Hello everyone,
You are receiving this email because you are eligible to join the Plymouth State University Chapter of the AAUP. I am writing to you as the newly-elected President to inform you of the current activities of the chapter. Please forgive the length of this email, but I believe it contains information that every member of this bargaining unit will find useful.
- Communication: For future communication, we will be using the online listserv provider tidyhq.com. Within the couple days, I will send out an email through this system. Please check your spam settings and trash, junk, and clutter folders if you do not receive the email by Sunday.
In addition to email, as we move forward with our negotiations, we will also be using the PSU-AAUP (https://plymouth-aaup.org/) web site to keep you updated.
- Elections: We held an election in October for the members of the Executive Committee (EC) of the chapter. These officers will serve until Spring, 2019. The results of the election are:
President, Jeremiah Duncan
Vice President, Sam Miller
Treasurer, John Kulig
Secretary, Anne Jung-Mathews
Members at Large, Chris Chabot and Rebecca Noel
In addition, Ann McClellan and Elliott Gruner, the two immediate past Presidents, and Scott Coykendall, the Chief Negotiator, serve on the EC. The Chair of the Communication Committee, Cathie LeBlanc, serves on the EC in an ex officio, non-voting role in order to facilitate communication with the PSU-AAUP membership.
- Negotiating Team and Schedule: The Negotiating Team (NT) members are Scott Coykendall (Chief Negotiator), Liz Ahl, Ann McClellan, Alice Pearman, and Justin Wright. The NT submitted a set of requests for information to the administration, asking that the information be provided by December 1, and the administration has complied with this request. The first meeting between the NT and the administration to set ground rules for negotiating our contract will happen before the end of this semester. The NT anticipates that negotiations will begin during the week of January 23, 2017.
- Researching the Contract: Five Research Teams totaling approximately 30 faculty members are reviewing contracts from other institutions, looking at PSU’s current policies and procedures, and using the results of the faculty priorities survey to write contract language for the NT to use in negotiations. The research teams and their chairs are:
Promotion, Tenure, Evaluation, and Grievance (Pat Cantor),
Workload (Anne Jung-Mathews),
Academic Freedom, Shared Governance, and Intellectual Property (Katie Herzig),
Compensation and Benefits (John Kulig), and
Professional Development (David Mackey).
- Membership Drive: A number of you who are eligible have not yet joined the AAUP union. We are strongly encouraging all eligible members of the bargaining unit to become members of the union! Remember, only members of the union can vote on the final proposed contract, vote to elect union leadership, and serve in leadership roles. If you are not yet a member, please join AAUP (visit https://www.aaup.org/membership/join). Until we have negotiated our first contract, you must join as a non-collective bargaining member, with dues based on your annual salary.
- Serving your union: There is much work to do as we prepare to negotiate our first contract. If you are interested in helping out in any way, please contact me (Jeremiah Duncan, jsduncan@plymouth.edu) or another member of the Executive Committee.
- Chapter meetings: To help keep all of you informed and answer questions, we will be holding two Chapter meetings before the end of Finals Week, which will be open to all eligible members of the bargaining unit (if you are receiving this email, that means you!). Once I work out the exact dates, times, and locations, I will email you using the tidyhq.com listserv mentioned above.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jeremiah Duncan, President, Plymouth State University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors
