Index of Past State of the Union Reports 

HFCC PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH UNDERWAY

Local 1650 members, indeed all HFCC employees, are urged to participate in the HFCC Presidential Forums to be held October 3. These forums will provide HFCC employees the opportunity for input into the presidential profile that will delineate the qualities and qualifications to be sought in HFCC’s next president.

It is vitally important that the Board of Trustees, its Search Consultant, and in turn the Presidential Search Committee are made aware of HFCC’s tradition of shared governance, the leadership qualities and areas of expertise the College requires in its next President, and the nature and needs of the students and community we serve.

If you are unable to participate in the forums or wish to reiterate the views you express at such, you can forward your views in writing to Dr. Sally Barnett’s office.

MPSERS UNDER ATTACK DEFINED CONTRIBUTION & GRADED PREMIUM

AFT Michigan is requesting membership action in opposition to pending legislation that will have very negative effects community college employees.

The Michigan Legislature is yet again considering two bills (HB 4947 and SB 635) that would mandate a defined contribution pension system and graded scale health insurance premium for all newly hired employees participating in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS).

Under such legislation newly hired employees would lose the current defined benefit pension program, which guarantees a pension benefit based upon earnings and years of service. This would be replaced by a defined contribution system, in which an employer contribution is invested and the return on an individual employee’s investment portfolio would determine a retiree’s pension benefit.

Under such legislation, the current MPSERS health benefit which provides 90% of the health insurance premium for all MPSERS’ retirees would also be eliminated. Newly hired employees would need 30 years of full-time service to receive this 90% benefit. This would negatively impact part-time faculty, women who interrupt their careers for child rearing, and faculty coming to the College in mid-career.

Presently employed and retired faculty covered by the current MPSERS program should understand that they too will be affected by these changes for “newly hired employees.” With fewer and fewer participants over time in the current MPSERS program, there will be less and less political pressure, and thus less and less incentive, for legislators to maintain the benefit levels of the traditional MPSERS’ program supposedly preserved for current employees and retirees. The traditional MPSERS’ program will, in effect, become a “dying program.”

You may use the following AFT Michigan links to send prepared e-mails opposing these bills to your legislators or you may compose your own letters. Please do so TODAY.
State Representative: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/hb4947/6n7ggw2l76b3kn?
State Senator: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/sb635/6n7ggw4476b38m?

John McDonald

AFT MICHIGAN RESPONDS TO STATEWIDE HEALTH INSURANCE LEGISLATION

The Michigan House of Representatives authorized and is now considering the findings of a study by the Virginia based “Hay Group” which recommends one statewide health insurance program to cover all public school and community college employees.

If implemented, the recommendation could significantly reduce the level of health care coverage Local 1650 has negotiated for HFCC faculty over the years.

You are urged to write your State Representative and State Senator in opposition to Hay Group’s recommendations for a statewide health plan for community college faculty for the following reasons:

Loss of Local Control: The health coverage which each employee group throughout the State currently enjoys is the product of agreement between a local board of trustees and its employees. Each reflects the local circumstances, needs, and priorities of those parties.

History of Health Care Bargaining: The health care coverages present in collective bargaining agreements result from the give-and-take of bargaining. Many unions, including Local 1650, sacrificed wage increases or accepted contract concessions to secure and preserve the health care coverage in their contracts. The economic accrual to employers of these trade-offs and concessions are ongoing by their very nature and subsidize the coverages currently in place. To institute a statewide system that diminishes negotiated health care coverage is not only unfair, it reneges on a good faith agreements reached in bargaining.

You are also urged to write your State Legislators asking that they give very serious consideration to the AFT Michigan’s “Model for Saving Public School Health Care Dollars.” This document, recently presented to the State Legislature by AFT Michigan President David Hecker, provides more savings than two of the Hay Group’s recommendations – and preserves locally bargained health insurance programs. AFT Michigan’s “Model” calls for:

• Statewide catastrophic stop loss insurance coverage administered by the State.
• Regional group purchasing pools to provide more competitive purchasing power to local school districts and community colleges.
• Improved programs to manage chronic illness claims.
• Enhanced disclosure of provider performance on quality measures so that consumers can make informed medical decisions.
• Improved availability of healthcare data from insurance companies so that employers and employees can make medical purchasing decisions based on cost and quality.

John McDonald

MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST SCHOOL RETIREES ON HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

In a 5-2 decision, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that School Retirees’ health care coverage under MPSERS is not guaranteed by the State constitution.

The case focused on an effort by Michigan Education Association retirees to turn back co-pay and deductible increases passed by the State legislature in recent years. The decision, though, has far broader ramifications. The decision not only affirms the Legislature’s authority to impose ever-increasing co-pays, deductibles, and premiums for retirees, it opens the door for the Legislature to discontinue retiree health care coverage entirely. This case applies to current retirees and currently employed with MPSERS – not simply future employees.

The five Republican Justices voted against retirees on this issue. Only the two Democrat Justices, Michael Cavanaugh and Marilyn Kelly, maintained that retirees’ health coverage is a guaranteed economic benefit under the State Constitution. Further information on this Supreme Court decision is available at: http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw117731_20050629.htm

This case, much like the Supreme Court ruling on PA 112, which gutted K-12 bargaining in Michigan, demonstrates yet again how important political action is in both judicial and legislative politics.

HIGHER EDUCATION REAUTHORIZATION ACT

The AFT has asked that members write their U.S. Congressperson and U.S. Senators regarding several very disturbing provisions being pushed by the Bush Administration in reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

1. Decline in purchasing power of the Pell Grant. In the 1980's, Pell grants on average covered 84% of a student’s higher education costs. That percentage has dropped to 42% today. With HFCC students receiving $27 million in Pell Grant funds annually, clearly student access to HFCC, and in turn HFCC enrollment, are heavily dependent on Pell Grant funding.
2. 100% Distance Education Degrees. Currently, an institution is eligible to receive federal student aid if no more than 50% of its course offerings are delivered via distance education. The Bush Administration seeks to eliminate this provision. Aside from the serious pedogogical implications of a degree earned exclusively via distance education, the result of this change would be a boon to the “Phoenix Universities” of the world, at the expense of campus based colleges and universities.
3. Definition of an Institution of Higher Education (IHE). The Bush Administration proposes changing the definition of an IHE, making many “for-profit” institutions eligible for federal funds at the expense of public and private non-profit institutions currently receiving such funds.
4. “Student Speech and Association Rights (Section 103). In this section of the Act, the Bush Administration addresses the unsubstantiated allegations of David Horowitz’s “Academic Bill of Rights” campaign, which contends that “conservative” students are intimidated and treated punitively by “leftist” higher education faculty.

The AFT strongly opposes federal intrusion into institutional autonomy and is concerned about the impact of Section 105, now and as it may evolve, upon academic freedom, shared governance, hiring practices, and tenure.

Local 1650 members are urged to contact their U.S. Congressperson and U.S. Senators regarding these issues TODAY. You may use the following link to e-mail a prepared message or edit it as you see fit: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/heareauth.

Thank you for your assistance in this and other lobbying efforts and for recognizing that our professional lives and livelihoods are “in play” whenever State and federal legislators convene.

John McDonald

UNION JOBS BETTER? COUNT THE WAYS

A new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) details the difference collective bargaining can make in workers’ lives:

• 88% of private-sector union workers have access to retirement benefits through their jobs, compared with only 56% of non-union workers.
• 73% of union workers have access to defined-benefit pension plans, compared with 16% of non-union workers.
• 92% of union workers have access to job-based health care benefits, compared with 68% of non-union workers.
• 73% of union workers have access to job-provided dental care, 57% have vision care, and 87% have prescription drug coverage, compared with 43%, 26%, and 61% respectively among non-union workers.
• Non-union workers’ mandatory health insurance premiums were, on average, over $1,000 more per year than those of union workers.
• Union workers also are more likely than non-union workers to have access to job-based life insurance (65% vs. 50%) and short-term disability benefits (67% vs. 37%).
• 87% of union members have access to paid holidays and 86% had paid vacations, compared with 75% and 77% of non-union workers, respectively.
• 58% of union workers are offered education benefits, compared with 48% of non-union workers.

Editorial Comment:

One unspoken lesson from this data is that all of us should buy “union-made” American products to secure our own livelihoods. The decline in private sector union membership, with members enjoying good wages and benefits, will make it impossible for public sector unions to convince legislators and taxpayers to preserve good wages and benefits for public sector employees.

John McDonald

SEND WAL-MART BACK TO SCHOOL

The next time you see a “bargain” at the retail giant Wal-Mart, consider what it’s costing workers-and-taxpayers-in your community. You are invited to join our union in a long-term effort to convince Wal-Mart to become a responsible employer and good corporate citizen.

The effort begins with the “Send Wal-mart Back to School this Summer” campaign, supported by the AFT, the AFL-CIO and other unions to educate members and the public about Wal-Mart’s dismal record on employee pay, benefits, worker rights, outsourcing and more.

Help send a message to Wal-Mart that it’s time for one of the world’s richest companies to treat its workers with dignity and respect.

Go to this website and sign the pledge to buy your back-to-school supplies somewhere other than Wal-Mart this year: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/walmart_petition.

Want to know more? Here are some details:

• A Department of Labor investigation last year cited Wal-Mart for 24 violations of child labor laws, including one incident in which a minor was injured while operating a chain saw. Wal-Mart also has a record of forcing employees to work “off the clock,” and the company’s own 2005 annual report shows that it has faced 44 wage and hour lawsuits.
• Wal-Mart provides healthcare coverage to just 48 percent of its work force. Part-timers-anybody below 34 hours a week-must wait two years before they can enroll and are ineligible for family healthcare coverage. Full-time hourly employees must wait 180 days (approximately six months) before being able to enroll in Wal-Mart’s health insurance plan.
• In March 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle federal allegations that it used undocumented immigrants to clean its stores. Many of the janitors worked seven days or nights a week without overtime pay or injury compensation.
• Wal-Mart’s relentless efforts to drive down the costs of goods has meant many suppliers have moved their production to China, where child labor laws are not enforced and free trade unions are suppressed. Wal-Mart is now just behind eight other countries as the biggest trading partner for China.
• Wal-Mart’s “race to the bottom” in salaries and benefits force some of its employees to rely on government-funded programs, including subsidized school lunches, food stamps, child healthcare and low-income housing assistance. Each Wal-Mart store employing 200 people costs taxpayers approximately $420,750 annually in public social services used by Wal-Mart workers whose low wages and unaffordable health insurance mean most of them are among the working poor.
• In June 2003, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge found Wal-Mart violated federal labor laws in 2000 by refusing to bargain over job changes it imposed on meat cutters in a Jacksonville, Texas, store after they voted for union representation. The skilled meat cutters were suddenly demoted to “sales associates” and all Wal-Mart stores eventually shifted to selling pre-cut meat.

Add your voice to the campaign to change Wal-Mart’s corporate behavior by signing the pledge to buy your back-to-school supplies somewhere other than Wal-Mart this year.

AFT Michigan Forum

1650 MEETS AND EATS: BUDDY’S PIZZA EXTRAVAGANZA

Whether you are new to the College or a seasoned veteran looking to reconnect with old friends or learn new names and faces, you will find the upcoming Friday afternoon Pizza Extravaganza just the thing to smooth the edges of another new semester. Please join us for pizza, salad, beverages, and good conversation on Friday, September 30, at Buddy’s Pizza, 22148 Michigan Avenue in west Dearborn. Stop in any time between 2:00 and 5:00, and look for the most jocular crowd – that will be us!

NEXT LOCAL 1650 GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 3:10 P.M., L-311