Minutes

Minutes from previous general membership meeting on 3/7/07 approved.

Guest Speaker: Craig Bickley, Human Resource Director

• Craig Bickley, the new HR Director, was introduced and spoke to members on current agenda and issues. He has begun meeting with faculty and ACE to decide a framework to be used for negotiations. He plans to open up the channels of communication more in terms of sharing information. The negotiating team for faculty has been established as well as a Negotiations Management Team. This management team consists of Eugene Grilli, Holly Jacobs, Neal McNally, Cynthia Anderson, Ikram Khawaja, and Craig Bickley. The purpose of the management team is to oversea both sides of the negotiation process.

• A healthcare task force will meet every Thursday for the next several weeks to discuss insurance issues. The goal is to have one uniform package for everyone and to move this issue off the table before negotiation of other issues begins. Feb. 1 is the goal to complete negotiations for both unions. Suzanne Miller, APAS VP, asked for volunteers to serve on this healthcare task force. Meetings will take place every Thursday at 3:00 pm in the conference room of the Psychology Dept., Rm. 319 DeBartolo Hall.

• House Bill 187 addresses the issue of civil service rules which are unclear as to whether or not they apply to the university. In general, they don’t apply and do not exceed negotiated language in the contracts. Guidelines are being established through the IEC which will specify exempt/non-exempt for overtime which will also result in a more clear-cut definition of what is classified and what is not. Craig advised members to go the federal website for FLSA exempt (Fair Labor Staff Act) to get more information. Employees may be moved either way to classified or PA staff depending upon the criteria established for determining this classification.

Treasurer's Report

Matt Morrone reported:
Beginning balance $31,302.59
Deposits 5,992.92
Interest 27.82
Withdrawals 26.56
Ending Balance $ 37,296.77

Donations: American Heart Association Heart Walk, Relay for Life, Read Across America, Virginia Tech, Dr. Herbert Scholarship fund.

Grievance Report

• Jody Patrick reported APAS does not generally file a lot of grievances. Since the formation of the union only about 25-26 grievances have been filed. Meet-and-confer is the usual route taken for most disputes. These disputes typically involve something that is not contained in the four corners of the contract. The first step for members who are in dispute is to talk to the building representative. Next, a meeting will be scheduled with the grievance officer and then with all parties involved to try and settle the matter.

• Jody also stated that there is a difference between functional supervision as opposed to signing off on an evaluation or vacation forms of individuals. Those who perform functional supervision are still in the union.

Search Committees

Todd reported a new ruling that states at least one APAS member must be appointed to a search committee involving an APAS position. This ruling has resulted from the Labor Management Council and is designed to ensure our members are fairly represented on these committees involving our own positions. Todd also stated the supervisor for that particular position cannot be chair of the search committee. APAS members should not be chair for another APAS position as well.
Craig Bickley has put together a new policy for search committee procedures. Craig will also offer training for search committee members to help us out professionally. This training is slated to take place either the last week in November or the first week in December.

Healthcare Task Force

• Sue Miller discussed her ideas regarding the healthcare task force. One concern is the expression “creative suggestions” mentioned by Craig Bickley. We need to have a voice in some of these proposals which may include a wellness orientation whereby members could be forced to seek out exercise/wellness activities, etc. She emphasized again the importance of members getting involved and serving on this task force in order to have input in some of these decisions.

• Faculty have proposed the possibility of dropping the amount of percentage members pay for coverage. Currently it costs members 1.5% for family coverage and 0.75% for individual coverage. Faculty are proposing 1% for family and 0.05% for individual coverage.

• The task force is charged with formulating a plan to submit to the university for use in the future for all employees. The administration does not want to continue to bargain this issue. APAS will get whatever other unions get.

Labor Management Council

• Todd reported the council has not met in the last few months. Most of the meetings involved talking about preparation for negotiations. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 18th. Sue Miller will attend in Todd’s place, since he is unable to attend at that time.

• Karen Henning and Matt Morrone serve on the budget subcommittee for the council.

• Dr. Sweet has removed himself from the council at the recommendation of the board. Eugene Grilli, the new financial VP is now serving in his place. The APAS Executive Committee met with Grilli for lunch last month to discuss APAS issues.

First Aid/CPR Training

Todd announced 18 members completed CPR/First Aid training this past summer. This traning was offered through the union

Crystal's Corner

• Crystal announced she is applying for the NEOEA Positive Image Award for the Read-Across-America program. Last year the program was very successful and received an award. There were100 children from the city who participated in the program. This coming year the program will take place in the Chestnut Room in Kilcawley and will be open to 200 children from Mahoning County. The event is scheduled for Saturday, March 1. The Governor will also be attending.

• The annual Heart Walk raised $310 from APAS members. APAS donated $100 to the American Heart Association.

• APAS would like to establish a college scholarship for students. Members are asked to e-mail Todd with suggestions for criteria for this scholarship as well as the amount to be given. A suggestion was made to include international students as possible candidates for this scholarship.

APAS Issues

• Exemption for overtime: Helen Trapp, LRC, reported she has met with the attorneys (Greene, Haines, Sgambatti firm) regarding this issue. The attorney who is the labor specialist has gone through every APAS member’s job description to see who qualifies for overtime. A suit must be filed with an individual’s name on it. Each suit is separate and must be decided upon individually. Helen and the attorney recommend going forward with this despite HB 187.

• Negotiations: Todd announced that we need to get our negotiating team in place before next year. Contact him if interested.

• Bargaining Training: Helen stated NEOEA is offering bargaining training sessions for members. Bargaining sessions consist of both traditional as well as interest-based bargaining. Dates and locations are listed in the NEOEA magazine on the inside back cover.
Members should let Todd know if they are interested.

• 403B Plans: Due to new IRS regulations by January 2009, depending upon the provider you have, they have a choice to either comply with the new statutory regulations or not. If not, the money will become taxable unless they are rolled over to a company that will comply. Helen advised members to pay attention to these changes. Although she cannot recommend a provider, members may still call her for information she does have on this.

• Lobbying for FCPE: Helen asked members to consider donating $1.00 per pay period in order to lobby for the endorsement of educator friendly candidates. Money is needed to help elect these people. Higher education is particular vulnerable. This donation can be set up automatically through payroll. When questioned about why union dues could not be used for this purpose, Helen stated this is not permitted, since money for lobbying must be given voluntarily by members. Union dues are required for all members. Members should see Matt Morrone to fill out the forms for payroll.

• Helen may be reached by calling (330) 726-3250 or e-mail at trapph@ohea.org

• Externally funded Positions: Helen reported HR has a list of all APAS members in the unit as well as those who are out and why. 74 positions are externally funded. There has been a dispute for the past eight months as to what constitutes “externally funded”. Is it 100% or $1.00, etc. Helen is asking HR to define the term in an objective number in order for this to be clear-cut. She has put this in writing, but so far has not yet heard anything for six months. An outside attorney promised a decision within days, but none received. Holly Jacobs is no longer involved with this. There are now 3 arbitrations over this issue and they are not settled yet.

• Change in Dues Structure: Helen doesn’t know this. We need to ask other officials who are more familiar with this issue.

• Civility Hour: Members who have attended have found this to be very productive. It gives members an opportunity to air questions/concerns with top administrators. APAS will host the Civility Hour on Nov. 30th and split the cost with Sodexho.

Meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Joanne Gallagher, APAS Secretary