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April 19, 2004

Over 20 Local 1650 members joined their brothers and sisters in the U of M Lecturers’ Union (LEO) on the picket lines last Thursday, April 8. LEO’s one day strike was in support of their negotiating team’s effort to secure LEO’s first contract and in protest of the intransigence of the U of M Administration and Board of Regents.

LEO represents 1,600 non-tenure track faculty at U of M’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses. Many of these faculty teach full-time at the University, have done so for many years, yet earn less than $25,000 per year as full-time faculty. Media coverage of this strike was extensive and student support heartening, as students joined the picket lines or brought refreshments to picketing faculty. As negotiations continue, further LEO job actions may well prove necessary.

Local 1650 members on the LEO picket lines include: Deb Alkamano, Linda Brandt, Richard Brown, Todd Browning, Jeannine Dawson, Kevin Dewey, Hal Freidman, Ed Fryzel, Geraldine Grunow, Tarek Joseph, Tony Mazurek, John McDonald, Jeff Morford, Nancy Nelson, Peter Putnam, Pedro San Antonio, Bill Secrest, Brian Smith, Marsha Steele, Richard Teeple, and Nancy Widman. If we have omitted your name, please contact the Local 1650 office.

LEO and the Local 1650 leadership very much appreciate this great demonstration of union solidarity.

Over the years, Henry Ford Community College has been the recipient of many contributions from the Dearborn Rotary Club. Two recent examples are an annual Nursing Scholarship, deriving from a Rotary Spring Gala held on campus a few years ago, and Dearborn Rotary’s financial support of the HFCC-Ford Motor program to distribute refurbished computers to deserving community service organizations.

On Saturday, May 1, Dearborn Rotary will again hold its annual Spring Gala on the HFCC campus. One-half of the proceeds from this event will be donated to HFCC to support the College’s Kingfisher Bluff preservation and beautification project. Kingfisher Bluff is located at the rear of the HFCC campus, overlooking a major bend in the Rouge River. Dearborn Rotary has pledged $50,000 to HFCC for the construction of an observation deck overlooking Kingfisher Bluff, which will, in turn, connect with the River Rouge Pathway, providing recreational and educational opportunities for HFCC students and the entire community. The remaining proceeds will support Rotary’s charitable projects throughout our community and around the world.

A few years ago, Dearborn Rotary raised a similar amount of money for UM-D’s Environmental Center. Rotary is now committed to HFCC’s Kingfisher Bluff and the beautification of the pathway between the two sites.

Rotary’s May 1 Spring Gala is its first fundraising effort in support of its $50,000 goal for HFCC. The event, black-tie optional, will feature wines and foods from around the world; music and dancing; and many prizes, typically one prize for every ten attendees, including five $1,000 winners. You need not be present to win. Tickets for the event are $100 per person, a portion of which is tax deductible. You may contact the Local 1650 office (x9666) to purchase tickets.

As reported in the last 1650 Report, compliance with two important contractual obligations has been problematic. Some teachers have not been attending the Professional Issues Conference in January, and some have not been completing all phases of the faculty evaluation process in a timely, thorough manner. In order to reiterate the value of these tasks in their own right (both provide teachers with opportunities for pedagogical reflection and improvement) as well as the risks of noncompliance (for the individuals as well as the Local overall), President John McDonald is meeting with each HFCC Division.

The responses from the membership, thus far, have been heartening. Many members have voiced the same concerns as the Executive Board and raised issues of integrity and professionalism, and many advised specific penalties for those who fail to meet these contractual obligations. The Executive Board is hopeful and confident that given this reminder, the membership will come into full compliance, making penalties for non-compliance unnecessary.

With an extremely busy year ahead, 1650’s Legislative/Political Action Committee is in full swing. Especially pressing topics it will address include the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which provides $18 million to HFCC and its students; proposed legislation for a MPSERS graded scale health care premium; and upcoming federal, state and local political races. Additionally, the committee will follow up on the recently distributed “Membership Mobilization Survey.”

Members of this committee typically distribute informational literature to the membership and organize letter-writing and e-mail campaigns to ensure that the Local’s and the College’s interests are well represented in Lansing and Washington. Participating in this committee offers many perks, including the chance to learn more about the local impact of state and national politics and the chance to work with colleagues from other areas of the College. Prior knowledge of the issues, while welcome, is certainly not required. If you would like to join this important committee, please contact the Chair, Jim Wanless, at x9716.

A new AFT Higher Education report is challenging a Bush Administration proposal to link federal higher education aid dollars to graduation rates and time spent obtaining a degree. “Student Persistence in College: More Than Counting Caps and Gowns” takes issue with one of the Administration’s proposals for the next reauthorization of the Higher Education Act - penalizing institutions that don’t graduate students within six years or that have high dropout rates. The proposal fails to account for the 40 percent of the students who are part-timers, says the AFT report, and treats undergraduates as traditional students when, in fact, most undergraduates today (57 percent) are over age 21. The proposal also does not account for the many students who transfer between institutions.

The AFT report raises concerns that the proposal creates a perverse incentive for colleges to stop serving students who are likely to have problems in persistence or that it would encourage some institutions to lower academic standards to boost graduation rates. “We should be rewarding those students who persevere, who stick with college for years, often while working a full-time job or caring for a family,” said William Scheuerman, President of the faculty union at the State University of New York and an AFT Vice-president. “We shouldn’t be penalizing them or their institutions.” The report is posted at AFT Online at http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/47afzSd1Mp9V/report.

(Article taken from Inside AFT for the week of March 8, 2004)

As with health care insurance rate hikes, Local 1650 has been faced with drastic premium increases for our short-term and long-term disability and life insurance coverages, currently provided by UNUM. President John McDonald negotiated with UNUM and several other insurance companies, such as MetLife and Fortis, with the goal of keeping the premiums affordable while also maintaining our current coverage in full. In the end, Assurant (formerly Fortis) committed to maintaining the same coverage with only a relatively modest increase in premium. Thus, HFCC will change Local 1650's group insurance provider from UNUM to Assurant, probably around May 1.

Local 1650 members should note that long-term care insurance, which experienced no premium increase, will remain with UNUM. Additionally, the Office of Human Resources is currently exploring what changes to make in the current Employee Assistance Program, presently offered through UNUM.

The AFT Convention will be July 13-17, 2004, in Washington, DC. The following delegates were elected to represent Local 1650: John McDonald, Betsy Cohn, and Jim Nelson. Bonnie Jobe, Nancy Widman, and Marilyn Thibodeau were elected as alternates.

The Office of Retirement Services will be conducting Pre-Retirement Information meetings (PRIM's) across the State during the month of April. These two hour meetings are an opportunity for you to hear an overview of your MPSERS retirement benefits so you can make informed decisions about your retirement and your future. Topics include: Earning/Purchasing Service Credit, Eligibility Requirements, Calculating Retirement Benefits, Insurance Coverage, and Questions and Answers.

If you are thinking about retirement, you may want to attend one of the following meetings:

1. Monday, April 19, 2004 - 5:30 p.m.; Genesee ISD, Auditorium A, B, C, and D; 2413 West Maple Avenue, Flint, MI 48507.

2. Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - 5:30 p.m.; Oakland ISD, Conference Room A; 2111 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford MI 48328.

3. Wednesday, April 21, 2004 - 5:30 p.m.; Washtenaw ISD, WISD Teaching and Learning Center; Vogel Room A, B, and C; 1819 South Wagner Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106.

You may register for a pre-retirement meeting at http://www.michigan.gov/ors or by calling 1-800-381-5111.