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Notes on Labor/Management MeetingsMay 11, 2006 Present: Jim Dix, Fran Goldman, Dennis Selzner, Joe Schultz, Darryl Wood, Shelia Doyle, Beth Kilmarx, JoAnn Navarro • Recognition of Fran Goldman . UUP recognized Fran Goldman as the recipient of a 2006 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service. • Part-time leave accrual . UUP will email to Management comments on the latest draft of the statement on part-time leave accrual. • Employee organizational leave process . UUP distributed a draft of a memo that will go out to members requesting that they copy Human Resources when requesting employee organizational leave (to attend, for example, UUP Delegate Assemblies). By notifying Human Resources, UUP will be in compliance with Article 11 of the contract. In addition, notification will protect UUP members from having leave charged to vacation time while they are away from campus, as well as providing documentation should supervisors be reluctant to give UUP members time off. • Agenda items . Management requested a dichotomization of agenda items into two groups: one group containing new issues, and one group containing issues that are pending information. According to Management, incorporation of both groups of items into a single agenda makes it appear that issues are not resolved and are recurring. This may give an incorrect perception of the effectiveness of L/M meetings. • UUP internal promotion rate. Management distributed data regarding how many jobs have been filled by applicants that are UUP Binghamton members:
• Timeline for PCB removal . Management had no general update on the timeline for removal of PCB-laden light ballasts on campus. A contract has been drawn up for removal of ballasts in the library, but the contract is stuck in Albany . When the contract is approved (expected sometime in June), there will be three crews assigned to the task, and the project for the library will probably be completed in three to four months. • Downtown center parking . Management had no update on who will be allowed to park in the 130 or so spaces next to the new Downtown Center building; that is, whether registration alone will be sufficient, or whether a hang tag will be necessary. UUP members currently do not have hang tags unless they pay extra for them. • Strategic Plan questions . Management had no update on when metrics used to measure progress toward the Strategic Plan will be finalized. They will be disseminated to the university community as they become available. • Plans for Newing and Dickenson communities . In light of recent Pipe Dream articles ( http://www.bupipedream.com/pipeline_web/display_article.php?id=2108 • Enrollment targets . Management reiterated that the enrollment target in the Strategic Plan is 15,000 total students by the end of the five-year Plan. Other numbers that are bandied about are used for other purposes and do not reflect the real number. UUP stated that it is difficult to discern what the administration's real intentions are when one thing is said at Labor Management meetings and other things are said by senior administration officials in other fora. • Pedestrian safety. Management gave an update on the increase in awareness and enforcement of vehicular traffic on campus sidewalks. Large vehicles, such as those used in the recent Spring Fling, are escorted on campus. GEM cars are permitted on sidewalks at 5 mph. Although there are still sporadic instances of vehicles on sidewalks, UUP agreed that the issue is largely resolved. • Parking lots reserved for hang tag vehicles. UUP again raised the issue of why some parking lots require hang tags to park. In particular, lot F-1 near the Events Center and spaces near Mountainview. When lot F-1 closes because of events in the Events Center , UUP members have difficulty finding parking, and faculty visiting Mountainview are reluctant to do so because of lack of parking. Such policies cause morale issues, and also bear on educational opportunities for student-faculty interactions. Management said that the current policy will remain in effect because they wish to have flexibility in assigning uses for hang-tag lots in the future. Because of understandings in the UUP contract with the state, if the lots were made available to UUP members now, then they could not be taken back and used for other purposes later. • Health and Safety issues. UUP thanked management for immediate notification and follow-up on a recent transformer leak. Management stated that there were no hazardous materials discovered in the leaking fluid. • Compliance rates for performance programs and evaluations. Management stated that the compliance rate for performance programs is now 72%, and the compliance rate for evaluations is 71%. • Telecommuting. UUP enquired about the BU policy on telecommuting (defined as “one of a number of alternative methods for achieving a reduction in the number of single-occupant vehicles traveling to the worksite”). Management stated that PEF was the only union that has negotiated a policy on telecommuting, and that management had been informed by SUNY Central that BU does not have the authority to negotiate a policy locally. Therefore, the BU policy is that telecommuting is not allowed. UUP stated that the policy should be applied evenly throughout all campus employees; recently a UUP member was denied a request to work from home, but a MC employee is currently allowed to work at home. Darryl will talk privately with Joe about the details of these cases. Dennis stated that he was aware of some campuses in which an agreement about telecommuting had been worked out. Dennis will get the details about these arrangements to Joe. • Dual career consortium. Management will send to UUP details on the universities and a web link regarding the dual career consortium (see April, 2006, L/M notes). • Summer meetings. Jillian Harrington, the new BU Compliance Officer, will attend the June L/M meeting. The July L/M meeting will be cancelled at UUP's request. • Administration meetings with UUP members. UUP commended management for the series of meetings Vice President and Provost Swain has had with various groups of UUP members. UUP understands Vice President Kelly has done this and that Vice President Van Voorst is contemplating this. UUP encourages other vice presidents to do the same. • Response from President DeFleur to recent UUP letter . (see attached). UUP commented on the first bullet point in President DeFleur's response to UUP's letter in response to President DeFleur's letter in response to the March L/M meeting. While there may not be scientific proof of a link between health problems and air quality at BU, there still exists a perception that there is a link, and the university has not addressed this perception. • Quality of L/M meetings . UUP commented that the mechanics of L/M meetings have improved, due in part to the pre-meetings held between Darryl and Joe. • Counseling memos . UUP requested clarification on how long a counseling memo, put in a UUP member's file because of a disciplinary action, would remain in the file. Management stated, and Dennis confirmed, that the memo will be removed after three years. It is management's understanding that the employee could request it be removed earlier, but that management would defer to the supervisor's judgment whether the memo should remain in the file. UUP stated that it was their understanding that the counseling memo would be removed after one year if there was reasonable expectation that the behavior leading to the memo would not reoccur. Management did not have this understanding. UUP and management will seek clarification from Albany regarding this.Archived LM notes:
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