President's Message - Paul F. McGee
Hope your summer is going well. This is a mid-summer update on issues of interest to the membership...

Pay Raises
The bill that will fund our contract for FY 2001 and 2002 (H 4148) is still in the House Ways and Means Committee. We are hoping that this bill will pass without controversy and the pay increases negotiated last semester will make their way to our paychecks in the fall. You may have noticed that some of the money already appeared in our paychecks. Those moneys were provided by the College and did not require funding from the legislature. At the end of June you received a 1% bonus and the retroactive portion of the 2% pay raise. In July, base rates increased by a little more than 2%. The exact amount varied depending upon how in-rank adjustments effected the calculations.

Day Contracts
Both sides are still meeting to correct the grammatical and clerical changes in the draft agreement. After this process is completed, the document will go to the printer and will be distributed to the campuses. We are expecting copies to be available in mid-September.

Special Announcement - Committee on Promotions
Nominations are being solicited now for the three (3) vacancies on the Committee on Promotions, which will carry a two-year term.

These appointments will not be made by the Executive Committee but will be elected, if necessary, in September, by vote of the general membership.

Nominees must be tenured and hold the rank of Associate Professor, Professor, Associate Librarian, Librarian, or Senior Librarian. Nominees may not be chairs or candidates for promotion during their term. No more than one member per academic department may serve.

Current members include Maureen McRae (Nursing), Kathy Dow (Accounting/Finance), Marguerite Rosenthal (SWK), and Mark Fregeau (BIO).

Nominations should be submitted in writing to the Union Office, SB-205B, or by phone to extension 6366 by noon September 20, 2001.

General Chapter Meeting
There will be a Chapter Meeting held:
Monday September 17, 2001
MLK Room, Ellison Center 11:00 a.m.
A light lunch will be served

The lunch and Chapter Meeting are open to all unit members. Changes to the contract will be reviewed and time will be allotted for questions and answers.

Please join your colleagues for this welcome back gathering.

Post Tenure Reviews
The post tenure review lottery was conducted in May and unit members were informed via mail when they are scheduled for evaluation. There is also a group of members who will be reviewed under their normal seven-year cycle. Please bring any questions to the Chapter Meeting.

DGCE
Starting Fall 2001, during the spring and fall semester only, the payment of salaries for DGCE will be made in two installments. To receive the first payment, the instructor must submit to the Dean both a countersigned copy of his or her appointment letter and a copy of the course syllabus.

The second installment will be paid after student grades are submitted and other course requirements completed.

DGCE Mark your calendars...
DGCE faculty will soon be receiving an invitation for the Fall 2001 Semester Faculty Dinner Meeting to be held on Tuesday, September 4, 2001 at 5:00 p.m.

This is a wonderful opportunity to meet with your colleagues and discuss issues that are relevant to your teaching profession. Hope to see you there.

Legislative Update
The Senate Ways and Means Committee has released its version of the state budget. Health insurance premiums remain at the 85/15% level. Campus funding is abysmally low. The funding levels are significantly below the levels requested by the college presidents and the Board of Higher Education. Libraries and reference materials were level funded at $14 million.

The House recently adopted an amendment (Flynn #93) establishing a panel to study the validity and reliability of the Massachusetts teacher certification test. Many have repeatedly charged that the test is not an accurate or consistent measure of would-be teachers' skills. The state Department of Education has already conducted one major study that found the certification test to be reliable and valid.

Grievance Officer
Effective at the end of the Fall 2001 semester, Bill Mahaney will be stepping down as the Grievance Officer for the Salem Chapter/MSCA. This coming semester will be a transitional time. Maggie Vaughan (PSY) has agreed to serve as Grievance Officer after Bill, and she will be handling most new grievances and questions regarding the contract.

Bill will continue with on-going grievances and, as necessary, advise Maggie on new ones. Maggie will replace Bill on the state-wide MSCA Grievance Committee for Spring 2002, however, Bill will continue to serve throughout 2001-2002 as your elected representative to the MSCA Board of Directors.

Beginning with the Fall 2001 semester, any unit member (day or DGCE), who has a question about the contract or who believes that her/his contractual rights may have been violated, should call Maggie Vaughn. Many thanks to Maggie for assuming the most demanding role of all union officers.

As everyone who has worked with him knows, Bill Mahaney has done a tremendous job over the last 10 years.

One of the major responsibilities of a union is to ensure that the collective bargaining agreements are followed. Bill has ensured that at Salem, as well as across the state, this important union function has taken place.

He has also been a trusted advisor to me and past chapter presidents, and he has agreed to continue as an advisor to the local chapter after he leaves his post.

Again, many thanks to Bill Mahaney.