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Notes on Labor/Management MeetingsSeptember 12, 2006 Present: Fran Goldman, Dennis Selzner, Darryl Wood, Jim Dix, Beth Kilmarx, Sylvia Hall, Joe Schultz, JoAnn Navarro, Jeff Hadley • Premeeting. UUP and Management once again agreed that informal meetings before the formal Labor/Management meetings were a good idea. Joe said the meetings provide an “honest exchange for information.” • Salary and promotion window . Management suggested that all salary increase and promotion requests for Professionals be made during two one-month windows, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. Management said that the windowing will be good for planning purposes. UUP agreed with Management's plan. Sylvia will move ahead to explore more fully the proposed change. • Workshop statements by UUP. Management took exception to UUP's statement at a recent workshop that the lack of money does not of itself constitute a veto for promotion and/or salary increases. After some discussion, UUP and Management agreed that a promotion and/or salary increase request would be judged primarily on the merit of the request. If the request arises from an increase in duties and responsibilities of the job, then the university should find the money for the promotion and/or salary increase. • Role of HR in promotion and salary increases. UUP questioned the role of Human Resources in requests for promotion and/or salary increases. Joe stated that HR is a resource, and that HR reviews decisions and suggests changes back to the signatories on the promotion and salary increase requests. UUP will consider this information. • Revised compensatory time document. Management distributed a revised draft regarding leave record instructions and compensatory time (see attached). The document now follows closely the document obtained from the State (local HR Binghamton embellishments were removed). UUP will consider the revised draft. • Employee organizational leave. UUP has sent a list to HR of the union members who will be attending the upcoming UUP Delegate Assembly. • Removing outdated agenda items. Management requested that UUP remove agenda items from Labor/Management meetings that, in HR's opinion, have been adequately dealt with. UUP agreed to remove the Pedestrian Safety and PCB items. • Environmental issues. UUP stated that BU's plan to respond to environmental issues was not working. UUP is aware of another area on campus that was not getting much response from the university when environmental problems were reported. Also, a request by a UUP member for environmental testing was not granted. Management replied that the general concept is that if a test is requested, then the test is generally done. However, testing is classified as internal testing, done by BU personnel, and external testing, done by outside contractors. Because of the cost involved, external testing is subject to more review by Management. Two criterion that are used for external testing is whether prior test had been done and what the results of that test were. JoAnn Navarro, Director of Maintenance and Operations in the Physical Facilities Department, reported that the policy for water leaks was to replace ceiling tiles within 48 hours, and that someone is dispatched immediately upon a report of a water leak. • Dissemination of changes in university procedure and policies. UUP expressed concern that changes to policy and procedures that would affect UUP members were not widely disseminated. For example, the Provost's consideration of completed performance programs in granting DSI to supervisors appears not to be widely known given the 70% compliance rate over the last few years. Also, the Provost's supplement of the Individual Development Award fund is not widely known. Management replied that they use Dateline and Inside to disseminate these changes, and that often the task of dissemination is delegated to the Division. • Downtown center. UUP requested an update on the usage plans for the Downtown Center , given the range of numbers available from various sources. Management said that they had no firm numbers. However, Management stated that a study had been done some time previously which indicated that there would be a total of 5000 students, faculty, and visitors per week. As far as can be determined, the 5000 number is a “real” number. Management stated that they would share with UUP any new numbers as they become available. • Who can sign appointment letters. UUP requested clarification on who can sign appointment letters. Management stated that the president has sole signatory power, but that the president has delegated that power to the Assistant Vice President for Human Resources for certain kinds of appointments (see attached). Management mentioned that they are considering giving the Deans or Directors power to sign appointment letters. • University Hiring Plan. UUP requested information about the number of new hires this year. Management replied that OIR will provide a snapshot sometime in November, and the data will be put on the OIR web site. UUP stated that, since UUP's lobbying efforts have paid off in more money for faculty hires, they need to show to legislators that the appropriated money was well spent. • Closed-circuit TV monitoring . UUP expressed concern about secret video monitoring of UUP members by Management. Management stated that video monitoring, as with other monitoring, would not be done unless there is a suspicion that some activity that is considered illegal or against BU policies or procedures was occurring. • Impact of new software on workload . UUP expressed concern that the rumored implementation of the new Banner software for student tracking would result in an increase in workload, similar to the increase in workload seen with the introduction of the Oracle software. Management replied that using the new software would substitute for work done by other means, and that after a learning curve, there would be no increase in workload. Banner has been used in other SUNY schools, and therefore the learning curve can be compressed by learning implementation tips from the other schools. Management stated that they would be “mindful” of the workload issue in the implementation of Banner, and that a true increase in workload may have to lead to a “reprioritization” of tasks. • Pedestrian safety . UUP stated that there are still vehicles, particularly Sodexho trucks, that drive on campus walkways, putting students, faculty, and staff in danger. Management replied that a memo would be sent to campus organizations, and that citations would start to be issued. A high curb is being installed around sidewalks near the Fine Arts building and the new Student Union to discourage vehicles from driving on campus. • Compliance rates . Management reported that the compliance rate for performance programs is 70%. UUP noted that this rate has not changed much, and that the President needs to decide that compliance on this issue is a campus priority. Management noted that the 70% rate may not be indicative of the true rate since it is derived by a strict interpretation of the 1-year rule (thereby missing updated performance programs that may be a few days late). UUP stated that a compliance rate of 90-95% would indicate a true Management commitment. • SOM MBA program in NYC . UUP requested information about the status of the faculty who would be teaching in the recently announced MBA program that the School of Management is planning for New York City . Management stated that 80% of the faculty would be BU faculty, and that all faculty would be UUP members. • Appointment of college panel . UUP stated that because of possible upcoming cases of UUP members requesting a review of a non-renewal decision, as per article 33 of the contract, a panel of BU professional staff needs to be formed to serve in an ad hoc tripartite Chancellor's Advisory Committee. (Article 33.5: “The Chairperson of any ad hoc tripartite Chancellor's Advisory Committee shall be selected from a panel of members of the professional staff at an employee's college determined by mutual agreement of the College President and UUP Chapter President. Such panel shall consist of an odd number, not less than nine. In the event the College President and the UUP Chapter President do not agree upon a panel within 90 days from the execution of this Agreement, selection of the panel shall be completed by the Director of Employee Relations, or designee, and the UUP President, or designee.”) Management agreed that formation of the panel would be a good thing. • Increases in part-time salaries . UUP enquired whether the minimum salaries of part-time employees have been increased by 3%, in line with the 3% salary increase UUP members received recently. Management replied that there were no plans to increase the minimum part-time salaries but they would explore if this will happen in the future. The salaries are set based on market conditions and discipline, and could conceivably decrease from one year to the next. • Is UUP service university service ? UUP asked Management whether service in a UUP capacity was considered service as defined by the Provost in her request for annual faculty reports. Management stated that there was no official state policy and that in the absence of such a policy, Management does not consider UUP service to be University service. • Note taking in classroom . UUP asked Management if there was a policy on people attending class, taking notes, and then selling the notes to students, as was proposed by some Cornell students last summer. Management replied that they had no information about the policy yet, and would notify UUP when such information becomes available. • PCBs . Management gave an update on the PCB ballast removal project in the library. They estimate that it will take 5663 hours to retrofit the library. So far, 1/3 of the project has been completed. Currently, 4 people are working on the project during the second shift. The project may take four more months. REVISED DRAFT 8/28/06 Leave Record Instructions for Part-Time UUP Professionals Earning and Charging Guidelines• Leave record forms are located on the Human Resources web page: http://humanresources.binghamton.edu . Click on HR forms, and then select the appropriate form. • Professional employees should submit their leave record to their supervisor's review/approval on a monthly basis. At the end of each quarter (March, June, September and December) you'll send the signed leave record to Human Resources on a quarterly basis. Keep a copy for your records. • All part-time employees are required to put his or her part-time percentage (FTE %) AND their work schedule on the top of each accrual record submitted to ensure that we apply the following provisions fairly and consistently. • According to Appendix A-38 of the UUP contract, for computational convenience, a “day” is defined as “8 hours”. If eligible for holiday accruals, your rate will be based on the number of hours you are regularly scheduled to work. Earning Accruals• If you are a part-time professional with a calendar or college year obligation, you will earn Vacation and Sick leave accruals based on your projected annualized salary during the UUP contract year UUP Agreement (July through July). The 7/1/06 – 6/30/07 rates are: Salary Accrual Rate up to $11,424 .25 day/month $11,425 - $17,237 .50 day/month $17,238 - $23,049 .75 day/month $23,050 or higher 1.25 days/month Part-time employees employed on a fee-for-service , per diem , or hourly basis whose professional obligation is less than one day of work per week (defined as 8 hours in Appendix A-38 of the UUP contract) are not eligible to accrue holidays sick or vacation • For hourly employees, your accrual rate is determined by the number of hours your department indicates that you will be working multiplied by your hourly rate. If you do not have regular hours, your department will provide Human Resources with an estimate. • If you are an hourly professional you must work at least 8 hours per week, for the majority of the month, to be eligible to accrue for that particular month Charging Accruals• Accrual charges are based on your work schedule for the specific day that you are off. For example, if you are a 50% employee and work a full day Monday and Tuesday and a half-day on Wednesday, you would charge one full day if you were off Monday or Tuesday and a half of a day if you were off Wednesday. More Detailed Information & Examples Holiday Leave • As per the New York State Time and Attendance rules, part-time employees eligible* to earn paid Holiday Leave only will do so if they are regularly scheduled to work on the holiday. For example, if you are regularly scheduled to work on Thursday, you would earn a holiday for Thanksgiving. If Christmas and New Year's Day fall on a Monday, and you are regularly scheduled to work on Monday, you would earn/accrue a holiday for each of these days. If you work on the holiday you'll accrue holiday leave to use a later date. Your accrual rate will depend on your FTE %. Example #1 : Ms. A is a 50% (.50 FTE) employee and has a regular work schedule comprised of working a full day Monday and Tuesday and a half day Wednesday. For the week of Thanksgiving, she will not work on Thursday (Thanksgiving), she will receive her regular pay, and she will not accrue a holiday for Thanksgiving. For the week of Christmas, she will not work on Monday (Christmas Day) but rather observe it as a holiday, will received her regular pay, and on her time record indicate that she earned appropriate holiday comp time and then used it for Christmas Day. If she were to work a full day on Christmas Day, she will receive her regular pay and earn 1.5 days (based on her schedule) compensatory holiday time to be used at a future time. Example #2 : Mr. B is a 70% (.70 FTE) employee and regularly works .7 of full time effort each workday, Monday through Friday. For the Thanksgiving (Thursday) and Christmas (Monday) holidays, he will not work either day, receive his regular pay, earn .7 of a holiday for each day and then use that earned holiday to observe the time off. Example #3 : Mr. C is a 60% (.60 FTE) employee and regularly works all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and keeps to that schedule through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. As such, he will be paid his regular pay and not accrue nor use any holiday leave since both of the holidays fall on days he is not scheduled to work. Saturday/Sunday Holidays • Pursuant to a settlement (dated April 14, 2005) between the State and UUP, Part-time professional staff members represented by UUP will be considered eligible to accrue the holiday compensatory time indicated in this settlement if they are eligible for health insurance. Eligibility for this compensatory time will begin at the start of the waiting period for health insurance coverage Non-Holiday Compensatory Time 2002 Memo: https://buapps.binghamton.edu:30401/pls/open/HROLTS.NonHolidayCompPolicy Compensatory time for both part-time and full-time EXEMPT employees is only earned under limited circumstances. • The compensatory time must be approved in advance. • It must be based on service that has gone beyond the normal professional obligation. The normal professional obligation is specific to each employee, and may include evening and weekend activities. • Compensatory time is not calculated on a strict hour for hour basis. • Compensatory time may or may not be commemorated using a form. HR can provide a form for the supervisor to use if requested but it is retained at the most immediate organizational level. Hourly UUP Professionals – Additional Information • Hourly professional employees submit their timesheet to their supervisor and Human Resources at the end of each bi-weekly pay period. • Part-time employees employed on an hourly basis, whose professional obligation is less than one day of work per week, are not eligible for paid holiday leave (per the UUP Agreement ). If you are an hourly professional you must work at least 8 hours per week, for the majority of the month, to be eligible to accrue for that particular month.Archived LM notes:
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