Contract Support Team meeting
Find out what’s going on and help inform and organize members to support the negotiations and other union issues. Come to the next Contract Support Team meeting:
Today – Thursday July 7, 2016
12:30-1:30pm
916 S. Wabash Room 111
RSVP to jylee@colum.edu
General membership meeting
Save the date for the next general membership meeting. The agenda will include USofCC elections, and a possible contract ratification vote!
Thursday July 21, 2016
Noon to 1pm
HAUS at Quincy Wong, 623 S. Wabash 1st floor
Lunch will be served
RSVP to tharasym@colum.edu
Bargaining update
We are close to having a contract. There are just a few remaining open issues to resolve. The current agreement for salaries and benefits is a 2% salary increase retroactive to February 1, 2016; plus an additional 2% on September 1, 2016 and 2% on September 1, 2017. Benefits would stay the same for 2017; for 2018, the college can request a re-opener to negotiate benefits, but with a cap on proposed benefits cost increases to not go above the 2% salary increase.
It is not the 5% salary increase that the bargaining team initially proposed, and it is definitely not as much as we all need and deserve. But it is more than the nothing that was previously on the table, thanks to all of you who helped to pressure the administration through our various actions over the last several years.
The next bargaining session will be Tuesday July 12 at 11am. If you are interested in observing, contact JeeYeun Lee at jylee@colum.edu.
Job study update
The college still has not scheduled their next step in the job study, which is a presentation by Mercer consultants to the college administration. After that, Mercer’s recommendations will be given to the union for review. As you all know, that puts the job study way behind schedule. This will be the union’s top priority with the new head of HR. If it continues to lag, the Contract Support Team will be discussing how the union can put pressure on the college.
What we can do in the meantime is start doing research on salaries. Salary ranges for the job categories that include union positions will be negotiated with the college once the job study gets to that point, and we want to be ready with our own information. If you would like to volunteer for this committee, contact Kevin Rechner at krechner@colum.edu.
USofCC Elections
Elections are coming up for all USofCC Executive Committee positions, building/department rep positions, and reps to the IEA Region 67. Descriptions of each position will be circulated soon, with more information presented at the general membership meeting. Nominations will be accepted until the end of July, with elections to be held in August.
All full dues-paying members are eligible to run for office and to vote in the elections. If you need to check your status or sign up for full membership, please contact Membership Chair Oscar Valdez at ovaldez@colum.edu.
If you are not planning to run for a position and would like to work on running the elections, it’s a great way to help the union with a one-time project. For more information or to sign up, contact Sheila Brady at sbrady@colum.edu.
AVP of Human Resources
As you may have heard, Norma de Jesus has been hired as the new AVP of Human Resources. The USofCC Executive Committee will be requesting a meeting early in her tenure to establish a good working relationship and discuss union-related concerns, including the job study. If you have any input for this meeting, contact Craig Sigele at csigele@colum.edu.
You can always contact us at usofcc@yahoo.com. We got a website https://usofcc.org/ and Facebook too https://www.facebook.com/USofCC/ – yahoo!
United Staff of Columbia College 