GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Monday, November 15 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Kilcawley Presidential Suites
Lunch will be served

AGENDA:

11:30: Eileen Graef and Dona Madasci will speak on SCT Banner and its impact on APAS members (come prepared with any questions you may have concerning the trasition to this new computer system at YSU)

12:15: NEA Representative to speak on your NEA benefits and how to make the most of them

From the President……

As many of you may know, I will be retiring soon, both as a University employee and as APAS President. This, then, will be my last President’s column.

I’m excited about retirement from the University (I’m planning to sleep away the entire winter!) but find myself rather ambivalent about leaving my APAS colleagues, particularly those with whom I’ve worked so closely over the past years during negotiations and on various committees. Your APAS leaders are some of the hardest working individuals I’ve ever known. I’d like to particularly thank Sally Kenney for answering my endless and annoying questions; Jody Patrick for the time and expertise and humor that he brings to every situation; Mary Ellen Munroe, who puts in untold hours deciphering the financial complexities of the treasurer’s position; the rest of the executive committee who regularly work with me for the good of the union: Frank Akpadock, Crystal Hawthorne, Amy Cossentino, Jamie Hall, Karen Henning, Ray Hoff, Sharon Mika, April Tarantine, Bob Tupaj, and Mary Lou Weingart.. Thanks to all of you—and to LRC Gary Carlile—for your patience with me as I fumbled and stumbled my way along!

Special thanks go as well to the bargaining team that STILL labors to bring to a conclusion the negotiations for the Agreement of 2003-2006: Sally, Jody, Sharon, George Heller and Jean Engle. The team continues to work toward achieving a reasonable framework by which APAS members will be able to achieve within-grade-movement and appropriate financial recompense for that movement.

Thanks also to all of you for the opportunity to serve as APAS President. It’s been both educational and rewarding. I hope that you’ll all attend the general meeting on November 15 so that I can thank you personally! We’ve planned a full agenda—a question/answer period about the SCT Banner and its implications for APAS members, an NEA Members Benefits presentation (particularly useful to new members), and an update on union activities (including within grade movement negotiations). Plan on having lunch with us—sandwiches, salad, cookies, and beverages will be furnished. See you then!

APAS Member Maggie McClendon Receives State Honor

Congratulations are in order for Maggie McClendon, Coordinator in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. She received the Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan Award last month during ceremonies at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. Maggie was only one of 11 people throughout the state (and only one of two from Youngstown) to receive the honor from the Ohio Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs.

Maggie’s nomination was placed by Dr. Sylvia Jimenez Hyre, Associate Dean in the College of Fine and Performing Arts and a member of the Commission. The work that Maggie has done for the University in the area of diversity came to Dr. Hyre’s attention and prompted her to make the nomination.

Employed at YSU since 1998, Maggie has served as a coordinator since that time. Her area of speciality and expertise is in recruitment and working with minority populations and she is often consulted to serve as a bilingual interpreter during students’ visits to campus and in the application process. She writes and produces bilingual radio announcements for YSU in the area of Hispanic and Latino recruitment and serves as an advisor for the YSU Hispanic and Latino organization.

Maggie is quite active in off-campus organizations as well, which include the board of directors of Mahoning Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes and a past board member of OCCHA. You can hear her Sundays on radio station WGFT when she hosts the “Life on Life’s Terms” program that deals with minorities and issues of drug and alcohol abuse. In addition, Maggie was a recipient of the YSU Distinguised Service Award for professional and administrative staff this past May. Her work has added greatly to the efforts of the University in its commitment to diversity and we are proud of her

APAS Web Page

Members are urged to view the APAS Web page located at http://ysuapas.tripod.com/ for current announcements and activities of interest. This address will soon change and will be accessible through OEA, so please watch for that announcement.

Special thanks to Bob Tupaj, University Webmaster, for the great job he continues to do for us by keeping our page current.

We are still attempting to get our Listserv going where we can have discussions on those issues and events, but members have been slow to respond. Please contact Bob at Ext. 3220 to sign on to the Listserv.

Grievance #22 has serious implications, not only for the member directly affected, but for the job security of all APAS members. A member was terminated for just cause based on allegations made by a third party from outside of the university. The member was terminated the same day he was accused and the union sees little proof for the accusations. The grievance was filed May 3, charging that just cause does not exist for this action. It has gone through all proper steps and is now at the arbitration stage. Arbitration hearings have been set for late January.

Grievance #23 has been filed on behalf of a member who requested a position audit, per Article 11.1 in the current Agreement. The University must inform the member of the result of the audit within 90 days of receipt of the request. If unusual circumstances prevent the University from completing the audit within 90 days, they must inform the member in writing of those circumstances. The University neither acted on the request, nor informed the member of any unusual circumstances that would have prevented action. Therefore, a grievance was filed charging that the Univeristy violated the bargaining agreement by not meeting its obligation to timely complete a job audit.

Talks Continue on Within-Grade Salary Adjustments

Your negotiating team continues its work on attempting to hammer out an agreement with the university to develop a framework for within-grade salary adjustments. Article 4.6 in the current Agreement provided for a joint union/university committee to begin the work on this. After several months of work by that committee, the university rejected it outright and has brought their own suggestion to the table. The negotiating teams of both sides have met once since their counter offer and have failed to agree. Currently the APAS team is attempting to develop another offer to present at the next bargaining session, which has yet to be set. There will be more discussion of this issue at the membership meeting on November 15.

APAS Memorial Garden

At the corner of the eastbound freeway access road and Elm Street, you will find one of the latest APAS projects in full bloom. Thanks to the suggestion and efforts of Jean Engle, a garden is in place there that serves as a memorial to two of our founding members and will continue to beautify the area for a long time to come. The Executive Committee agreed to fund the purchase of two ginko trees to honor Herb Moore and Genevra Mann. Herb and Genevra were instrumental in getting our union off the ground and served in leadership roles for the duration of their time here at YSU. Jean originally made the suggestion of planting trees in their name and has volunteered to maintain upkeep of the garden as long as she is employed here. The YSU Grounds Department donated some evergreens and also supplied the mulch and water.
Several of our members put in a work day to get the trees planted. Thanks to everyone who has played a part in this, and especially to Jean for her enduring dedication to this project.

Youngstown State University - Association of Professional/Administrative Staff

President…………………………………..Sherri Zander Vice President…………………………….Sally Kenney Secretary…………………………………..Sharon Mika Treasurer………………………………....Mary Ellen Munroe Chief Grievance Officer…………………Jody Patrick Executive Committee……………………Frank Akpadok Amy Cossentino Jamie Hall Crystal Hawthorne Karen Henning Ray Hoff April Tarantine Bob Tupaj Mary Lou Weingart OEA Labor Relations Consultant……...Gary Carlile