and reimbursement of her lodging, meal and travel expenses; Michele seconded the motion which was approved unanimously.
Susan also provided a quick update on contract negotiations. There have been several meetings so far although there has been some difficulty in scheduling future meetings with key administration representatives. Susan was cautiously optimistic about the possibility of finishing negotiations this summer; that would allow pay increases to be reflected in the first fall paychecks.
During the discussions it was noted that parking issues are part of the negotiations. Although there have been anecdotal reports of faculty parking problems, there have been very few reports of problems in response to Rob’s email to faculty. The possibility of a faculty survey on parking was discussed.
Heather raised the issue of sabbaticals. There was general agreement that sabbaticals were originally intended to foster personal development but recently approved sabbaticals reflected specific coursework or training mainly of benefit to the college. It was agreed that this issue should be raised during the negotiations. It was noted that in the current contract there is no guarantee of the number of annual sabbaticals.
3.Social Security - Carol
Carol reported that some community colleges allow part-timers to use social security as a pension option as an alternative to the Cash Balance and Defined Benefit Programs. There was support for giving part-timers this option. Susan will investigate to make sure we have not lost this option as part of previous negotiations.
4.New accounting program (Quickbooks) – Janice
It was agreed to defer this item to the next meeting. Janice agreed to email Ralph with our current CD account balances which will be included in the final draft of the meeting notes.
5.Newsletter – Anu
A replacement for Anu has not been identified. The value of continuing the newsletter was discussed. Some participants felt that the newsletter was of little value and that the posting of UFO meeting minutes provides a similar value. A final resolution of this matter was deferred.
As part of new business, Susan referred to an email she forwarded to the UFO executive committee about the activities of the CCCI lobbyist in Sacramento. This includes sponsored legislation that would mandate faculty due process rights for forced paid leave (AB 2559), and establish new requirements and directives affecting community college accreditations (SB 1068). (The UFO agreed to provide a $1000 donation to support the CCCI lobbyist during the February UFO meeting.)
It was agreed that the next UFO meeting will be held at 3:30pm on April 19. It was tentatively agreed to meet at the Child Development Center (CD-122) to avoid parking problems. Carmen will send out an email to UFO committee members to confirm the meeting location and agenda.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ralph Ballart
UFO Secretary