CGE General Membership Meeting
1-29-2015, 5:30 PM, Corvallis Senior Center

Welcome (Shannon Andrews)

Break-Out Groups: Discuss resolution ideas for AFT-Oregon Convention. Current ideas are:
1. Resolution in support of extending SNAP benefits to graduate students nationally.
2. State-funded research should be accessible to all Oregonians.
3. Resolution in support of two free years of community college in Oregon.
4. Resolution for graduate student state residency.

Report Back on Fall GMM Initiatives (Thomas Morrill): Read your orange sheet throughout the meeting. Time at the end for discussion.

AFT-OR Convention Delegate Nominations & Speeches (Béatrice Moissinac): No nominations were received from the floor. The following nominations were received online. Those in attendance spoke briefly on why they should be elected. In alphabetical order:

Update on GTFF Strike (Kris Osterloh): Our sister union in Eugene went on strike in December after reaching impasse in bargaining. After about two weeks on strike they achieved victory in getting a better contract for grad employees at UO.

Consensus-Based Decisions (Shannon): Review of the consensus model CGE uses (“fist to 5”).

CGE Strike Authorization Procedure (Clint Mattox & André Habet): The GTFF strike gave us a good opportunity to look at our own policies and see where we could do work now to prepare in case we ever had to resort to a strike. The membership approves the CGE Strike Committee working to prepare a strike handbook with information from other locals and lessons learned from the GTFF strike. We’re also taking a closer look at CGE’s constitution & bylaws regarding our own procedure for calling a strike. Currently, we have no quorum requirement for a strike authorization vote. The membership approves the CGE Strike Committee moving forward to draft a C&B amendment requiring a quorum. This will be proposed for the Spring GMM. Please contact the Strike Committee with any feedback.

Budget Update (Drew Hatlen): At about the midpoint of the fiscal year, we’re around 44% of projected revenue and 42% of projected expenses. Very slightly over budget on annual bulk-mailing permit (up $20) and workers’ comp insurance (up $265) due to rate increases. We’ve used all our budget for Member Leadership Training (because we sent more people than ever to AFT-OR Winter School and we’re sending 2 officers to the Oregon Labor Law Conference); the EC will need to specifically approve any additional expenses in this category. The budget for AFT-OR Convention is a separate category. With currently projected revenue and expenses, we could add about $6,000 to the reserves this year.

Dues Committee (Shannon & Amir Azarbakht): Background: after bringing RAs into the Bargaining Unit, we’ve experienced some growth in revenue (and some growth in expenses). We had a dues committee in Fall 2013 who looked into the budget and recommended lowering dues a bit. The vote on that proposal at the Winter 2014 GMM was very close, but the membership voted to keep dues at 2% and give CGE room to do more (either more benefits/functions for members, or reserves for crisis) as well as office/building improvements. The question of reducing dues has come up from a few members again. At this time, we aren’t ready to discuss the specific merits of lowering dues, but we want to put together a committee to dig into the budget and make a recommendation. Call for volunteers for dues committee: Amir, Terese Jones, Daniel Farber, Chris [Lastname], Clint Mattox, Dwight Holland.

Comments on Fall GMM Initiatives (Gloria): One was to expand child care subsidy amounts and sources. Terese comments that we’re making progress on this with the Student-Parent Advisory Board.

Report Back from Break-Out Groups (Kris): None of the resolution ideas received negative, “don’t go forward” feedback. The strongest support was for #1 (SNAP benefits) and #4 (grad student residency). Additional ideas that came up:

· Paid medical and parental leave
· Percaps reform
· International students: green cards; vacation term (don’t have to be enrolled, eg for field work)
· Increased child care subsidies for non-traditional student parents
· AFT-Oregon join the Divest movement

Community Comments:

OSU Divest (Luciana Leite): Movement on campus among undergrads/grads/faculty to get OSU’s investment dollars out of fossil fuels and other funds that are negative toward social and environmental justice. Part of a national movement with over 200 universities. Global Divestment Day is February 13th and there will be an action on the MU Quad. More info at divestosu.org.

Health Care for All (Ron Green from Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates): There will be a rally on the Capitol steps in Salem on February 11th. Buses from Corvallis and back. More info at mvhca.org.

Open Floor:

· Zhian Kamvar hosts Inspiration Dissemination on KBVR Sundays at 7 PM. Looking for more grads to talk about their research!

· Sam Christensen from campus group ASAP (“Allied Students for Another Politics”): Looking for joint work & advocacy. Planning a student debt assembly in Week 9.

Singing of “Solidarity Forever” to Adjourn