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Burns me up…
Yesterday’s edition of Inside Higher Ed brought a story out of Pennsylvania that is both disheartening and a bit embarrassing.
It seems that the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) has announced that it will reduce the teaching load of 200 adjunct faculty – the term we use in our CBA is “temporary faculty” – so it could avoid paying for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare).
There are so many arguments against doing this – from the minimalism of the financial to the general notion of an academic institution as a humane workplace (it’s not like it’s the literal salt mine or coal mine or smelting plant) to the disrespect shown to a highly educated workforce – that it would fill this blog. Most readers don’t need those to be enumerated and analyzed here. read more…
Governor’s commission releases recommendations for postsecondary education
On November 13, the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Postsecondary Education approved and released its final report and recommendations to create a multi-year framework for higher education in the Commonwealth.
APSCUF commends the Commission on many of the 19 recommendations, including creating a minimum acceptable baseline of funding for higher education ($1.67 billion), addressing gaps in access for veterans, and urging the Commonwealth to use PHEAA earnings to supplement grant programs. However, we are also closely following the recommendations that have the potential to lead to harmful policies if they are not developed and implemented with input from State System faculty and other higher education stakeholders. read more…
Our side of the story
On Friday, PASSHE put out this statement about negotiations. Then they sent it to EVERYONE on campus Monday morning, which so happens to be the first day APSCUF was holding a strike authorization vote. It is clearly mere coincidence that they chose that timing to put out their first public elucidation of their negotiations offer to APSCUF.
To be fair, it could have been spun a lot more than it is. Yet, there are certain parts they forgot, or didn’t highlight, so we thought it’d be valuable to see OUR side of the story:
PASSHE’s new concessionary proposal won’t stop strike authorization vote
APSCUF negotiators met with the Chancellor’s representatives today, Friday, November 9, 2012, at the Dixon Center in Harrisburg. With the strike authorization vote looming, PASSHE presented APSCUF with a new concessionary comprehensive proposal. The new proposal continues to increase out-of-pocket healthcare costs for active members and to restrict physicians’ discretion in prescribing medications. Current employees would receive reduced benefits and pay increased costs for retiree healthcare. New employees would receive minimal payments toward a voucher that could not sustain current retiree healthcare benefits. Part-time temporary faculty would be placed on a different lower pay scale that would ultimately discourage the hiring of full-time temporaries. Distance education payments would be discontinued, and the teaching of distance education would no longer be voluntary. The new proposal includes a bonus for faculty who would retire this year, but only if APSCUF agrees to waive the 25% cap on temporaries for replacements. The new proposal no longer includes a 35% cut for temporary faculty, and it does include retirement healthcare benefits for same sex domestic partners. APSCUF’s Chief Negotiator informed PASSHE that while there was movement in the new proposal, it was still overwhelmingly concessionary. APSCUF informed the Chancellor’s representatives that the association would present a new comprehensive proposal at the next meeting scheduled for December 11, 2012, in Harrisburg. There is an additional negotiations session scheduled for December 19th in Philadelphia. During a conference call held late in the afternoon on Friday, November 9, the APSCUF Negotiations Committee unanimously reaffirmed its intent to proceed with next week’s strike authorization vote.
Divide and conquer
By Catherine Whitley (EUP English & Theatre Arts)
Sun Tzu (ca. 500 B.C.), Philip II of Macedonia (382-336 B.C.), and Julius Caesar (102-44 B.C.) are each credited with the first articulation of this very effective strategy: divide your enemies into smaller groups to fragment their power, so you can more easily conquer and then rule them.
The most recent proposals by PASSHE administrators constitute an attempt to divide faculty members into two separate camps and set us against each other in order to weaken the power solidarity affords us. read more…