SIUE Faculty Association Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 1 February 1, 2017 Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the first edition of your Union newsletter! Here, you can stay up-to-date on what your Union is doing, what’s going on around campus and across the state, and how you can help. If this came to your SIUE email address, please send us a personal address. We can only communicate some bargaining-related information through a personal address. We want you to be “in the know”! Kim Archer, President ([email protected]) Mary Sue Love, Vice President ([email protected]) Mark Poepsel, Secretary ([email protected]) Alison Reeves, Treasurer ([email protected]) *** Chancellor Welcomes FA Overture Our President, Kim Archer (Music), met one-on-one with Chancellor Pembrook on Thursday, January 26. Kim reports: Both of us expressed enthusiasm for maintaining open, positive communication on a regular basis. We discussed the many ways in which the Union and the Administration can work together in the best interests of SIUE and to address the needs of the faculty, as well as how we can collaboratively advocate for Illinois higher education during this budget crisis. We discussed ways to build a stronger relationship with the City of Edwardsville, too. This was an encouraging, productive, and positive interaction – the first of many to come. Preparations for our 1 st Contract On 1/13, the Interim Bargaining Prep Committee released the 1 st Bargaining Survey to determine which issues are important to the faculty. That survey closed on 1/27 with a high response rate! Mark your calendar: the 2 nd Bargaining Survey will be released on February 17. This survey, which is for members only, will be used to prioritize the issues raised in the 1 st Survey. In other words, the entire bargaining unit can raise issues to consider, but only members decide which issues are important enough to bargain for – and majority rules. If you don’t fill out a survey, your voice won’t be heard! I’ll help if it’s something small Three easy ways YOU build a stronger union: 1. Vote for Reps this week. Leaders working on your behalf need to know you’re behind them! Voting is in designated locations is on Weds 2/1 & Thurs 2/2. All ballots will be accepted on Mon 2/6 in the MUC, 10-2. Contact Mary Sue Love with questions: [email protected]2. Fill out Bargaining Survey #2 starting on 2/17. Your Bargaining Team can’t negotiate for your interests unless you indicate what those are! 3. Make a 30-second Health Insurance Video. (see below) “Build for Bargaining” Member Drive Monday 1/30 kicked off our Build for Bargaining Member Drive, leading up to negotiations for our first contract. Do you know someone who wasn’t ready to join yet in the fall, or perhaps someone who said, “I’ll join after you’re certified”? Now is the time! Even visiting one colleague is worth it. Many people are looking for a buddy to go with them for outreach. If you’re willing to be a buddy or would like a buddy, contact Kim for a list! The strength of a union’s contract reflects the strength of its membership. In other words, our best chance of getting what we want out of bargaining is to have the strongest membership possible.
Transcript
SIUE Faculty Association NewsletterVolume 1, Issue 1February 1, 2017
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the first edition of your Union newsletter! Here, you can stay up-to-date on what your Union is doing, what’s going on around campus and across the state, and how you can help.
If this came to your SIUE email address, please send us a personal address. We can only communicate some bargaining-related information through a personal address. We want you to be “in the know”!
Our President, Kim Archer (Music), met one-on-one with Chancellor Pembrook on Thursday, January 26. Kim reports:
Both of us expressed enthusiasm for maintaining open, positive communication on a regular basis. We discussed the many ways in which the Union and the Administration can work together in the best interests of SIUE and to address the needs of the faculty, as well as how we can collaboratively advocate for Illinois higher education during this budget crisis. We discussed ways to build a stronger relationship with the City of Edwardsville, too. This was an encouraging, productive, and positive interaction – the first of many to come.
Preparations for our 1st Contract
On 1/13, the Interim Bargaining Prep Committee released the 1st Bargaining Survey to determine which issues are important to the faculty. That survey closed on 1/27 with a high response rate!
Mark your calendar: the 2nd Bargaining Survey will be released on February 17. This survey, which is for members only, will be used to prioritize the issues raised in the 1st Survey. In other words, the entire bargaining unit can raise issues to consider, but only members decide which issues are important enough to bargain for – and majority rules. If you don’t fill out a survey, your voice won’t be heard!
I’ll help if it’s something small
Three easy ways YOU build a stronger union:
1. Vote for Reps this week. Leaders working on your behalf need to know you’re behind them! Voting is in designated locations is on Weds 2/1 & Thurs 2/2.All ballots will be accepted on Mon 2/6 in the MUC, 10-2. Contact Mary Sue Love with questions: [email protected]
2. Fill out Bargaining Survey #2 starting on 2/17. Your Bargaining Team can’t negotiate for your interests unless you indicate what those are!
3. Make a 30-second Health Insurance Video.(see below)
“Build for Bargaining”Member Drive
Monday 1/30 kicked off our Build for Bargaining Member Drive, leading up to negotiations for our first contract.
Do you know someone who wasn’t ready to join yet in the fall, or perhaps someone who said, “I’ll join after you’re certified”? Now is the time! Even visiting one colleague is worth it. Many people are looking for a buddy to go with them for outreach. If you’re willing to be a buddy or would like a buddy, contact Kim for a list!
The strength of a union’s contract reflects the strength of its membership. In other words, our best chance of getting what we want out of bargaining is to have the strongest membership possible.
Associate Professor, Education Leadership(School of Education, Health, and Human Behavior)
Good news! We will start dues deductions two paychecks later than expected: February 16 instead of January 16. That means for new members, prorated dues of $44.56 will be deducted only seven times instead of nine, for a total of only $311.94.
Why is the per-check deduction higher than the $39 we talked about? Two components of our dues (appx. $55) cannot be prorated. These support vital political representation in Springfield and build our local budget for training and other key aspects of collective bargaining and organizational development.
For our 19 continuing members who kept our local alive until we secured bargaining rights (thank you!), you will see an increase of $3.57 for the remaining 7 per pay periods this year. That covers the new local dues of $25.00.
For 2017-18, dues for all members will be approx. $39.94 per pay period, for a total of $679 per year.
Please see page 6 for detailed informationabout all of the financial benefits of membership!
If you have any questions about your deduction, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Health Insurance Update
In January 2016, the governor proposed doubling state employees’ healthcare premiums, then walked away from negotiations with the union who speaks for all state workers on this issue (AFSCME). After a year with no progress but copious misinformation, AFSCME will now conduct a Strike Authorization vote beginning 1/30. A summary of the events leading to this vote is here.
Should AFSCME indeed strike, we cannot join them. However, we can assist our secretaries and other professional staff in several ways:
• walk the picket line on our own time(be careful about the ethics guidelines)
• bring food and beverages to strikers
• participate in AFSCME’s solidarity actions,such as wearing red t-shirts
• explain the reason for the strike to others
Having a problem with insurance?Know someone who is?
Make a 30-sec video: Explain your problem and if possible, include how it impacts your ability to serve students or support local business. The public may not be sympathetic to “state workers,” thanks in part to a lot of misinformation, but we all care about our kids and local economy. We can put a face on this problem through social media and news outlets, and by sharing with our legislators. Send videos to Dr. Betsy Meinz (Psychology): [email protected].
ExampleI’m Mary, an Edwardsville resident and professor at SIUE. I was getting by on no cost-of-living raise for three years, but then I got a letter from our pediatrician saying because the state is so backlogged on paying claims, she won’t see us anymore unless we pay the whole bill up front. I still have to pay my premiums every month, too! I tried to find a pediatrician who will see state employees and is taking new patients, but the closest one is 40 miles away. How is that possible in the Metro East? We decided to pay the bills ourselves because we love our pediatrician, but now our budget is so tight, we can’t eat out, or go to movies, or keep our YMCA membership, or donate to charities. We love living in Edwardsville but we may have to move toSt. Louis because we can’t afford to be here anymore.
Higher Education Funding Update
Statehouse Rally – SpringfieldWednesday, February 8, 1 PM
Illinois Coalition to Invest in Higher Education
(see pg. 5, contact Kim for more information)
The Senate continues to work on its “Grand Bargain.” These 13 bills are an all-or-nothing package of both revenue and cuts. The bill that most affects higher education is SB 11, wherein Tier 1 employees will be forced to choose between two new pension plans, both likely to result in losses. It is possible this will pass the Supreme Court, though, because employees can choose which type of loss to assume.
On 1/26, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion to stop payroll for state workers (including legislators) until there is a budget. See the Chancellor’s 1/26 email: faculty will not be affected because our payroll is taken from the state appropriation we already have (such as it is). This move is intended to speed resolution of the budget impasse, although she is taking heavy criticism for it. Stay tuned ….
Professor, English Language and Literature(College of Arts & Sciences)
Faculty salaries at SIUE have always been on the mediocre side but for the longest time this regrettable situation was somewhat mitigated by the fact that we were paid well for summer teaching. In addition, summer teaching opportunities were pretty readily available. Summer was run on a budget neutral model: as long as schools and colleges did not run deficits—i.e. as long as faculty salaries did not exceed tuition revenues—undue pressure was not exercised to cancel courses that were slightly under-enrolled. As a result, we were able to offer a wide variety of courses and faculty were able to supplement their salaries with an additional month or two of income. Students profited from an array of interesting course offerings that helped them make progress toward graduation and faculty morale was boosted. I always felt that the Summer Term arrangement was the essence of win-win. Naively, I thought that it was something of an unspoken agreement between the faculty and the administration that Summer would remain revenue neutral. (Remember, Summer Term is not funded by the State budget, but solely through tuition revenue.)
It seems to me that over the past few years things have been gradually deteriorating with regard to Summer. It seems as if fewer classes are being offered. From what I hear, the administration is quick to cancel classes that are on the cusp of filling, thus forcing students to take classes that have already made and thereby swelling profits. Again, from what I hear, fewer opportunities are being offered to faculty to teach under-enrolled classes at half-pay. And don’t even get me started about how the Winter Term, with its flat rate salary structure, has affected our overall financial well-being.
Suspecting that something was going on, I filed (or, more accurately, asked Dave Vitoff to do it!) a FOIA request to discover how much tuition revenue was taken
in by the University over the past few summers and how much was paid out in faculty salaries. To focus on the past summer: in Summer 16 SIUE received $8.2 million in tuition revenue and paid out exactly half that in faculty salaries, $4.1 million. I understand that the administration has always kept a share of the tuition money for overhead and other projects, but this spread struck me, and others with whom I shared the info, as particularly wide.
I have no doubt that the Summer money not going directly into overhead, whatever that might mean, is being steered toward worthy causes. That’s not the issue. The problem is that faculty salaries are also a worthy issue, especially at present, when we are in the third year of a salary freeze and many of us are experiencing much greater cash outlays for health care. The administration commiserates with us when it comes to the health care situation even as it pursues the policy of undoing the revenue neutral Summer budget model that has greatly benefitted students and faculty alike.
The good news, though, is that for the first time, and thanks to the Union, we will actually be able to find out where that $4.1 million in tuition money not paid out in faculty salaries actually went. What we will ask for is simple transparency with regard to the Summer budget. Where is all that tuition money going?
Do you have any questions you’d like answered in this newsletter?
Would you like to write a column?
Would you like to be featured?
Send your ideas to:Mark Poepsel, SIUE-FA Secretary
Professor, Inorganic Chemistry(College of Arts & Sciences)
Why I joined the SIUE-FA
I joined the SIUE-FA because a team can accomplish what individuals cannot. A group which speaks with one voice is harder to intimidate into silence than a collection of individuals.
What I love about SIUe
SIUE has been a place where this immigrant (I'm from Canada) has been able to find opportunity. When I interviewed here 18 years ago, I found a group of dynamic faculty and excellent facilities with access to a great city. I have been able to establish synergies between teaching and research during my career here, and my partner has found success in his business, too.
What I’m working on right now
I have three major research / creative activities underway at the present time.
The major research project is collaborative with Dr. Richter-Addo at the University of Oklahoma and is funded by NSF. We are investigating the behavior of the "HNO" molecule in model systems which are meant to shed light on its role in biological systems. This is a challenging project since HNO has an exceedingly short lifetime unless it is bound to a stabilizing chemical such as the iron atom in hemoglobin. The work informs my teaching, as it is a source of fresh material which I an incorporate into classes and labs. For example, each student in the advanced inorganic laboratory in the Fall semester learned valuable synthetic technique through the experience of making an obscure starting material for one of my graduate students, who was the TA at the time. In our most recent publication, the team at OU and I have ascertained that the "H" does not always end up attached to the "NO" in some of the presumed routes to
the HNO complexes. We are currently looking at ruthenium analogues to these systems, and trying to ascertain the effect of electron-transfer on the molecular properties.
An activity which has started out as a "side-project" a few years ago has been the development of an inexpensive potentiostat, primarily meant for teaching. Dr. Brad Noble from SIUE's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has designed a potentiostat which has good performance at a low price, and we have worked together to obtain a patent, and find an industrial partner to produce these devices. A potentiostat is an instrument that applies a voltage to an electrode and reads the current which flows in response. They are notoriously subject to feedback, noise, and other problems. In the chemical education literature, designs for inexpensive potentiostats abound, but they are quite limited in what they will actually do and require quite a bit of assembly. On the other hand a good commercial potentiostat costs several thousand dollars. We believe that within a year we will be ready for production. The upshot is that students will receive better hands-on training with the same devices that are used for energy research in the fields which produce batteries, fule cells, solar cells and other energy-related materials projects.
Finally, the newest project is an exiting foray into virtual reality. Dr. Myron Jones, Dr. Lynne Miller and I started development of education apps for "Google Cardboard" in November. Google Cardboard is a stereoscope into which a cell phone is inserted as a live-motion-sensitive display. While some viewers are literally folded pieces of cardboard held together by tape, there are more durable viewers. With support from the College of Arts and Sciences, we are in the process of obtaining a "Google Expeditions" kit of 30 View-Master (retro!) stereoscopes and phones, and we are developing Chemistry content for this platform. The upshot is that students will be able to see the subtle 3-dimensional effects that are difficult to express in 2 dimensions. We will take advantage of the hundreds of thousands of experimentally-determined molecular structures available through public databases, and game-development software which has been made available for educational use. These resources will allow us to develop virtual landscapes which contain interactive objects such as atomic / molecular orbitals, small molecule structures, reaction landscapes, and protein structures.
I'm proud to be a member of the SIUE community. I am hoping that "opportunity" continues to be a feature which is available to all members of our community for years to come.
Glossary
Bargaining Unit: appx. 400 tenure-line faculty in CAS, SEHHB, Library, Business, Engineering, and Nursing who hold a full-time appointment and whose duties are at least 50% teaching.
Members: Faculty in the B.U. who signed an IEA Membership form and pay dues. Among other privileges, only members may prioritize issues for bargaining, or may nominate, elect, or serve as officers and Reps, or may vote on a proposed contract.
Duty of Fair Representation: By law, all faculty in the B.U. are entitled to the benefits & protections of our contract, whether or not they are members.
Fair Share (video): By law, the Union may negotiate for the entire bargaining unit to pay fees, whether or not they are members.
Strike Authorization: Vote of the members to determine whether or not to strike. The Union must notify the Labor Board 6 months, 3 months, 30 days, and 15 days in advance, with an explanation of the disputed issues. Mediation is required. Strikes are illegal during the term of a ratified contract unless there is a breach of contract. (IEA locals had a 0.5% strike rate in 1990-2000.)
![Minutes of Faculty Association Meetings 1989-1990...UNF Faculty Association Legislative Calendars 10/31/2013 11:52:24 AM] Faculty Association ...](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/6065f45de743240e36650743/minutes-of-faculty-association-meetings-1989-1990-unf-faculty-association-legislative.jpg)
