Hi everyone!

I have been away on furlough and other Union business, but I wanted to provide an update on some issues that have been circulating.  As always, if you have ANY questions about the furlough agreement, or about our contract in general, do not hesitate to contact the Chapter 324 Executive Board.  I will get the issues clarified in the Labor-Management Committee.

Steward Training – September 25^th / 26^th

Chapter 324 is tentatively scheduling a two-day steward training at Channel Islands on Friday, September 25^th and Saturday, September 26^th.  If you are interested in attending the training and getting certified as a steward to represent your fellow employees on campus, please let me know!  We will work to train as many stewards as we can to spread out our representation across campus.

Overtime – Scheduled vs. Call-Back

At the Brown Bag meeting on Wednesday, it was mentioned that Human Resources will be distributing an overtime worksheet to managers to properly record any overtime that is authorized for critical projects or campus events, particularly during furlough weeks for an employee.  All overtime will need approval at the VP level for each division and will need to be justified as appropriate.

One distinction has been made between being scheduled to work on a furlough day and being called-back to work on a furlough day.

If you are scheduled to come in on your furlough day, whether for a known special project or a planned campus event, then you will be paid straight-time up to 40 hours, then after 40 hours will you be paid at time and a half.

If you are called-back to work on your furlough day, for a mission critical system or to help staff an office, then you will be paid time and a half right away and a minimum of three hours, regardless of whether you have reached the 40 hour mark or not.  Call-backs require an appropriate administrator to call you directly and request that you come back into work.  Call-backs are not authorized by getting a system downtime email or a call from a co-worker.

SETC Retreat Rights to CSUEU

At the Labor-Management Meeting on Wednesday, CSUEU, SETC, and management discussed the possibility of employees being laid off from SETC to retreat back to their previous classifications in CSUEU.  CSU believes the SETC contract language obligates them to place SETC employees back into their previous classifications.  CSUEU believes that retreat rights do not extend beyond each individual Union.  Other campuses are also looking at this question, and a resolution would need to come from a meeting between CSUEU and the Chancellor’s Office.

However, management has assured CSUEU that it is not the intention to “bump” anyone from CSUEU if they place individuals from SETC as part of the layoff process at Channel Islands.  No layoff proceedings have been filed with CSUEU, so no one can be “bumped” out of their positions.  Additionally, it is not the intention to remove any temporary or probationary employees should members from SETC be placed back into CSUEU.  We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure our employees are protected.

Helping Hand Program

The CSUCI Foundation has developed their Helping Hands program to assist employees who may be in need in this difficult economic time.  This program will only be in effect until December 31^st, 2009 – and is intended for one-time assistance per household up to $500.  Funds are limited, but we encourage anyone who is able to contribute to the fund by contacting Marti DeLaO in the University Advancement Office at 805.437.8919 or at marti.delao@csuci.edu.

This is yet another way for us all to come together and help each other, and if we can make this program successful at our campus, I will fight to make sure it continues past the current end date.  For a little perspective, if all 207 represented employees gave $10 per month, we could build up a fund of $8,000 by the end of the year.  Everyone giving a little can help us take care of our fellow represented employees who have been the hardest hit during this time.  This effort, along with our Union, is built on our collective strength.  I strongly encourage you all to contact Marti and ask how you can contribute.

Statewide Actions

Our CSUEU home office continues to represent our employees with the Chancellor’s Office.  I wanted to provide some information on a few items.  I am working in the Labor-Management Meeting to smooth any transitions that may be necessary for the campus.

First, a statewide grievance was filed concerning the restrictions being placed by campuses on the selection of flexible furlough days by employees.  This grievance is scheduled to have a resolution by August 31^st, 2009.

Second, the furlough technical letters, which detail how to track and implement furloughs on the campuses, are being reviewed by CSUEU to ensure that the contract is being upheld.

Third, a Labor-Management Committee on Long-Term Compensation changes has officially begun at the statewide level on Tuesday, August 19^th, 2009.  The formation of this LMC was part of our furlough agreement and is designed to look at better ways for employees to move through the salary ranges, and to be duly compensated for the work they take on.  The LMC will run through the duration of the furlough agreement.  I have been designated as a alternate delegate for the LMC representing Bargaining Unit 9, and will fight to find sensible ways to ensure employees are given the opportunities for advancement they deserve.

In Union,

Joseph Dobzynski, Jr.

CSUEU Chapter 324 – President

Hi everyone!

The CI Labor-Management Committee met on Tuesday, August 4^th, 2009 at 10:30am in the Lindero Hall Conference Room.  I had previously posted a special message concerning the selection of August furlough days, but I wanted to provide updates on other topics that were discussed.

Manager’s Meeting

All managers were required to attend a meeting on Tuesday, August 4^th at 1:00pm to discuss operating under the furlough period.  This meeting was called to give a more consistent message to managers concerning furloughs and to answer their questions about operational needs, and the appropriate adjustments to workload.  Chapter 324 believes this is a good step to provide clarity and consistency to management.

Management has been clear that the President’s Cabinet expects every office on campus to be considerate during this furlough period and to adjust their expectations concerning service levels.  No formal workload adjustments have been discussed.  Everything currently on the table will still be expected, but timelines will be adjusted to ensure everyone has a reasonable workload while meeting operational needs.  Overtime will only be authorized in the most extreme cases of operational need or to meet regulatory deadlines.  Chapter 324 believes that management is acting in good faith with this directive from the President’s Cabinet.

Temporary Employees

We discussed temporary employees who had their previous appointments lapse and are now going month-to-month.   Both sides agreed these individuals were currently under an undue amount of stress and likely wondering if they would still have a job.  Now that the budget cuts are finalized, management will be renewing temporary appointments as appropriate.  Management holds the right under Article 9.6 to make temporary appointments, specifying the expiration dates for the new appointment.  Ideally, Chapter 324 would like to see more temporary employees converted to permanent appointments, especially in extreme cases where employees have been temporary for more than two years.

Vacation Requests

Vacation requests may still be submitted by employees to their appropriate administrator.  Vacation request and approval is covered under Article 14.9.  Vacation requests shall be submitted in writing to the appropriate administrator at least thirty (30) days in advance.  All responses must be given within thirty (30) days of submission and are subject to operational needs.  Any conflicts in vacation requests shall be resolved by the seniority of the employees.  However, it is the intention that no one will be unjustly denied a vacation request during the furlough period except in the most extreme cases.  Management acknowledged that employees should still have the right to their vacation time should they decide to use it.  Chapter 324 suggests that everyone read up on the vacation request procedure defined in Article 14.9 and should not fear that we will be unable to submit vacation requests.

In-Range Progression vs. In-Classification Progression

Employees have raised concerns that in-range progressions and in-classification progression will be denied for budgetary reasons.  Many employees are confused over the difference between these two methods for advancement.  This confusion may be exacerbated by the current Human Resources form which is used to request both types of advancement.  We want to work with management and Human Resources to create separate forms for any form of advancement for our employees.  I wanted to provide some clarification on the difference under furloughs.

In-range progressions (IRPs) are covered under Article 20.40.  An IRP is an increase in salary for many reasons (Article 20.40b) within your current classification.  Many of you may remember our IRP Campaign from a couple years ago.  IRPs can be denied for lack of funds, and given the current budget crisis, no IRPs will likely be approved by management or Human Resources.  While we find this disappointing, Chapter 324 feels this is reasonable as those funds do not exist.

In-class progressions or reclassifications are covered under Article 9.25.  Reclassifications are changes to a higher classification (i.e. moving from Accounting Tech I to Accounting Tech II), or movement to a new skill level within a classification (i.e. moving from Programmer/Analyst Foundation to Programmer/Analyst Career).  Reclassifications may be initiated when an employee or manager believe that the duties assigned to an employee belong to a different classification or skill level.  If an employee feels that they are currently working out of classification, then they can apply for a reclassification.  Reclassifications cannot be denied for a lack of funds.  If funds are not available for reclassification, then the extra duties that have been assigned to the employee outside their classification must be reassigned.  A number of you have requested help with applying for reclassifications, and once the dust settles with the furlough plans, and we get more members trained as stewards, we will return to helping those employees with their reclassifications.

One note of caution concerning reclassifications: individuals who apply for a reclassification and receive it will likely have the least seniority in their new classification.  Seniority in their previous classification will be frozen at the previous level, which means other employees in that classification could “overtake” the seniority previously held by the employee.  It would appear that layoffs are off the table for this budget year, but unless we find a way to increase revenues in the coming budget years, it is possible they are in our future.  This should be taken as caution only, but for such an important decision we feel that all aspects of that decision should be considered.

In Union,

Joseph Dobzynski, Jr.

CSUEU Chapter 324 – President

Hi everyone!

I have just returned from the Labor-Management Committee meeting held today at 10:30am in the Lindero Hall Conference Room.  A separate communication will go out later this afternoon concerning other items discussed in the meeting.  I wanted to send this communication specifically about the August furlough days.

Background

Our tentative furlough agreement requires a 21 day notice prior to the implementation of any campus furlough plan on campus for CSUEU.  This notice was given to our represented employees on July 27^th, 2009 with the initial campus furlough plan, and thus the clock was started and the plan initially changed.  CSUEU asked each campus to submit whether the campus furlough plan met with the 21 days notice.  Chapter 324 responded to the statewide office that notice had been met based on the then current plan.  A letter was then sent to the campuses stating which campuses had met the 21 days notice and which chapters had waived the 21 day notice for their campuses.  However, the campus furlough plan was then changed on July 31^st, 2009 to allow employees to pick their own furlough days in August, which potentially violated the 21 day notice again.

Labor-Management Discussion

I raised the concern about the potential violation of the 21 day notice for requesting August furlough days, and proposed to produce waivers for this portion of the agreement if employees and managers both believed it was acceptable.  Management believed they had already met the 21 day notice upon receipt of the letter from the Chancellor’s Office and did not feel there was an issue, nor a need for a waiver.  CSUEU believes the contract language is clear, but we also acknowledged that getting this contract issue resolved first in order to talk about waivers would probably take longer than 21 days, which would render everything moot and place undue hardship on both the employees and management dealing with an already difficult time.

Resolution

CSUEU and management agreed that the only practical solution would be to continue allowing employees and managers to select any two furlough days in August within the current restrictions (no more than one furlough day per week, subject to operational need and seniority).  We believe this is the best solution we have available to us for our represented employees.  No grievance will be filed on the matter.  We hope you find this resolution acceptable.  We appreciate all the feedback (good and bad) on the issue, and encourage you to continue letting us know your thoughts and feelings.  We are here to represent you on campus and uphold the contract, including the furlough agreement.

In Union,

Joseph Dobzynski, Jr.

CSUEU Chapter 324 – President

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 31^st, 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 27^th, 2009 – and NO furlough days may be taken prior to Monday, August 17^th, 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.

Link: http://www.csueu.org/Portals/0/Docs/2009/2009BargNews/CSU-CSUEU%20Furlough%20Final_Amended_2009-07-21.pdf

Brown Bag Meeting – 8/5/2009

Another brown bag meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 5^th, 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.

Link: http://www.csueu.org/Portals/0/Library/on%20the%20job%20-%20know%20your%20rights/KYR-17-Furloughs.pdf

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

Hi everyone!

I wanted to provide the campus furlough ratification numbers as promised last week.  I apologize for the delay in getting these numbers out to our membership.  It has been difficult trying to find the time, and more importantly an Internet connection, while I have been on vacation in the Midwest.  Thanks in advance for your understanding.

Chapter Furlough Ratification Numbers
Over the week of July 13th, Chapter 324 held their ratification vote for the furlough agreement.  A previous communication gave statewide ratification percentages by Unit.  I wanted to provide the results for Chapter 324 for comparison.  A total of 135 represented employees submitted their vote from Chapter 324.

Here are the results for Chapter 324:
Unit 2 – NO REPRESENTED EMPLOYEES AT CSU-CI
Unit 5 – YES – 92%; NO – 8%;
Unit 7 – YES – 92%; NO – 8%;
Unit 9 – YES – 95%; NO – 5%;

Here are the results statewide:
Unit 2 – YES – 86%; NO – 14%
Unit 5 – YES – 77%; NO – 23%
Unit 7 – YES – 81%; NO – 19%
Unit 9 – YES – 82%; NO – 18%

I am amazed at the near unanimous consent of our represented membership to approve the furlough agreement.  I believe it speaks to the character of our employees that an overwhelming majority of us would be willing to sacrifice in order to preserve the jobs of the many.  As previously stated, this does not mean that those who voted in favor of layoffs, or even those who voted for the furlough agreement, do not have legitimate concerns about this furlough agreement.  Please keep sending your feedback so we can represent ALL our employees and their concerns.

In Union and Solidarity,
Joseph Dobzynski, Jr.
CSUEU Chapter 324 – President

Hi everyone!

I wanted to provide a response to the proposed campus furlough plan put forth by the Academic Senate, CFA, and the administrators today.

Labor Management Meeting
Today, Santos Ortega represented Chapter 324 in a Labor-Management Meeting attended by Dr. Rush (President), Joanne Coville (VP of Finance & Administration), John Yudelson (Representing CFA), Tina Torres (Representing APC), Santos Ortega (Representing CSUEU), Mike Middleton (Representing SETC), and Shawn Bartlett (Representing UAPD).  The proposed campus furlough plan was presented at the meeting to the Union representatives for initial comment.  It was the first time that anyone from the Chapter 324 Executive Board had seen the proposed plan.  A follow-up meeting will be scheduled later this week to continue discussions about the proposed campus furlough plan.  We would like to see these meetings continue throughout this furlough period, and beyond, to help build relationships between the Unions and management.

Response to the Proposed Campus Furlough Plan
The proposed campus furlough plan is a mixed bag for Chapter 324.  We endorse the decision to minimize the impact to students and the commitment to campus closures.  We believe campus closures will minimize the impact to employees as well, and will allow CSU-CI to capitalize on energy savings throughout the campus.  However, our membership has spoken out strongly against a “rolling” furlough plan as proposed by this furlough plan – due to the impact it will have on employees seeking secondary employment and for certain classifications, such as lab technicians, who will not have enough time to prepare labs for the following day (among others).

We are also concerned that CSUEU was not involved in the initial furlough planning sessions for a couple of reasons.  First, CSUEU lead the way on negotiating furloughs to preserve as many jobs as possible across the state.  Second, I had previously stated that we could not be involved in the discussions for legal reasons, and yet we see that CFA was included in the discussions for this proposed campus furlough plan.  We have requested the legal rationale, particular since other campuses throughout the system, most notably Stanislaus, Chico, and Fresno, brought all the Unions in on the initial discussions.  Finally, Chapter 324 has expressed a willingness to work with management through this difficult time, but were not included in the initial conversations and our comment period was relegated to the general comment period for the campus.

A formal response was sent to Joanne Coville about our position on this proposed campus furlough plan.  I anonymously included all of the feedback submitted over the past week  so management will understand our thoughts and concerns – both good and bad – with the furlough plans in general, and about rolling furloughs in particular.  I want to encourage everyone to continue sending feedback to the executive board so we can send along our collective response to this plan.  I also want to thank everyone who has submitted feedback to date to help us understand how our membership feels.

Budget Brown Bag Meeting
We encourage everyone to attend the Budget Brown Bag meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 12:00pm in Broome Library 1360 to speak out about this proposed campus furlough plan, both for and against.  We believe it is important that our membership is heard during this time, not just by your duly elected Union officers, but also by everyone in the trenches.  Never before has it been this important to have our voices heard, and this appears to be our only venue to do so to date.

In Union and Solidarity,
Joseph Dobzynski, Jr.
CSUEU Chapter 324 – President