President's Message - Paul F. McGee
Pay Raise There is a possibility that the House of Representatives will consider
a supplemental budget bill by the end of September. Our MTA lobbyists have indicated
that our contract funding could be in this legislation. Please call your local
representatives and encourage them to support funding our contract. Also ask
them to urge John Rogers (Chair, House, Ways and Means) and Tom Finneran (Speaker,
House of Representatives) to support funding for our hard fought, bargained
agreement. If you are not sure who your representative in the House is, you
can go to our webpage at www.mscaunion.org.
MSCA Agreement for 2001-2003
We expect copies of the MSCA Agreement for 2001-2003 will be available in the
Chapter Office by the end of September. This contract has been posted on the
MSCA web page (www.mscaunion.org). For those accessing the contract by this
means, please read the disclaimer provision on the website.
Committee Vacancies
The following committees have vacancies for this academic year 2001-2002:
Council on Teaching & Learning
(1) vacancy - Mary Ann McGovern has resigned.
Academic Computing
(1) vacancy
The following new committees have vacancies for this academic year.
Retention Committee
A new committee on student retention is being formed to make recommendations
to the President.
Eight (8) unit members are needed for this committee.
PeopleSoft Production Advisory Committee
This group will provide input on system upgrades, discuss issues and concerns,
and recommend policy.
One (1) unit member is needed.
Appointments - Committee on Promotions
The Chapter Office has received three nominations for the three vacancies on
the Committee on Promotions. I will request the Chapter Secretary, Thomas Luddy,
to cast a single vote for Robert Wang (MATH), Andrea Zeron (PSY), and Rick Branscomb
(ENG). The continuing members are Maureen McRae (NUR), Kathy Dow (ACCT/FIN),
Marguerite Rosenthal (SWK), and Mark Fregeau (BIO). Many thanks to all those
willing to serve on this important committee.
Oops! - Newsletter Correction
Please note that in our previous newsletter (Sept. 05, 2001), we inadvertently
transposed Maggie Vaughan's e-mail address. Maggie is assuming the duties of
Chapter Grievance Officer and her correct e-mail address is: mvaughan@nlis.net.
We apologize if this error has caused any inconvenience.
Professional Development Money
Academic Affairs is preparing application forms for both the Professional Development
Continuing Scholarship money and the Professional Development Supplementary
Continuing Scholarship. The State has not completed the calculation to determine
how much money is available (1.5% of the total full-time payroll). This year's
money is included in our funding package. Both forms are time sensitive and
I strongly suggest that you apply as soon as you get the forms, well before
the deadlines of December 31, 2001, and January 31, 2002.
No later than September 30, 2001, there shall be established at each College a Committee on Professional Development, which shall be composed of three (3) unit members appointed by the Chapter President and two (2) persons appointed by the President of the College. I have appointed myself, Chuck Gould (SOC), and Maggie Vaughan (PSY) to this committee. This committee is charged with making recommendations to the Vice President concerning the program of professional development.
Salem Chapter/MSCA Executive Committee Meetings
Monday, October 15, 2001 2:00 p.m. Presidential Room, Ellison Center North Campus
Thursday, November 8, 2001 2:00 p.m. Essex County Room, Ellison Center North Campus
Thursday, December 6, 2001 2:00 p.m. Salem Room South Campus
PeopleSoft Training and Implementation - William Mahaney
The Salem Chapter/MSCA has filed a grievance over the effects of the implementation
of PeopleSoft on the members of our unit, including Chairs, without consultation
or negotiation with either the Salem Chapter/MSCA or the MSCA/MTA. That grievance
is in process and will be heard at Step II in the near future.
I urge all unit members to keep a date/time/place activity log of any and all time spent related to PeopleSoft, particularly in training to use the system and in implementing the system. If you fail to do that, and if the grievance is ultimately resolved fully in your favor, you might not be eligible for any compensation for your time and effort.
Forwarded Message:
Urgent Message from the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 3:24:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:"Arline Isaacson" AISAACSON@massteacher.org
In recent conversations with the Senate President's Office, Birmingham has indicated a strong willingness to again help us move forward on Domestic Partner Health Insurance Legislation (DP). Birmingham is currently planning on moving the omnibus DP bill out of Senate Ways & Means this week and onto the Senate Floor for debate on Tuesday 9/25.
In previous years, as most of you will recall, Birmingham has played a critical leadership role in helping us get the DP bill out of the Senate by making it clear to senators that the bill WOULD be acted on despite some senators desires to see it remain bottled up in committee
Since it is possible that there could be a recorded 'roll call' vote on the DP bill, we must make sure that we have our votes lined up. Therefore, it is imperative that we all immediately activate our grassroots networks to generate constituent calls to State Senators. You can count on the fact that our opposition will be very busy in the next few days generating calls against us.
The message of your calls can be quite simple: Folks should call their state senators (617-722-2000 is a general number for the State House that anyone can use to be connected to their state legislators) and ask them to -
"Please vote in support of the Domestic Partners Health Insurance Bill. It's a matter of Equal Pay for Equal Work".
(The bill number is currently S1344, but it is likely to be renumbered when it is voted on by Sen Ways & Means this week. Therefore, it will have a new number when it is debated next week.)
Please forward this message onto others who support Domestic Partnership laws.
I am willing to serve on the following committee(s).
Please place an "X" next to your choice(s)
Retention Committee _____
PeopleSoft Committee ___________
Council on Teaching and Learning ____________
Academic Computing ___________
NAME (please print)________________________
DEPARTMENT________________________