November 17, 1999
President’s Message-Patricia Markunas
At long last, members of the MSCA day bargaining unit will receive
their 3% salary adjustments, retroactive to July 1, 1998. All day bargaining
unit members who were in the unit on March 12, 1999, are eligible
to receive this pay increase and appropriate retroactive payments.
Enclosed in this newsletter are several worksheets to enable members to calculate their retroactive monies, their November paychecks, and their new annualized salaries. Occasionally mistakes in payroll are made, so please be sure to check your paycheck carefully and contact us if you have any problems.
Members should be advised that, statewide, there have been numerous
problems with the implementation of the promotions/terminal degree memorandum.
In particular, representatives of the BHE have not allowed the 3% comprehensive
pay increase to be added to the base salary under the salary equity formula
(Article XIIIA), as the parties agreed in March, 1999, and as has been
the practice of the parties since 1987. At least 10 members at Salem who
earned promotions in 1998 and 1999 are negatively affected by this contract
violation, as are several newly hired SSC members. Grievances have been
filed locally over this and other issues as well. As always, the Salem
Chapter/MSCA will be vigilant in its pursuit of all monies that members
deserve under the contract and its sidebar memoranda. We will keep you
informed.
Major Arbitration Win for the Salem Chapter/MSCA-Patricia
Markunas
Our office recently received notification that Arbitrator John Dorr
III ruled that the BHE violated the contract by implementing the "Rule
of Five" without using the contractual governance and reorganization
procedures as required in our contract. The BHE has been prohibited from
further use of the "Rule of Five" to eliminate majors at Salem State until
the policy has been reviewed by our governance structure.
This is a major victory upholding the rights of faculty and librarians
to have a voice in the decisions made by not only the local SSC administration
but also the Board of Higher Education. Kudos to Bill Mahaney and
Donna
Sirutis for their work on this arbitration.
Vacancy on Council on Teaching & Learning
Nancy Schultz (English) has submitted her resignation from this
committee, effective at the end of the fall semester. Nominations are open
to complete her term (for the spring, 2000, semester) on this committee.
Any full-time, tenured or tenure-track member is eligible to nominate himself/herself.
If interested, please send a notice to the Chapter Office, Sullivan 205B,
no later than Tuesday, November 29th, at noon.
Salem Chapter/MSCA Executive Committee to Meet
The Salem Chapter/MSCA Executive Committee will meet on Tuesday,
November 29th, at 2:30 p.m., in the Underground of the Ellison
Campus Center. Agenda items will include bargaining, the arbitration
noted above, and governance. This meeting is open to all members.
Worksheets for Calculation of 3% Pay Increase and Retroactive
Monies
These worksheets are found on the bottom of this web version of the
11/17/99 newsletter.
BHE Demonstration a Success-Patricia Markunas
Many thanks to those members at Salem who braved an early morning trip
to Bridgewater State College and endured frigid temperatures to join their
colleagues from across the state to make the MSCA’s "Day of Action" a success.
Special thanks to Mark Raudzens (Art) for his work on picket signs
used at the demonstration and to Glenn Pavlicek, BSC Chapter President,
for handling the on-site logistics.
Boston’s "paper of record" didn’t send a reporter to the BHE meeting
but the Boston Herald covered the demonstration fairly. Ed
Hayward’s article is reprinted below.
| Wednesday, November 17, 1999 Boston Herald
Professors, librarians, blast lack of contract By Ed Hayward Nearly 150 state college professors and librarians greeted the board of Higher Education at Bridgewater State College yesterday with chants and signs demanding a new contract. The last pact expired in June and union officials said they're fighting efforts to break the tenure system and trying to win salaries equal to other state systems. Calling the status of negotiations a "bitter disagreement," Massachusetts State College Association President Bill Murphy blased the board for its treatment of the 2,000 full- and part-time professors and librarians. "We will not accespt the board's anti-college, anti-faculty and anti-union demands," Murphy told the board. Union officials said they want 5 percent pay increases to boost salaries they said rank them last out of 11 comparable systems in the region. The average professor with 20 years experience earns $56,000, they said. The union is also looking to protect the tenure system that provides due process when officials want to fire longtime staffers. Murphy said abolishing the system would turn academic posts into patronage plums. "It would turn state colleges into a spoils system where every crony and cousin and brother-in-law will find a job," Murphy said outside the meeting. Board negotiators have demanded changes that would end lifetime job guarantees and give administrators flexibility in distributing "merit" pay increases. "Hiring and firing is not the issue," said Chancellor Stanley Z. Koplik. "It's an issue of faculty evalutations regarding performance, of how any salary isncreases are distributed - whether it's across the board or based on evalutations or determined by merit." Board President Stephen P. Tocco met informally with union leaders after the board's meeting. "It's an ongoing discussion," Tocco said afterward. "There are some very tough and complicated issues around accountability and pay. But I'm confident there are going to be open minds and hard work to close this up." |
(Members who earned promotions effective 9/1/98 or 9/1/99
or terminal degrees after 9/1/87 but prior to 9/1/99 should see
the appropriate worksheet/instructions, below.)
Worksheet for Calculation of 3% Pay Increase
And Retroactive Monies: Part-Time Day Unit Members Only
This information and worksheet applies only to those part-time faculty who are members of the MSCA day bargaining unit and only to those courses taught under the provisions of the MSCA (day) contract.
In order to be eligible for any retroactive payments for the 1998-99 academic year, a part-time faculty member must have been in the day bargaining unit on March 12, 1999. The retroactive payments also apply to those part-time day unit members who were on an approved temporary interruption of service on that date.
Part-time faculty members who were in the bargaining unit on March 12, 1999 and who were on a temporary full-time contract for either the fall, 1998, or spring, 1999, semester, will receive a retroactive payment of 3% of the appropriate semester’s salary in their November 24th paycheck. Do not include any courses taught under a full-time temporary contract on the worksheet, below.
Table of Stipend Amounts
Current stipend for three-credit courses $2,795
New stipend effective 9/1/98 for three-credit courses $2,879
Difference per three-credit course $ 84
Current stipend for four-credit courses $3,730
New stipend effective 9/1/98 for four-credit courses $3,842
Difference per four-credit course $ 112
Worksheet to determine retroactive payment for the 1998-99 academic year
Worksheet for Calculation of 3% Pay Increase and Retroactive Monies:
Members Who Were Promoted Effective 9/1/98
(This worksheet applies only to those full-time members who received a 5% salary adjustment for their 9/1/98 promotion. Those members who received $2000.44 should not use this worksheet but should use the first worksheet.)
1) Divide your gross pay in October, 1999, by five (5) __________
2) Divide the figure in Line 1 by 1.05 (5%) / 1.05
3) Old weekly salary effective 6/27/98 =__________
4) Multiply the figure in Line 3 by 1.03 (3%) X 1.03
5) New weekly salary effective 6/28/98 =__________
6) Subtract the figure in Line 3 from the figure in Line 5 __________
7) Multiply the figure in Line 6 by 9 (weeks) X 9
8) Retroactive gross pay from 6/28/98 to 8/29/98 =__________
9) Multiply the figure in Line 5 by 1.05 (5%) X 1.05
10) New weekly salary, effective 8/30/98 =__________
11) Add appropriate equity payment from the salary equity
worksheet, below, or terminal degree adjustment
+__________
12) New weekly salary, effective 9/1/98 =__________
13) Subtract the figure in Line 1 from the figure in Line 12 __________
14) Multiply the figure in Line 13 by 61 (weeks) X 61
15) Retroactive gross pay from 8/30/98 to 10/31/99 =__________
16) Add the figures in Lines 8 and 15 to determine the TOTAL
retroactive gross pay from 6/28/98 to 10/31/99
=__________
17) Multiply the figure in Line 12 by 4 to determine your
gross pay for November, 1999
=__________
18) Multiply the figure in Line 12 by 52 (weeks) to determine
your annualized salary effective 9/1/98
=__________
Salary Equity Worksheet for Full-Time Members Who Were Promoted Effective
9/1/98 or 9/1/99 OR
Who Earned a Terminal Degree after 9/1/97 BUT prior to 9/1/99
Base Salary $ 27,055
Terminal Degree (add $2000 if appropriate)
+ $ __________
New Academic Rank: Add
State College Service
Prior Full-Time College Teaching/Librarian Service
Prior K-12 Full-Time Teaching
Prior Professional Service
Equity Formula Salary (add all lines, above)
= $ __________
New (annualized) Salary (from appropriate worksheet) = $ __________
Subtract New Salary from Equity Salary: Put zero if the
Salem Chapter/MSCA e-mail: msca@salem.mass.edu
Revised 11/24/99
URL: http://www1.shore.net/~ngeorge/msca1117.htm