Hi everyone!
I wanted to provide an update on the current furlough plan, and some useful information for our represented employees while we are on furloughs. It is a lot of information, but I hope you find everything worthwhile.
Labor-Management Committee – 7/31/2009
The Labor-Management Committee met last Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 9:30am. This committee is comprised of leaders from all represented employees on campus, plus representatives for management. We were presented with the revised furlough plan that was distributed to the campus on Friday afternoon. The former furlough plan was scrapped after CFA signed their furlough agreement. The CFA agreement would not have supported the former furlough plan in a way that was best for the students.
We discussed issues pertaining to workload on campus. I had requested some visible sign of workload reduction, including a cancellation of projects and a definition for operational need. Operational need was determined to be too difficult to define, which leaves both the employees and management with a nebulous definition, where all the power of determining operational need is held by management. Cancellation of projects was not discussed, since the Cabinet has made it clear to senior management that everyone should expect a longer turnaround time for routine requests.
Another item that was discussed was designating this Labor-Management Committee to be the arena for airing workload grievances for exempt employees, assuming that no resolution could be found between the employee and management. Our furlough agreement states in Article 4j that states “Where an exempt employee believes they have been assigned an excessive or unreasonable workload during a week in which he/she maintain his/her exempt status, the employee may file a complaint using a similar process contained in Article 8 (Complaint Process) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This process shall include a Chancellor’s Office Level of Review. The parties shall execute a MOU fully outlining the process to be followed within twenty-one (21) days of the execution of this agreement.” The process is currently in the works, but we may have already identified an instance of this occurring. If you feel this is the case, please speak to your administrator, and if no resolution can be found, I will take your case to the Labor-Management Committee.
This Labor-Management Committee will meet weekly over the next month to continue raising questions and concerns about the current furlough plan and the issues being raised as we move forward. We see this as a positive step in building stronger relationships between Unions and management, and our first real step towards having a seat at the table for important campus decisions. The notion of “shared governance” need not be limited to the faculty, but should also be extended to our Union. No law or policy currently exists to encourage this, but it is time our voices are heard and that we are given a chance to contribute more than our work to the betterment of our University as Union, not just as individual employees.
Current Furlough Plan
The new furlough plan brings us closer to our proposal that would allow our represented employees to choose Fridays for their furlough days. We believe the current plan is much better for our employees, and helps us continue to support the students, who have accepted a stunning fee increase in order to help close the budget and to preserve jobs on all our campuses.
Chapter 324 is analyzing the current furlough plan to ensure that it complies with our ratified furlough agreement. I have been in contact with the CSUEU Bargaining Team to help me review the furlough plan. Additionally, a statewide grievance was filed to prevent campuses from imposing rules that are not reflected in our agreement, including not allowing employees to schedule more than one furlough day in a work-week, nor more than two furlough days in a month. I will be in contact with everyone when the review has been complete. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to participate in the current furlough plan as it has been presented.
Additionally, the 21 days notice required by our furlough agreement was initiated on Monday, July 27th, 2009 – and NO furlough days may be taken prior to Monday, August 17th, 2009. This 21 day notice is only required to be given once, and no provisions are listed for management to give any notice for future changes to the campus furlough plan. We sincerely hope that management will provide ample notice to any further changes to the furlough plan so that employees will have enough time to make the appropriate changes. We believe 21 days is more than reasonable for employees to find new arrangements for day care or changes to planned vacation on furlough days.
Brown Bag Meeting – 8/5/2009
Another brown bag meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 12:00pm in Broome Library 1360. The CSUEU Executive Board will be in attendance to help field questions. Many have commented that previous meetings have focused almost exclusively on the impact to faculty, and that the tone towards employee concerns seems evasive or dismissive. We are seeing a shift in the way that all unions are being treated on campus, and we need you all to keep attending these meetings and to keep speaking up about this plan and your concerns.
Furlough Calculator
Chapter 322 has put together a furlough calculator that may be used to estimate the cuts to your net salary. This is in no way is guaranteed to be completely accurate, and should only be a guideline to help you plan the effect on your net pay.
Link: http://csueumb.org/FurloughCalculator/
Furloughs – Know Your Rights!
CSUEU has put together a good document to understand furloughs for our employees. I encourage everyone to check out the document, which contains a ‘greatest hits’ of all the questions we have received and sent along for answers. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Here are some easy things to remember while on furloughs:
- Take your lunches – Either 30 minutes of 1 hour depending on your administrator.
- Take your breaks – You are entitled to two 15 minute breaks every day! Use them!
- Keep work at work – You are not on the clock while at home. Do not act as if you were!
- Work with your administrator – Sometimes your administrator doesn’t know you are overworked.
Furloughs for Exempt Employees
One of the more radical changes with this furlough agreement is that exempt employees will become non-exempt employees during weeks in which a furlough day is taken. This changes the way in which many exempt employees operate during a regular week. This brings both benefits and responsibilities that exempt employees may not be used to. Luckily, our CSUEU Bargaining Unit 9 Council has put together a helpful website for exempt employees while they are in non-exempt weeks. I encourage all exempt employees to read over this link, and let me know if you have any questions.
Link: http://www.unit9news.org/2009/08/need-to-know-info-for-exempt-employees.html
In Union,
Joseph Dobzynski, Jr.
CSUEU Chapter 324 – President