Executive Board Meeting
EAW – 397 Grove Street, Worcester, MA 01605
10:00am, Friday, February 15, 2019
MINUTES
Attending – Sherry Horeanopoulos (APA President/FitchburgSU), Charlie Cianfarini (APA Vice President/MCLA), Michael Pelletier (President/SalemSU) arrived at 10:07 am, Aaron Childs (APA Membership/WestfieldSU), Alan Jackson (President/WorcesterSU), Mike Storey (President/BridgewaterSU), Brian Cahillane (President/WestfieldSU), Steve Day (MTA for Katie Durso), Mark Powers (President/Framingham), Marissa Barros (Interim President/MassMaritime), Susan McNeil (President, MassArtSU), Kathi Bradford (APA Secretary/Westfield), Seth Bean (President, MCLA)
Not Attending: Jim Murphy, (Treasurer), Edward Vacha (MassMaritime), Liz Novak (Web coordinator, MMA), Katie Durso (MTA)
I. Call to Order at 10am
II. Approval of Minutes of January 18 meeting
– Motion by Marissa, second by Mike S.
- PASSED 9-0-0
III. Public Comments – None
Mike Pelletier arrived at 10:07am
IV. President’s Report – Sherry
- HELC meeting, February 8 HELC review of notes in agenda, see attached.
- Sent Jim Cox a note re: contract. A lot of problems with document. Next meeting is Feb 15. He indicated it was not finished yet but will be to Sherry, next week. Mark is working on edits, as well. Reviewing numbering, etc. Will review, page by page comparison when Jim sends his version. He is working from Katie’s version. We do not want to remove PD information to keep the placeholder for the future. Getting rid of appendices that are not needed. Will schedule a meeting for line-by-line review.
- Finished to do list but, did not do FAQ sheet yet. Need to get the operations manual done. (Sherry, Aaron and Susan’s drafts are submitted). Please make sure to add the items that are part of your specific local.
- PD sub-committee is now charged with NEA-RA recruitment. Just received the information. Must be dues paying and would prefer those involved in governance. July 3-7, Houston, TX Have not heard about the MTA-MA conference yet.
V. Treasurer’s Report – Jim
- Payroll due on Tuesday, February 19 by 12:00pm to Jim Murphy
VI. Membership and Data – Aaron
- 1432 Members (+9 since January)
- n Paying Members (+2 since January)
- Noticed there was an error in the conditional formatting in the yellow highlighting rule which started in January. That has been resolved.
- Found a solution to the conditional formatting rule for paying members who aren’t having deductions taken out which highlights the cells in red. I had previously disabled that rule to avoid confusion where it highlighted cells for non-paying members. This will be included in the next monthly membership report.
VII. Health and Welfare Report – AJ
- Health and welfare meeting next Friday – all is quiet. GIC is not doing much but, may see an increase in deductibles. Steve shared possible health saving plans that would move with you as you move jobs. More information to follow regarding different plans. Folks with on-going health issues might not want to consider this because deductible will be higher per IRS guidelines. Questions about homeopathic plans. Not at this time. More meetings will be coming. We need to keep the pressure on to create more meetings in more locations across the state.
VIII. Website – Liz
(Not present, Sherry reported)
- A few more items and we will be good to go. Please forward to Liz as you complete them.
IX. Committee Reports
- Budget – Mike S
- Treasurer job description Draft review. Will add bullet about maintaining monthly payroll for executive board. Add desirable after line in qualifications about proficiency.
- Mike’s committee will finalize job description, post and interview.
- Will need a contract for Jim’s transitional time period after his retirement on 3/29/19
- Professional development committee-Sherry for Edward
- NEA – get the info of interested candidates to Sherry by end of February.
- Employee Relations Working group – Mark
- May need to add information to bylaws regarding “definition of non-dues paying members” and rights of that group. Non-dues paying may not be appointed to a committee representing the APA, cannot vote for officers, cannot serve as representative to campus committees. Other benefits will vary based on local bylaws. Susan suggests benefits where APA funds are used are not allowed to non-dues paying. Sherry shared that she would preferred this to be determined by local. Will have further discussion about this. In committee, we will discuss proposed changes for this.
- We can put together a proposal for the MTA meeting in May re: this topic and the graduated dues structure. Would have to prepare this soon for inclusion in the meeting agenda via resolution. Mark will begin a draft of this for our review. Sherry will find out the process and deadlines.
- Negotiations – no report/update
X. Old/New Business
- Information for Operations Manual
- Pens for membership – will discuss in March. Sherry will follow-up on quotes sent.
XI. Institutional Issues
XII. Announcements
- Please submit bylaws for your local if you have not done that already (MCLA, Mass Art, Salem and Framingham). Thank you!
- Steve shared information for the cherish act and other MTA related projects. Asked us to make calls to thank those senators that have signed on already. Please turn your petitions in to Katie as soon as you can. There will be an event in Boston on March 31.
- Thank you to Marissa for covering for Edward
XIII. Adjournment
made by Marissa and second by Mike P. Unanimously PASSED at 3:13pm
Next Meetings
- March 15- Auburn, 10am
- April 19 – Auburn, 10am
- May TBA – Meeting at Annual Statewide MTA meeting
- June 21 – Meeting at MA Maritime Academy, 10 am
Minutes from HELC meeting from Sherry – February 8, 2019
- Funding Bills – Some concerns about allocation of funding (Cherish Act) if MTA Public Education Legislation passes ($1.5 billion). UMass Amherst allocation is higher (claim to be the “Flagship” institution)
- Suggestions for a discussion about how HELC can influence decisions coming out of the MTA Board of Directors – will discuss on March 8.
- Sean King (Government Relations)
- Governor filed budget. K-12 funding and other pieces impact Higher Ed (favorably). 5.5% increase in funding. UMass gets *7.5% (higher allocation) – may be a one-time deal.
- *4.4% for State Universities and Colleges
- *3% for Community Colleges
- *Dependent on revenues
- Accountability – Chapter 7 money – could be held out if there is anything that Administrators don’t like. Accountability is not an obvious condition in Higher Ed Allocation increases.
- 100,000,000.00 Trust fund for Higher Ed (looks good but is “flexible” – for programs and tuition relief)
- GIC – No changes on Premium Splits
- Balance Billing practice has been deleted (difference between Co-Pay and later billing)
- Sick Leave Accrual conversation/takeback is back – 1000 hour cap (will be opposed)
- Collective Bargaining reserve of $45 Million – unclear what it means – may not include Higher Ed
- COLA for retirees is included in budget
- Some new taxes in the Budget – Congress may not approve
- Fund Our Future Bills have been filed. Governor and Legislature have other, possibly conflicting, bills. (Charter School Expansion is in Governor’s Bill)
- Promise Act – 116 sponsors
- Cherish Act – 113 sponsors
- Bills are online (Please note – Docket numbers may change):
- 18 Bills in total have been filed by MTA – of Interest to Higher Ed:
- Adjunct pay parity and pension
- Streamline Higher Ed Bargaining Process (bypass OER and A&F path of approval and funding). (YES!!!!!!)
- Eliminate 60 day waiting period for GIC coverage
- Right to Strike
- Janus Legislation
- Adding Labor Seats to GIC and more accountability for the GIC (Change model) – require more public meetings
- FY 2019
- GIC – Premium increase is 3.3% (below Market Rate)
- GIC wants to go to High Deductible model – this is a concern for older employees
- Plan Design (tiering scheme) changes were minimal – favorable for out-of-pocket costs this year. Next year could be a change.
- As of Feb 1, 2019:
- New Massachusetts OSHA Laws – affects Public Employees – Massachusetts Department of Standards enforcing/inspecting – people will have to be trained in and informed about Hazard awareness.
- Rules to protect employees. Some items – Violence, Heat, Air Quality, Lifting and Moving (Facilities employees have new standards to protect them) should be understood. We’ll need to know more about this. General Duty Clause – Employer is “obligated to provide a safe workplace” – enforceable without specific regulation