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What's Really Happening - 2004/07/26

Posted On: 7/26/2004


What's Really Happening

Columbus State Education Association Newsletter of July 26, 2004  

BINDING ARBITRATION ACHIEVED

For the first time in its history, the college will be required to honor a decision of an arbitrator.  (In the past, the college refused to honor its own policies and procedures regarding arbitration.)

On July 8, 2004, the first arbitration hearing was held in the Franklin Hall Board Room.  The issues involved in this hearing were:

  • Can a faculty member be forced to take less than a full-pay contract? The issue in this case is a 15/16 contact-hour teaching load.

  • Can a faculty member be required to teach an overload?

  • Can a chair force a faculty member to take a particular course as an overload when other options are available?

  • Can a full-time faculty member "bump" an adjunct faculty member in order to teach a course?

  • Can a chair, dean, or provost summarily declare a faculty member disqualified from teaching a course that the faculty member has taught in prior years?

The above issues are important to the welfare of all full-time faculty members who anticipate a full career at Columbus State Community College.  Particularly, the issue of arbitrary disqualification has serious ramifications for younger faculty on this campus who anticipate teaching a number of courses during their careers.

CSEA and the College still have to file post-hearing briefs in the case. We expect a decision from the arbitrator in September.

ANOTHER ARBITRATION HEARING

A second grievance has also been scheduled for arbitration.  This issue has to do with the right of the Columbus State Education Association president to appoint one faculty representative to all college-wide committees that have faculty representation.

This grievance arose when President Steve Abbott attempted to appoint a faculty member to the College Promotion & Tenure Committee based on Article 7.04/Representation in the contract agreement. The contract article also grants the CSEA president authority to appoint a CSEA representative to each of the Governance Councils.

Since the contract was ratified, the College has convened several search committees for administrators without including an appointed representative from the union.

MOURNING TOM KESLER

CSEA notes with sadness the death on July 16 of Tom Kesler, associate professor of Electrical Engineering.

Tom served Columbus State for 23 years. Serious health problems had plagued him for some time, and the union helped him to get reinstated when he was fired earlier this year. Tom was on sick leave and had applied for long-term disability. He died following another heart surgery at Mt. Carmel Hospital West.

CSEA offers its condolences to Tom's widow Cinda, daughter Leah, and his colleagues and associates at Columbus State. Union representatives will be working with the family during this difficult time.

COLLEGE RE-ORGANIZATION DID NOT FOLLOW PROTOCOL

In recent action, President Moeller added to and reorganized the top level of administrators outside the governance process.  She created three VP positions and promoted administrators without following her own governance model.  Imagine what would happen if you gave your students a syllabus at the beginning of the quarter, but then made everything up as you went along.

(And it's impossible to avoid noting that one of the new vice presidents is for an  office of Knowledge, Resources, and Planning-the acronym is a salute to institutional structures everywhere.)

PRESIDENT MOELLER'S CONTRACT IS UP FOR RENEWAL

The President's contract is up for renewal, and she is also scheduled to receive a bonus check this year for $75,000.

But what did she do to deserve this bonus?  In a time of "accountability" and "performance standards" and suggestions of "merit pay" for faculty and staff, the Board saw fit to award the President the equivalent of a 7% salary bonus ($15,000 per year, retroactive five years) for simply staying on the job, with absolutely no connection to specific accomplishments.

We anticipate that the College will be equally generous when CSEA enters contract negotiations next year.

CHECK YOUR PAY STUB!

All full-time faculty received a 4.04 percent pay raise as of July 1, 2004.  Check your July 15 pay stub to verify this pay raise.  See page 23 of the contract for base salaries.

However, rather than paying you the entire 1/3 of your full-time contract, the college undervalues your summer work by its use of a silly 11/34 formula to calculate the amount of your summer pay.  Why does the college single out full-time faculty for reduced summer pay?  Does the college reduce the pay for administrators and staff for Summer Quarter? Why isn't a quarter treated as a quarter?  Why isn't a course treated as a course?

TWO MEDIATIONS FOR JULY

A CSEA member, who feels he has been underpaid, will go to mediation with his salary grievance.

 

Several rescheduling of office hours grievances are currently being deliberated, and CSEA anticipates that the union will be in mediation regarding this issue late July or early August.

PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CONTRACT

The current contract expires in one year, June 30, 2005.  It's not too early to begin planning for these important negotiations.  CSEA wants you to contact your building representative regarding your issues of concern.

DATATEL OR DATAHELL?

The college continues to implement Datatel with higher costs, more delays, and more inefficiencies than with the previous Legacy system.

The college is aggressively trying to enlist faculty and staff to help with the Autumn Quarter registration period.  Once again, you can volunteer for the "triage" line as well as other duties to help bandage up this wounded software. And you may be lucky enough to find volunteers to help you with grading at midterm time.

When was the last time you saw an enrollment update?  In the past we have received celebratory emails touting each new quarter's enrollment totals, but this quarter.nothing.  Every indication is that enrollment is down compared to last Summer Quarter (numerous cancelled sections, empty parking lots), but no one seems to know how many students are enrolled at CSCC quarter. 

How about a contest?  Instead of guessing how many jelly beans are in the jar, guess how many students are enrolled Summer 04.  The winner will be announced at the next In-Service Day!

TRAINING FOR CHAIRS AND ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVES IS SCHEDULED FOR JULY 28

As a reminder, this training is a direct result of a successful grievance filed by a Computer Science Department faculty member to have CSEA representation during an annual appraisal when there was a conflict of interest on the part of the chair (because of a previously filed grievance against the chair).  This is a great example of how the grievance process can work for the benefit of faculty.

Do you have an item for the next newsletter?  Contact your Association Representative listed below:


What's Really Happening is produced by the Communications Committee of the Columbus State Education Association. We welcome your comments, news, and insights.

Steve Abbott, President / x5096
Karl Rieppel, Vice President / x2500
Amy Brubaker, Secretary and Association Representative / x5068
Greg Goodhart, Treasurer / x5431
Darrell Minor, Parliamentarian / x5310
Bill Mundy, Association Representative / x5176
Dr. Jane McDowell, Association Representative / x2656 
Dave Busch, Association Representative / x5079
Dr. Charlie Gallucci, Association Representative / x5499
Leslie Smith, Association Representative / x5302
Dr. Wendy McCullen-Vermillion, Association Representative / x2693
Lisa Schneider, Association Representative / x5124


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