Details here!

     As the end of the year fast approaches, our brothers and sisters at University Health Services need our help. You can stand up for your coworkers at UHS by printing this petition and asking your colleagues, friends, family, students, and neighbors to sign it.  Once you have collected your signatures, send it or drop it off at the USA Office at 110 Hampshire House and we will make sure it gets to the right people. This is all part of an ASK WHY??? campaign that asks why!---

Why is the mandatory health fee of $654 a year paying for decreasing services? Why no pharmacy on campus, no laboratory services, no weekend care or after hours care? Call Jean Kim, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and ask WHY??? 413-545-2333, it's time we say NO to decreasing health care.  Ask your students to contact their parents and have them call too.  We may have some rallies and marches when the students return so please watch for the notices.

    In other news, there has been some movement on the classification work. Human Resources has given us a draft series of specifications for the Clerk series (Office Administration Specialists) and an Information Technology Specialist series.  Linda Hillenbrand (VP and Reclassification Officer), Jim Plaza (Grievance Officer), Bob Whalen (MTA), and I will be looking these over this week and meeting again in January to discuss them.  I will keep you posted on any further developments.

     And last but not least, the President's Office extended a bargaining offer to the 19 unions representing workers in the UMass system which would give us a two year contract (July 2012 to June 2014) including four 1.5% raises and increased health and welfare funds. The unions would give up Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day for two equivalent days and we will bargain over what those will look like as well as any other issues that the bargaining team decides are important this time around.  We have agreed to a tentative agreement on these points with a counter offer addressing language around funding and are awaiting their response.  It is important to note that this offer must clear the Governor's office before proceeding forward.  I will keep you posted as things progress.

     Finally, I want to wish all of you and your families a safe, healthy, happy holiday season.  I will be away on vacation but know that I am only a phone call away. Linda Hillenbrand, Jim Plaza, Bob Whalen, and Jane Litwin Taylor will be here on campus should you need them.  I will be checking in frequently and answering my email so please feel free to contact me if necessary.

 Happy Holidays,

Peace and solidarity to all,

Donna Johnson

President USA

413-427-3867

Dear USA members,

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I last wrote but things have been very crazy to say the least.  I am sure that you have heard about the changes at the University Health Services and how it may affect our members.  This is a scary time for UHS workers and the thought of the University closing the pharmacy and most of the functions in the lab has people unsure of their futures.  We have information requests into management and we will be meeting as a coalition weekly to try to turn this situation around.  It is important that we educate the students, their parents and the community about the changes that are being imposed by Vice Chancellor Kim and the leadership team.  Soon, I will be coming back to you asking for your help for your brothers and sisters in peril.  We are trying to get more information but we have heard that UHS may just be the beginning of changes to come here on campus.  I will make sure that you are updated as we know more.

In addition to working on UHS, I have been working with the coalition to work on the NAGE-like offer that I reported on earlier.  We have heard that there is some movement on their side and they have asked for a meeting on November 30th which I will be attending.  We have decided that we should start putting together our bargaining team and I will be sending out more information some time next week. 

There have been many meeting with members that have grievances and issues, as well as with members that are being affected by the UHS changes.  Please feel free to call me should there be issues in your office.

I would also like to ask those of you that have 03's/temporary workers in your departments to send me their names and the work that they are doing.  I would like to demand that the University give those jobs to our members that are being displaced at UHS. Any help you can give me will be much appreciated.

Please check out a new section on our website, a blog where we'll be posting a weekly report from the NEA on the Presidential Candidates. 

As we get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday I wish you and yours a blessed day.  I have lots to be thankful for - my family, friends, and all of you.   Please be safe and enjoy your holiday.  May we also take a moment today to reflect on the anniverary of the assasination of my hero, John F. Kennedy.

In peace and thanksgiving,

Donna Johnson

President USA

413-545-4862

413-427-3867 

     At our membership meeting today MTA Vice President Tim Sullivan spoke to us about the issues we are facing today: funding, pensions, bullying, and the upcoming elections.  He took the time to answer questions from the members and we are thankful that he took time from his busy schedule to stop by. 

     Here are some of the other things we have been working on:

• I attended the regional President's meeting where we heard from other area local Presidents and the issues they are facing.  The K-12 teachers are dealing with teacher evaluations and the new requirements that go into their evaluations, such as the scores of their students' standardized tests. Another area of concern that was prevalent in the meeting was lack of funding and health insurance issues.
• We had a labor management meeting during which we tried to resolve some of the issues we are currently dealing with that have not turned into grievances as of yet.
• This past Friday, a group of local leaders met with David Gray, Mark Prebble, Susan Pearson, and Roy Milbury from the President's Office where we discussed the NAGE-like offer that the Office of Employee Relations (OER) wants the University to offer the bargaining units. The problem is where the funding will come from to pay these cost of living adjustments(COLA'S).  The President's Office is deeply concerned that OER is not agreeing to provide funding and having to fund the COLA's from the current budget will cause financial voids for the University.  It was agreed that both sides, the unions and the President, will talk to the Governor and see if we can't get him to make a commitment to fund the additional two years of COLA's.
• This Wednesday, I am going with the other University Presidents to President Caret's office for a meeting (and we will be allowed to go to the 33rd floor), where we hope to get some further information about the contract issues.  It is also my plan to give President Caret a lesson on classism.
• I met with several USA members this week who are facing some sort of discipline. While our supervisors have the right to discipline, they do not have the right to be punitive beyond the language in our contracts.  If your supervisor hands out any discipline, please check with us first to make sure it is within the contract language.

      I hope you all have a great week and I will be back next week with another update.

In solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President USA

413-427-3867

       At lunchtime today, over 200 union members from all the unions were represented at the membership meeting (proud to say the majority were USA) and here is a review of that meeting for those who could not attend:

• We have two issues here- one is that other state workers received a contract extension and two-we feel we have met the contractual triggers stating that if the state revenues meet or exceed 19.95 billion dollars in FY11 we will receive some back one time pay. The Department of Revenue states we had 20.50 billion in FY 11 and the Legislature just put 300 million in the rainy day fund.
• We prefer the contract extension offer as this would add the monies to our base salaries as opposed to the triggers which would give us one time retro pay not on our base.
• UMass staff and faculty have the right to consider a contract offer that over 30,000 other state workers were offered and approved early this year.  The offer would extend our contract through 2014, giving us 3% increases in each of the next three years.
• UMass is responding to the revenue triggers by saying that the language in the contract states that revenue increases shall not include revenues from additional taxes that are implemented as part of the effort to balance the budget.  They feel that the increase in the income tax that happened in 2009 is part of this, even though we signed the contract in 2010. We feel logically this would mean anything that was implemented after the date we signed.
• No other state union has had the burden of proof of the origin of the state revenues.
• Governor Deval Patrick has directed UMass and the state and community colleges to present this offer to the unions (and has said that they will not fund it).
• The UMass President refuses to comply.  Not only do they refuse to comply but after a letter was sent asking for a meeting with all unions, we were told that he would only meet with the faculty.  We responded that we were all showing up. We did and the staff was denied access by the building security.  Representatives from PSU, USA, CSU, and the VP of MTA, Tim Sullivan, were forced to remain in the lobby.  A representative from the President's Office, Mark Preble, came down and spoke to us briefly and said the President misunderstood who the meeting was supposed to be with.  Believe me, there was NO misunderstanding.  The faculty that went to the meeting let the President know that his elitist ways would not work here at UMass.  He has offered to meet with all of us on October 27th. 
• Mark Preble and David Gray from the President's Office have agreed to meet with us on October 21, 2011 to discuss the new contract proposal, but were quick to add that they did not wish to put this on the table because the Governor is not of the mind to fund this.  So we have some work to do and the following resolution was made and passed unanimously at the all-union meeting:

              UMass Labor demands that the UMass President's office and the UMass Board of Trustees extend to UMass workers a contract offer comparable to that provided other Ma state employees. 

     The next Resolution made and passed unanimously was:

UMass Labor will engage in actions required to achieve Resolution 1.

We then talked a bit about how this could be accomplished and the first thing we did was to distribute pen and paper to everyone at the meeting and asked everyone to write a letter to President Caret using these talking points:

• we expect to be offered what other unions have been offered.
• we expect to be treated fairly.
• we always make sure our contract is enforced and we would rather work than fight, but we will fight if we have to.

So now I ask those of you that were not at the meeting to write your own letter and send a copy of that letter to me at the USA office.  You can mail your original letter to:

           President Robert Caret

           225 Franklin Street 33rd Floor

           Boston, Ma.  02110

 In the upcoming days and weeks I will be back to you about additional actions we will be taking- including the following:

• Legal actions/grievances
• meetings with the President and his rep's
• actions at the Chancellor Search Committee meetings
• actions with the Governor
• actions with the Legislature
• getting more membership involved
• doing email campaigns
• having call in days
• media campaigns
• coffee breaks and lunch stand outs

These actions are just to name a few. If you have any good suggestions send them to me and I will pass them along to the coalition but please note that we will expect your participation in making these things happen.  If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me directly at djohnson@english.umass.edu .  I hope to see you at the next action event.  Thanks to all of you that came out today and as I stated in today's meeting, this, my friends, is the fight we have to fight and we have to do it together because United we stand, Divided we fall, all of us.

PHOTO GALLERY

In solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President USA

413-545-4862

     This week found us working on the following:

• We held several meetings with members dealing with workplace issues such as-work schedule, using vacation time, discipline, and answered questions about the American with Disabilities Act and how to register with the Disabilities Services office here on campus.
• At the membership meeting we updated members as to where we stand on the issue of bargaining, why fighting the pension reform is important to labor, and passed out materials on the Revenue Campaign and Social Security Offset/Windfall Elimination.  If you would like any of the materials we handed out please call the office at 5-0165 and we can mail them out to your workplace.
• Amy Bradigan addressed the membership meeting about the upcoming Labor Management Workplace Education courses, if you haven't already checked out their flyer take a moment to do so.
• We held our executive board meeting where we discussed our outstanding grievances, upcoming Union Voice newsletter, health and safety issues, and current labor management issues.
• I met with the Labor Relations Administrator to discuss some of the discipline cases we have ongoing

It was a relatively quiet week compared to some but I used the time to get some filing done and to get ready for what could be a busy week this upcoming week.  Hope you all had a great weekend.

Have a good week,

In solidarity and peace,

Donna Johnson

545-4862

djohnson@english.umass.edu

      This past week kept me hopping and I did some driving:

• I went to the Cranberry Station Extension office in East Wareham, Ma. for a meeting with a member and his supervisors.  We have hopefully found a way for them to communicate better and hopefully this will resolve their issues.
• I attended a meeting with other union brothers and sisters about a bullying survey that we are preparing to send out to members about their workplace climate.  This survey can go a long way in helping us deal with the many issues with bullying surrounding our members.  We are hopeful that this will be completed and out to the campus community before the end of the year-  more to follow
• Our career ladder committee met to discuss some ways we can offer better workshops for our members- we are researching some online classes and hope to have more information soon.
• I also met with our treasurer Pat Hardnett to work on paying the monthly bills and look at our budget.
• I worked with several members and their supervisors this week to try and resolve a myriad of issues.  Lack of communication, high expectations and the expectation that are members will perform work above their title and grade are issues that have become prevalent recently.  If you think your supervisor is asking you to do work outside your title I recommend you familiarize yourself with Article 18 of our contract and should you have any questions please feel free to call me.
• I would like to acknowledge Tyler Rocco-Chaffee, our student working in the office, he is working extra hours and filling in for Jane while she is away and he is doing an awesome job!! Jane returns Ocotber 11th and Tyler will be working the extended hours helping me out till then.
• Along with a couple of other USA members I attended the talk with Amy Dean on Thursday evening and found her to be very interesting.  As was reported she spoke about community values being part of our union culture, but she also spoke about making sure you have your own house in order too. We need to work on making this union even stronger then it is!

REMINDER: MEMBERSHIP MEETING WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 28TH CAMPUS CENTER ROOM INFO TO FOLLOW

I hope everyone had a great weekend and we are ready to tackle this new week.

In peace and solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President, USA

      In addition to an exciting conference call with the Vice President, this week;

•  I met with several members about issues in their workplace... school is back in session.
•  I held hearings on two pending grievances and we are awaiting the outcomes.  One of the grievances was a disability issue; I would like to take this time to remind everyone, if you have a disability of any sort, physical, emotional, or learning, please call us and we can advise you as to what steps you should take to ensure that your ADA rights are not violated.
•  I went to Boston to attend the MTA Benefits Board meeting where I found out about the new and exciting Access Online program they are offering our members. If you haven't checked it out please go to mtabenefits.com and check out all the discount offers that are available to members.
• Saturday I attended an all Presidents meeting in Natick that the MTA called to discuss where things are with the pension amendments and how we are going to try to amend it further now that it is in the House... more info to follow. 
• We also discussed how important our phone calls, emails and post cards are... Even though it passed through the Senate, our participation helped to get some amendments added that will benefit MTA members, especially our colleagues in the faculty union. Some of them chose to go into the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) when they were hired because it sounded like a better deal and when they realized that it was costing them more and the benefits were not as good they could not opt out.  If the Senate's version of this amendment holds in the House and it is signed into law then faculty would have the right to opt out of ORP and go into the state retirement plan.

Another week has passed...we get further into the semester the weather is changing. Before we know it, Fall will be here.  Have a great week and should you have any questions or problems arise in your work area please feel free to call me!

In solidarity,

Donna Johnson

President, USA

413-545-4862