In attendance: Shannon Andrews, Drew Hatlen, Alisha Jones, Béatrice Moissinac, Thomas Morrill, Gloria Ambrowiak, Kris Osterloh; guest member Chris Mihiar; Ashley Bromley, Angela McClendon
Meeting called to order at 9:35 AM
Minutes from 7-29-2014 Meeting – Approved
Email Decisions – (1) Edited and approved bargaining action materials. (2) Confirmed EC lunch with Brenda McComb on August 21. (3) Approved online payroll tax payment. (4) Approved Grad Connect blurbs. (5) Approved giving office keys to Yonna.
NWLF Recap (with Chris) – Chris attended the forum July 31 – August 3. He says it was really well done. The long course he took was about worksite leader training (ie, steward training). On the first day the class spent a lot of time going over members’ CBAs. A key thing they talked about was the union’s rights to bargain if the university or a department changes a policy outside of bargaining. They also talked a lot about grievance procedures, especially related to bargaining unit status. Overall, Chris found the forum very informative and suggests CGE try targeted recruitment next year based on the course topics.
Bargaining Action Recap – Yesterday a bunch of members spent time in front of Kerr in support of getting COLAs in bargaining. There was pretty good turnout! Many cans of cola – with COLA info flyers attached – were handed out to all the people walking past. A can of cola and a letter were also delivered to Provost Randhawa’s office.
CGEU Recap – Drew attended the conference July 31 – August 3. He had some hassles getting to Montreal (flights changed and luggage delayed) but it turned out alright. The conference was mostly a great variety of panel discussions, which Drew thought was not the best way to organize it. He attended a panel about labor history in Quebec that was very informative. He also attended a panel about media relations and got a lot of material he can share with us. The delegates passed CGEU’s first constitution! It was decided that next year’s conference will be hosted by UMass Amherst. Drew thinks the most gratifying thing about the conference was hearing how well things are going for CGE, relative to the other grad unions.
Auditor Update – Drew met with folks from GTFF and AFT-OR to talk about the auditor-change situation. He learned from AFT-OR that Lauka is probably more thorough but also significantly more expensive. He learned from GTFF that they did not actually change from Byers to Lauka. The EC now decides that we’re going to use Byers. Drew will contact his office to try to set up a meeting soon.
OSU HR Hiring Update – Last week the committee brought in the only remaining candidate for an additional interview, and unfortunately they’re not very excited about him. They’re going to check in with his references and decide whether to recommend him for hire. Dave Blake and Donna Chastain have the authority to decide, though. Thomas expects that they will choose to promote Viki Dimick to the position (for one year) on the condition that she bring her credentials up to the listed job requirements.
AFT-OR Higher Ed Political Action – Things are happening on August 20 in Portland. There’s a political action meeting at 4:30 and then an interview with Governor Kitzhaber at 6. Shannon, Drew, and Kris are all interested in going, so Ashley will RSVP them.
Asbestos Floor Tiles – We received an email from a former member (who wishes to remain anonymous) about the presence of asbestos-containing tiles in offices and labs at OSU. Kris will compile some information about identifying possible asbestos contamination and draft an all-member email about it. We’ll plan to email all grad assistants once we get a full list in fall term.
Grad School Orientation – The Grad School is hosting their annual orientation, which this year will be a morning welcome address followed by various concurrent workshops. We were invited to have a CGE- specific breakout session from 11:40 – 12:15. We’ll do it! We agreed to focus on “know your contract” stuff (instead of straight-up recruiting).
Office Space & Signage Update – First of all, sharing a space with AFT in The Gem is not going to work. Second, Westminster House is about to go into a fundraising campaign toward doing repairs and updates, especially in the big room. Specifically, Tim’s thinking about new windows and making the ramp and doors more accessible. [We go on a field trip to look at outside signage spaces and the extra office space on the main floor.] Third: We need to decide how much we’re willing to pay in rent in order to have the second space. Ashley will ask Tim to confirm we can add the room and see what price he offers. Fourth: For an outdoor sign, we’ll look into a weatherproof A-frame, maybe one that’s a case where we can change the content occasionally. Fifth: We’re going to start publicizing “always in” office hours of 10 – 12, starting after Angela and Ashley get back from their trips.
Adopt-A-Road Project – Ashley has been investigating how to get CGE an adoptee road. It would be free, we’d get our name on a sign, and we’d have to clean at least 3-4 times a year. The EC trusts Ashley to choose an awesome road for us.
Tuition Waiver Issues – There’s an issue arising in several areas on campus of changes to tuition waivers. The issue is two-fold. The first is that they’re buckling down on flexibility of tuition waivers so that departments/colleges are feeling like they can make fewer appointments, and that’s making people nervous about funding, especially term-to-term TAs and such that tend to get squeezed in. The second is that there’s no provision for tuition waivers to non-degree granting programs now, so those positions become basically twice as expensive or non-existent. It’s a mess. Shannon will draft an email to ask for a meeting with Dave Blake and Glenn Ford.
Swag – Ashley has investigated lots of options for beanies, water bottles, pens, and bottle openers. We’re going to do a re-order of the current beaver-tail t-shirt at Element Graphics. We’ll get some bottle openers and pens that Ashley found. We’re going to skip water bottles this time. Kris wants larger size beanies, but Ashley doesn’t think we can get those, so we’ll get “standard” beanies. We’ll also look into getting can koozies.
Other Promo Stuff – Ashley learned about a tablecloth that hangs over the front of a table, like a banner. We could get a fabric one from Element Graphics for about $150. There’s also an idea of a tall roll-up sign or a flag, but we don’t have a solid vision for these yet. We’ll think about them more later.
Other Spending Stuff – Ashley thinks it would be super helpful to have a big cooler (especially for traveling to Convention and the Strategic Retreat), and several Rubbermaid-type totes for packing supplies around. The EC approves of this.
Next Meeting – Thursday, August 21, at 9:30 AM (before the lunch with Brenda).
Meeting adjourned at 12:05 PM