IFO Board of Directors Minutes
April 21-22, 2005 SUBJECT TO APPROVAL
Arden Hills
Present: Wayne Alexander, Cindy Phillips, Wade Swenson, Rose Weaver, Dave Larkin, David Bratt, Mary Kesler, Cathy Summa, Richard Gendreau, Becky Omdahl, Ruth Zietlow, Barbara Keating, Steve Bohnenblust, Sonja Meiers, Judy Kilborn, Fred Hill, Nancy Black, George Seldat, Gerald Toland, Roger Severns (substituting for Gwen Griffin – Friday only), Theresia Fisher (Friday only)
Also Present: Rod Henry (IFO Lead Negotiator), Pat Arseneault, Cindy Webber, Dave Bouchard (IFO Budget Chair)
Not Present: Gwen Griffin, Annette Schoenberger, Carol Milowski
Call to order 6:40 p.m.
Additional Agenda Items:
Wayne Alexander requested that PELRA/Fair Share be added to the agenda.
Negotiations Update:
Rod Henry, IFO lead negotiator, was present to update the Board on the status of negotiations. Rod thanked the Board for all of their action efforts.
IFO/MnSCU Workload Taskforce Report:
Ruth Zietlow, IFO chair of the Workload Taskforce, gave a formal report to the IFO Board of Directors on the work and findings of the Joint IFO/MnSCU Workload Costing Taskforce. An in-depth report was distributed to the Board and was briefly reviewed section by section. The IFO and MnSCU did not reach consensus on many things. A separate IFO-only report was also distributed and reviewed. Please let Ruth or Rod Henry (who also attends the meetings) know if you have questions.
March 24-25 Board
Minutes:
The March 24-25 Board Minutes were approved. Carried
Electronic Votes:
There were four electronic votes recommended for Board passage by the Executive Committee that took place between this Board meeting and the last meeting. Those motions were read out as follows:
By an electronic vote of 16 yes and 1 no, this motion carries.
By an electronic vote of 17 yes and 0 no, this motion carries.
3. This proposed LOU (attached) expands eligibility for insurance coverage to fixed term faculty members having a multi-year appointment who commence employment at a time other than the beginning of the academic year. Under the current Agreement only faculty having a probationary appointment are immediately eligible for insurance coverage if hired mid-academic year. This LOU extents this benefit to fixed-term faculty with multi-year appointments.
By an electronic vote
of 17 yes and 0 no, this motion carries.
By an electronic vote of 18 yes and 1 no, this motion carries.
Interim Director of
Labor Relations:
President Black passed out a Memorandum of Agreement authorizing a salary
increase of $770 per month for April, May and June in recognition of Patrice
Arseneault’s interim duties while Frank Conroy is on leave. A motion was
made to approve the MOA as presented.
A motion was made to enter into Executive Session with no second - motion failed. There was a discussion on the relevance of paying Ms. Arseneault a higher rate in recognition of her extra duties as Interim Director of Labor Relations. Just like faculty would not take on extra work without being paid for extra duty days. A motion was made to call the question. Carried
The original motion to approve the MOA carried with one opposed.
Proposed Contract with Connie Howard:
President Black brought forward a proposal to contract for a total of 80 hours of legal services with Connie Howard for the months of April, May and June 2005 at the rate of $100 per hour, instead of the $160 rate usually charged. This would be approximately 8 hours a week for 10 weeks for $8,000. Ms. Howard’s law firm will provide this rate only for the entire 80 hours. These 80 hours would provide the Interim Director of Labor Relations with assistance to coordinate work on grievances, arbitrations and other representation matters; research legal matters; and, assist in the development of a revised grievance manual and the development of a training workshop. A motion was made to authorize the proposed contract to retain 80 hours of legal services with Connie Howard. Carried
A Board member asked what role Ed Laine will play in providing legal services. A bill was recently received for counsel provided to Wil Harri and Frank Conroy on threatened litigation by a grievant. There has also been contact with Ed Laine regarding PELRA/Fair Share by Frank Conroy. The contacting of legal firms by staff without authorization by the IFO President was raised.
Salary Competitiveness Taskforce Report:
Russ Stanton presented a report created by the Joint IFO/MnSCU Salary Competitiveness Taskforce. Nationally there is a great variation by discipline in faculty pay. The Taskforce found that at all ranks, the average salaries for IFO faculty were below national average salaries at AAUP Category IIA (Masters) institutions. The Taskforce recommended to bring average IFO salaries above the national average salaries in this round of bargaining; above the 70th percentile nationally within four years; and to maintain salaries at the 75th to 80th percentile nationally in the long term. This report is going to the MnSCU Board of Trustees. A motion was made to endorse the report. Carried
The Need for Retiree Health Care:
Russ Stanton prepared a report on post retirement health care titled “Brace Yourself.” Russ reviewed the costs associated with health care for retired faculty. In summary, the amount needed for one person at age 65 is $145,293 and double that for two people. One option presented is the Early Separation Incentive would be put into the post retirement health care savings plan. The attractive part of this option is the large tax break that would result from putting the ESI money into a tax-free account. Russ presented a motion for the Board’s consideration: Seek to negotiate contributing the early separation incentive to the postretirement tax-free health care savings plan. A motion was made to endorse the proposal.
If the motion passed, it would automatically affect all faculty who are eligible to receive the ESI. All the ESI money would be deposited into the post retirement health care savings account. Because this decision will affect the faculty member’s ability to decide what they personally would like to do with their ESI, the Board felt it should be addressed by the Delegate Assembly.
A motion was made to postpone this vote until the Delegate Assembly. Carried 9 to 6
Government Relations Report:
Russ Stanton gave an update on the activities taking place at the legislature. The Board thanked Russ for all of his hard work at the capital.
IFO Budget Committee Report:
Dave Bouchard, chair of the Budget Committee, was present to give the IFO Budget Committee report. We need to look at new funding formulas in Minnesota. The current funding formula does not work. At the April 14 Budget Committee meeting a motion was made to recommend that the IFO take the following position on higher education funding reform: “The IFO supports the creation of a Minnesota Higher Education Opportunity Grant Program. The grant would be an equal dollar amount for every Minnesota citizen. If this program were in existence this biennium, the grant should be, at a minimum, $5500 per FYE student per year. The present bonding method should be used to finance plant and facilities.
It is further recommended that at least 10% of the annual appropriations for higher education (around $127,000,000) be set aside to assist small institutions that lack economies of scale to support transition.”
A motion was made to divide the motion into two separate paragraphs. Carried 6 opposed 8 in favor
For the first paragraph, a motion was made to postpone until the next Board meeting. Carried w/out opposition
Please bring this back to your campuses for discussion. We may need to have a special Board meeting in June.
For the second paragraph, a motion was made to postpone until the next Board meeting. Carried w/o opposition
Dave Bouchard has additional information to forward Board members on this matter.
Equity Advocate Report:
Pat Arseneault gave a report. The Feminist Issues Committee met on April 1 and reviewed the 04-06 grant application process. Based on the committee’s assessment of the success of the 04-06 grant, the committee resolved to again request the opportunity to offer the 2-year $3,000 Feminist Issues Grant in the spring of 06. The FIC requests to roll over $3,000 of the funds remaining in its FY05 budget to FY06, for the purpose of offering the grant. A recommendation will be brought to the Board in March 06. A motion was made to allow the FIC to rollover $3,000 from FY05 to FY06 budget for the purpose of offering this grant. Carried with one opposed
The GLBTA Issues Committee held its last meeting on April 15 at the St. Cloud campus. The committee continued discussion of its goal to achieve awareness of GLBT issues on all campuses, including the establishment of an Advocate or Director of GLBT services, a safe space and/or GLBT Center. The GLBTA also continued to review options for achieving domestic partner benefits, including supporting legislation that would compel the state to provide domestic partner benefits to all state employees. The Committee determined that a first step needs to include advocacy for a Director on the Bemidji, Moorhead and Southwest campuses. The committee intends to hold its fall 05 meeting on the Moorhead campus, to gain awareness of the committee’s goals at Moorhead. The GLBTA requests to roll over all of its remaining funds for FY05 to FY06 budget, in order to allow them to hold their first meeting on the Moorhead campus and host their own lobby days. A motion was made to approve the GLBTA request. Carried
The Benefits Equity Taskforce met on April 5 and continued their discussion of developing a plan to achieve equitable benefits. The taskforce determined that it will need to research several issues involved with benefits before it can complete its recommendations. Therefore, the BET will schedule its next meeting in September 2005, and intends to provide an interim Report to the Board at its October (or December) 2005 meeting. The BET plans to provide its final report to the IFO Board and Delegate Assembly in March 2006.
The grievance report was given by Pat Arseneault, the Interim Director of Labor Relations. Pat reviewed all of the unresolved grievances in detail.
Article 22 – Professional Development and Evaluation:
Judy Kilborn presented a draft of suggested changes to Article 22 that would clarify the process and specifically address what exactly is meant by the term “evaluation”. Discussion reflected that 6 of the 7 state universities did not believe that the process was unclear on their local campuses. There was agreement that the entire article could be made clearer, but that the Board would not make any decisions on this very important article on the evening before negotiations began.
Recess 10:00 p.m.
Reconvene 8:34 a.m.
Treasurer’s Report:
Richard Gendreau gave a treasurer’s report on the March and April financials.
Dues Recommendation:
The Executive Committee at their April 8 meeting, made a motion to recommend the Board pass no dues increase for the next year as they feel we can have a balanced budget without an increase. A motion was made to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation. Carried unanimously
Executive Session:
A motion was made to go into executive session to hear a Step 2 IFOSA grievance appeal. Carried 9:00 a.m.
Moved out of Executive Session at 11:15 a.m.
Treasurer’s Report (cont.):
A motion was made to appoint Anderson, Forse & Co., Ltd. To perform the annual audits for fiscal year 2005 for the IFO and the IFO Building Corporation at a proposed fee of $4,500 and $900 respectively. Carried w/out opposition
A motion was made to authorize the payment of $2,500 on July 1, 2005 to each Faculty Association President who is available to fulfill FA and IFO duties in the summer of 2005. Carried
Compare Costs of Board Meetings:
Wil Harri was present to review the costs associated with the Bloomington Sheraton and the Holiday Inn North. It is difficult to accurately compare the total costs associated but the cost difference between lodging is over $40 per person per night. For 2006-07, we may want to consider moving our meetings up to St. Cloud. At a minimum, we’re looking at spending $1,000 less per meeting in St. Cloud. The difficulty of having IFO staff attend Board meetings outside the Twin Cities was mentioned.
Executive Session:
A motion was made to move into Executive Session at 11:35 a.m. Carried
The Board moved out of Executive Session at 12:00.
Board of Trustees Update:
President Black gave a brief report on the Board of Trustees. Governor Pawlenty was a special guest at the last BOT meeting. He wants to eliminate overlap between all the systems (i.e. U of M, MnSCU and high schools). He supports Rochester as a four-year institution and the closing of the General College. The Governor feels that the last two years of high school are a waste as students are not properly engaged. He is in favor of the Centers of Excellence and high school teachers teaching college courses.
President Black told the BOT the IFO will not sign another contract that takes money away from faculty. Our two taskforce reports will verify what we are saying (Costing Workload and Salary Competitiveness). If you know of someone who makes $50K or less and has dependent coverage, we want a “before and after” net pay stub from two years ago and today. The BOT needs this information. We need to educate the BOT of the differences between the 2-year institutions and the 4-year institutions.
Academic Affairs Report:
Debra Japp gave an AAC report. Debra addressed Senate File No. 1988 and the AAC prepared a position paper opposing on Free Speech for Faculty and Student Bill of Rights. This bill is redundant and unnecessary. We need more faculty and students who are willing to testify. Are other legislators on board with this SF 1988? We don’t know; we’ll have to talk to Russ. A motion was made to use this position paper as a position statement for use in legislative discussion. Meiers/Bohnenblust Carried We’ll send this information out electronically. We need to read this over carefully before we post it up on our IFO website.
Informational Items:
In your packet you will find Executive Committee minutes from April 7-8, statewide meet and confer notes from April 8. The next statewide meet and confer is set for May 6. The issue of 224 duty days seems to have been settled – thank you to Steve Bohnenblust and Annette Schoenberger.
MnSCU Retention and Recruitment Figures:
Barbara Keating requested this item be on the agenda. Does MnSCU have data on failed searches? I recommend we ask for this data annually at a statewide meet and confer. We’ll request this information at our next statewide meet and confer.
1.B.1 and Other Investigations:
There is dissatisfaction with the 1.B.1/1.B.1.1 process and procedure; this issue was brought to the statewide meet and confer on February 18, 2005. At the April 8, 2005 statewide meet and confer MnSCU agreed to review the policy and will be having three meetings over the summer. They have agreed to pay travel expenses. Pat Arseneault will attend the meetings and MnSCU requested the appointment of one faculty member. The faculty member will receive three duty days of pay from MnSCU. A motion was made to appoint Steve Bohnenblust to attend these three 1.B.1 meetings. Carried
Grievance Training:
The Executive Committee recommends that the Board adopt a resolution directing the Executive Committee to schedule, plan and supervise a statewide grievance training workshop to be held in the fall of 2005 with campus Faculty Associations to share in the cost of attendance of members from their own campus. A motion was made to accept the Executive Committee’s recommendation. Carried
We have talked about the issue of having a mature contract. At this point, Ed Laine has advised the organization that the real need is for grievance training on the local campuses. With Frank on leave and Pat being assigned additional responsibilities it makes sense to put primary planning responsibility with someone else to get this pulled together. The EC has the advantage of having a good perspective on campus level training needs and the financial ability of campuses to participate in the cost. We like to set dates as soon as possible. This is just a first step.
HRA Update:
As we know, there will be a $31 yearly fee assessed to administer the HRA accounts. The Executive Committee/Board has instructed the Negotiating Team to negotiate the elimination of these fees. We have signed the agreement accepting the fees. With the current Flexible Spending Account a yearly fee of $27 is assessed per faculty member. MnSCU has been paying that fee all along. It would seem like the right thing to do if MnSCU continued paying the administration fees. We haven’t seen the final details of the plan. We want a justification for the entire plan. Nancy Black will follow-up on this matter.
Adjourn
Carried 2:15 p.m.