Professional … pragmatic … principled … progressive
Summary Minutes for
(approved
|
Executive
Board: Michael Harkins, President;
Paul Guymon, Vice President; Jim Edstrom, Secretary; Dan Loprieno, Treasurer;
Sue Overland, Grievance Officer; Julie Fleenor, Past President |
Actions
Taken
Michael
asked for a motion to amend the agenda to move immediately to “Old
Business.” Dave Braunschweig made the
motion; Sue Bajt seconded. The motion
was approved.
VI. Old
Business
Judy
Thorson and Larry Bielawa presented more information on the BlueAdvantage
program. They noted that there are two
guiding principles behind this program as offered by the College:
1) The
same benefits should be offered to all employees.
2) Employees
should have choices wherever possible.
Judy
noted that all the other employee groups have shown an interest in this
program. The College will honor whatever
decision the Senate makes. This is an
opportunity for the College to save money.
Several
questions were asked:
·
What would happen
if an employee was struck by an illness that required specialists not in the
new HMO? Larry answered that the HMO
would always find an appropriate caregiver.
·
Why is this
change not considered a contractual change?
Larry replied that this change is an addition; it does not take anything
out of the contract.
·
What was the
action taken specifically by the Insurance Committee on this issue? Judy replied that the committee didn’t
approve it per se; they reached consensus that this is a positive change.
Judy
and Larry then left the meeting.
Dave
Braunschweig moved to take the issue off the table; Andrew Wilson
seconded. The motion was approved.
The
issue was discussed at further length, with reference to Local 1600’s opinion
that this change is benign and in light of concerns that this is still an issue
with contractual implications. Pat Beach
moved to table the discussion for the time being in light of Laurie Stone’s
arrival at the meeting; Dave Richmond seconded.
The motion was approved.
VII. New
Business
Laurie Stone thanked the
Senate for inviting her to its meeting.
She emphasized her belief in the importance of communication with the
Senate, and spoke at some length on her respect for the faculty. She believes that corporate business
practices introduced in the last few years at Harper have had a largely
positive effect. In response to a
question concerning when the hiring freeze will be lifted, Laurie replied that
she is not aware of this issue and will look into it. Asked what would be the best way to continue
this communication process, she answered that the Board is interested in
ongoing dialogue, and she will bring it up at the next Board retreat. She noted that Michael is welcome to call her
any time. When asked what an individual
faculty member can do to improve communication, Laurie replied, “Don’t let it
escalate.”
After thanking the Senate,
Laurie Stone left the meeting.
Discussion resumed on the
BlueAdvantage insurance issue. Pat Beach
moved to adjourn the meeting; Jim Edstrom seconded. The motion was defeated. Pat asked that the discussion be limited to 5
minutes; Michael agreed. After five
minutes of discussion, the question was called on the original motion that the issue be delegated to the Negotiations
team. A vote was taken by a show of
hands, with the result of 9 votes in favor and 7 votes in opposition. So the motion was approved.
The
holiday gathering was briefly discussed.
There will be two events: one
will be held on campus for the entire campus community, and a second one will
be for faculty only off-campus.
VIII. Adjournment
Jim
Edstrom moved for adjournment; Kim Fournier seconded. The meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Edstrom