CGE Executive Council Meeting Minutes – February 3, 2015
In attendance: Thomas Morrill, Alisha Jones, Gloria Ambrowiak, Shannon Andrews, Béatrice Moissinac, Kris Osterloh (late!); guest members Kevin Weitemier and Stephany Chacon; Ashley Bromley, Angela McClendon, Julia Trist (political action organizer from AFT-OR)
Meeting called to order at 6:06 PM
Minutes from 1-27-2015 Meeting – Approved
Online Payment – Approved paying January federal payroll tax online.
Email Decisions – (1) Agreed to lend the popcorn maker to a Crop & Soil student group. (2) Approved the all-member email about the GMM.
Fair Share Complaint Update – Ashley emailed with Julie from TLG; she responded with some info and Ashley drafted a response for the EC to work on/approve to send to the complainant. The EC talked about it and Shannon/Ashley will finalize it to send tomorrow.
AFT-OR Lobbying for Grad Representation on University Boards – Julia and GTFF are organizing a trip to Salem on February 11th to talk with legislators on the education committees about getting grad seats on the university boards. Sean, Clint, and Ashley met with Julia before this meeting; Sean is definitely interested in working on this. Alisha, Kevin, and Kris all think they can go; Ashley will also talk to reps
AFT-OR Higher Ed Lobbying Day – This is a trip to Salem on February 12th to lobby for more state funding to higher ed. CGE is going to prioritize the trip on the 11th.
GMM Debrief – Agenda: The formatting of break-out sessions went well (early, having a “leader” at each table, and having a list of things ready to talk about). Ashley will summarize the table notes for the Convention Committee. A couple of agenda items got a little off track, but it didn’t really detract from the conversation and that’s just what happens when a lot of people speak. Our guest speakers probably should have been held a little closer to their allotted times. Food: Gloria strongly urges future food planners to buy cooked rice from a restaurant instead of trying (and sometimes failing) to cook large quantities. The amount of curry we had (9 crockpots) was just about perfect! Election: Promoting the early nomination period and having pre-printed ballots (with a few lines for nominations-from-the-floor) really helped. The election committee counted ballots yesterday evening and Ashley is contacting everyone.
Safety Committee – Stephany heard back from EH&S that when CGE had a conversation with Dave Blake about the cadaver lab safety, it resulted in managers yelling at employees about the safety committee failing. They would have liked us to let them work on it, but we felt like they weren’t doing anything about it; there was a lack of clear communication between the parties. In the future, EH&S would really like CGE to encourage grad employees who come to us to *report* their issues so that info can be communicated through the official channels and statistics be gathered to improve policies. They also asked Stephany to ask CGE to ask grads from other schools about their lab safety protocols and trainings. (Ashley will ask that this be added to the agenda for an upcoming AGEL call.)
Percaps Amendment – Kevin has shared with us his drafted amendment to update the ceilings of the salary tiers for AFT-OR percaps. The EC approves submitting this amendment proposal.
Another Amendment Proposal – Belinda Reagan (pres Local 111, classified staff at Portland Public Schools) and Frank Goulard (pres Local 2277, faculty & academic professionals at Portland CC) are working on a proposal for AFT-OR to help finance the salaries of staff employed by AFT-OR locals. They’ve asked CGE to co-propose it, but we do not endorse it. The EC does not agree to co-propose it. We will talk about the context of this with the CGE delegation before Convention.
Other Convention Stuff – Generally CGE has sent a couple of alternates in addition to the delegates. This year there’s more of a direct cost addition with sending more people, since we’re paying for hotel rooms instead of a big rental house. The EC approves sending 32 people (planning on 8 rooms at 4 per); this would allow for 30 delegates, Ashley, and 1 alternate.
Labor Law Conference Debrief – Thomas, Béatrice, and Alisha attended this last Friday. Very useful! Thomas went to two sessions about arbitration, #1 led by an arbitrator and #2 by a union lawyer. #2 was mostly about the union knowing its rights for getting the information it needs in a grievance/arbitration. #1 was more interesting because, instead of focusing on cases and legal precedence, it was about how best to behave in a grievance/arbitration and being able to track what the employer *said* versus what the employer *did* (ie, contract language and paper trails). He also went to an amusing session about “offensive bargaining.” Béatrice went to sessions about workplace discrimination, union access to the workplace, civil disobedience, and training stewards. A lot of it was related to private sector unions, so she didn’t feel it was super relevant to us. She especially enjoyed the session on civil disobedience (and would like to work with Rodolfo to get more info about this as it relates to international grads). Alisha attended the 3rd arbitration session that Thomas didn’t attend. She also went to sessions about recent legislation and where future legislation is heading, and about how to teach stewards/members about labor law and the way the union works.
AFT-HE/AGEL Registration – Registration is due next Wednesday, the 11th. AFT-OR is sending Kevin, who agrees to share his room (thanks Kevin!). AFT Nat’l will pay for registration and airfare for two of our members. We had applications from three. The EC agrees to send two members, Chris and Kris. The budget approved in June does not have any funds remaining in this line; the EC now approves increasing the Member Leadership Training line by the additional amount it would take to send them (mileage & meals): this is about $220. It’s possible Kevin will be reimbursed by AFT-OR for mileage and he’s willing to drive Chris and Kris, so the amount we spend may be more like $100. Ashley is going to consider whether she wants to use her professional development funds for this.
Social Hour – This Thursday! Béatrice and Gloria will anchor.
Trivia Night – This will be next Thursday, the 12th. Gloria will be the host again. CGE will provide popcorn and GMM-leftover hard cider. Gloria will begin advertising (fbook, social list).
Teach-In – Ashley went to a meeting today with AAUP, SEIU, ASAP, and a couple other campus groups, about putting together a teach-in to advocate for a more socially just university on Wednesday the 25th; . Their next planning meeting will be the 10th at noon; Alisha and Ashley will attend this. As Ashley brings up with all these events, the best way to organize turnout is to feed people. The event would be at the MU so only OSU-approved caterers. The EC approves creating a new line in the budget (“Social Justice Outreach”) with $400 budgeted; this is intended to be used for the teach-in ($100 approved) and then for the May Day Solidarity Fair (which last year was paid for from Social Discretionary).
Staples Letter – Kris drafted this, the EC approves it, he’ll send it.
Circulation of EC Minutes to SC – Kris is pretty excited about working on this.
Order Checks – The EC approves Angela ordering more checks. Information to Another Union’s Lawyer – Ashley got an email from another union’s lawyer who is working on a wrongful termination grievance, requesting information about a grad employee (specifically, their first name is known but not their last name or email address). The EC would like Ashley to get a little more information from the lawyer, and then ask the grad employee for permission to share their
Ed Ray Meeting – Kris, Thomas, Shannon, and Drew will be attending this, Thursday the 5th at 11 AM. We’ll talk about progress on changing Oct 1 start dates to Sep 16; communication about updated appointment letters; parking permit payroll deductions; child care funding sources; and COLAs and
Meeting ended at 8:37 PM