MEMBERSHIP MEETING SUMMARY
March 9-10, 2015
Dear Colleagues,
If you could not attend our membership meetings on March 9 or 10, 2015, here is a summary of what was discussed.
1.Prof. Jean Alexandre, Business Department, promoted the Financial Literacy Workshop that is planned for April 7, 2015, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm on the Yamba Campus. April is Financial Literacy Month. He distributed the literature and offered strategies to encourage student attendance.
2.Prof. Cheryle Gittens-Bailey, the adjunct faculty representative to the Institution Computing Advisory Committee (ICAC), reported on the technology survey that adjunct faculty participated in, which addressed technological classroom needs. The Technology Department has provided the college community with social media communication links: https://www.facebook.com/MPTatECC; https://twitter.com?MPTatECC; https://www.youtube.com/user/MPTatECC. She went on to announce that her proposal to record “Incompletes” online, as we report “No Shows” and grades, may soon be a reality.
3.Prof. Lloyd Price, the adjunct faculty representative on the Professional Development Advisory Committee (PDAC), and Dr. Charles Pinderhughes, Chairman of PDAC, reported on the upcoming Professional Development opportunities. Although the College recently announced there is no funding available for Professional Development, there are many events that are local and free to our members. They offered promotional literature.
4.Prof, John Smith, Executive Vice President of our Chapter, emphasized the importance of bringing complaints and grievances to our Unit before going to ECC Administration with them. We have been able to defuse situations before they have reached the grievance level. He went on to emphasize the importance of submitting paperwork to Department Chairpersons on time and correctly.
5.Prof. Mark Brodsky, Secretary/Treasurer of our Chapter, discussed the distribution and allocation of dues, the number of adjunct faculty currently teaching at ECC this semester (456), and some of the benefits of full membership in our Unit, such as partial eyeglass replacement reimbursement. He explained the Occupational Liability Insurance that our Chapter offers full members.
6.As a group, we discussed Adjunct Faculty Awareness Day. We did not participate in nationwide activities for 2 major reasons. First, we were not comfortable with an action because we are in negotiations with ECC Administration and feel a bit vulnerable. Second, we did not know what type of activity would be most effective to relay our message.
7.Joanna McAvoy, our AFTNJ State Representative, reported on the progress of our negotiations with ECC Administration. Our Chapter filed an Unfair Labor Practice suit with the State because of difficulties with the negotiations. The process is moving slowly and progress will be reported on this website by her, as it occurs.
8.Prof. Lynne P. Cummins, President of the Chapter, gave an update on the scholarship availability for adjunct faculty and students. One scholarship is the AFT Robert G. Porter scholarship. That deadline is March 31 and the application is on the AFT website; http://aft.org. The Chapter’s scholarship application deadline is May 5. The applications are available on this website. The scholarship awards luncheon has been confirmed for Saturday, May 16, 2015 at Mayfair Farms, South Orange, NJ. Prof. Cummins informed the attendees of the New Jersey Assembly and Senate’s pending legislation. Handouts of same were distributed. In addition, she distributed the dates and locations of the State Budget Committee meetings. A memo about the Class Action suit against Governor Christie’s pension payment shortfall was distributed and discussed. Lynne delivered the preliminary results of the statewide adjunct faculty survey that we participated in. They are: a) approximately 30% of people responded; 2% of respondents were from ECC; 50% of respondents said that working as an adjunct instructor is the primary source of income; higher pay, more credit hours and career advancement were the highest priorities.
9.The AFTNJ Legislative Conference will be April 10-11, 2015 at Bally’s, Atlantic City. We invited 3 members to be our guests at the conference.
10.New business included a brainstorming session to recruit new members. We will consider online petitions and signatures to get members involved and use as strategies for actions.
11.The meeting ended with a raffle.
MORE
