Developments since November 2004
(Additional material is available at www.mscaunion.org.)

What the MSCA has been doing:

What the Employer has been doing1:

December 3:
Over 100 MSCA members demonstrated at One Financial Center in Boston, location of BHE Chair Steve Tocco’s business office. Photos are at http://mscaunion.org/news/041203.htm.

December 3:
When Tocco’s office was contacted with an invitation to him to meet with the demonstrators, his secretary reported that he was out for the day….

December 6:
MSCA Bargaining Committee met with the Board of Higher Education-Council of Presidents team for negotiations; we hoped to get agreement at least on future bargaining dates.

MSCA President Pat Markunas sent letters to Chairs of Boards of Trustees asking that unit members whose salaries may be below the minimum receive adjustments to bring them up to the minimum salary formula in Article XIII-A, as is permitted by the current contract, even if a successor contract has not been settled. A copy of the letter is at http://mscaunion.org/news/041206a.htm.

December 6:
BHE-COP team announced that it was not authorized to agree to any more bargaining dates that day.
December 7:
MSCA and MCCC members demonstrated at the BHE meeting; Pat Markunas addressed the BHE. 		December 7:
The BHE went into executive session to discuss bargaining.
December 15:
The MSCA Bargaining Committee met with the BHE-COP team for negotiations, rejected the BHE-COP’s process proposal, and agreed to submit a new package proposal. 		December 15:
The BHE-COP team had no substantive proposal, only a proposal for a different process that would require the MSCA to keep unilaterally reducing its money proposal until it was low enough for Tocco to decide to come to the bargaining table himself.
December 20:
Fact-finder Diane Cochran received the MSCA brief addressing the FY 2004 negotiations. Brief is at http://mscaunion.org/news/041229.pdf. 		December 20:
Fact-finder Diane Cochran received the BHE brief addressing FY 2004 negotiations. Brief is at http://mscaunion.org/news/050110.pdf.
December 22:
The MSCA’s package proposal was hand-delivered to BHE Chief Negotiator Peter Tsaffaras. Pat Markunas sent it by email to BHE Chair Tocco and offered to meet with him. This proposal is at http://mscaunion.org/news/041229b.pdf. 		 
January 5:
The MSCA Bargaining Committee met with the BHE-COP team to review the MSCA’s December 22nd proposal. 		January 5:
BHE-COP team offered no response to the MSCA proposal.
January 11:
Pat Markunas and Priscilla Lyons (MTA Director of Higher Education) met with BHE Chair Steve Tocco to discuss the bargaining process. 		January 11:
BHE Chair Tocco agreed to take steps to speed up management’s responses and insure that management’s representatives have proper authority to negotiate.
January 13:
At the Employee Relations Committee meeting, Pat Markunas noted that she had heard nothing from any of the trustees in response to the MSCA letters of December 6th concerning salary adjustments for unit members below minimum. 		January 13:
The COP representatives offered no information or response to the MSCA letters of December 6th. The presidents’ attorney, Mark Peters, said he would look into the matter and report back at an unspecified date.
January 28:
Next scheduled negotiations. 		January 28:
BHE response to MSCA’s December 22nd proposal is due.

1 MSCA representatives have heard that the Chancellor, the BHE Chair, and the college presidents have been “working behind the scenes.” We are unable to confirm or refute such claims.