TESTIMONY OF FRANK S. MINASIAN
IN SUPPORT OF S. 299
March 13, 2001
Before the JOINT COMMITTEE ON EDUCAITON, ARTS AND HUMANITIES

Senator Antonioni, Representative Larkin, and Members of the Committee, good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity.

My name is Frank Minasian. I am a professor of political science at Worcester State College, and the Vice President of the Massachusetts State College Association.

As an ardent supporter of the collective bargaining process, I wish I did not have to be before you today. Instead, I would like to be able to say that the MSCA and the Board of Higher Education have worked out matters at the bargaining table.

I regret to tell you that although we have met seventy (seventy, not seventeen) times with the Board of Higher Education’s negotiators for almost exactly three years of negotiating, we still do not have a multi-year agreement. We have met with a mediator twenty-seven times. There are presently three unfair labor practices against the Board of Higher Education. I am a member of the MSCA’s Bargaining Team, and believe me, I can assure you that we are striving for resolution.

Parenthetically, I would like to add that the parties were able to agree on two one-year extensions during this period (with 3% in increases each year). I thank you for your part in appropriating the funds for these extensions. These salary increases did not move us closer to the salaries of our peers, however.

I am asking for your favorable action on S299, in the hopes that this will help---but not replace---the bargaining process.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.