October 2008 Board Notes

TREASURER’S REPORT

The Treasurer’s report and monthly financial statements were received.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ACTIONS

President Joseph Chernisky highlighted his written report, which indicated the following actions taken by the Executive Committee.  Œ A grievant’s appeal to reconsider the non-renewal of contract to arbitration was denied.  It was determined that no contract language had been violated.  The Executive Committee approved the creation of an Investment, Finance and Audit Committee (IFAC) and adopted a charter for this advisory committee.  ŽDirectors Brenda Cartwright and Adrienne Valdez developed criteria and an application form to be used by UHPA grant applicants for the 2009 Hawaii Great Teachers Seminar.  Directors were reminded that last spring, a Funding Request form was adopted.  The Executive Committee identified criteria for determining if a request qualifies for consideration and will present the criteria to the Board for adoption.  Based on the tentative criteria for funding requests, the Executive Committee approved three requests—a table ($1500) for the UH-Manoa College of Education’s Annual Recognition Dinner on November 14, 2008; a table ($1000) for the Hawaii People’s Fund Annual Dinner on November 1; and one roundtrip airline ticket for Ah Quon McElrath to participate in an UHPA Labor Forum at Maui Community College.

In their review of the IFAC Charter, Directors unanimously passed the motion to amend the frequency of meetings to “at least” quarterly, which would allow the committee to meet more often if needed.

CRITERIA FOR FUNDING REQUEST

The Funding Request Form was approved last spring, and it can be found on the UHPA website under Forms at http://www.uhpa.org/forms/uhpa-funding-request-form.pdf/view.  The proposed criteria indicate that the funding request needs to demonstrate a direct benefit to UHPA or the active membership which is educational, economic, political, or promotes positive public relations.  The funding request should also align with the organization’s current priorities such as collective bargaining, the Constitutional Convention, or organizing membership initiatives and/or could be related to labor, social justice or P-20 issues. Finally, the request should identify all alternative sources of funding, if any.  The completed form and supporting documents need to be submitted to UHPA at least twenty-four (24) hours before the Executive Committee or Board of Directors’ meeting.  It can be hand-delivered, mailed, faxed, or emailed to the UHPA office.  Directors unanimously passed the motion to approve the proposed Guidelines and Criteria for UHPA Funding Requests as amended.  The amendment allowed for submission by email.  The Guidelines and Criteria may be viewed at http://uhpa.org/forms/guidelines-criteria-for-funding-requests.pdf/view.

HAWAI‘I GREAT TEACHERS SEMINAR (HGTS)

President Chernisky expressed his appreciation to Directors Brenda Cartwright and Adrienne Valdez for their work in formulating the proposed criteria and application form that would be used for the 2009 Hawai‘i Great Teachers Seminar.  Directors unanimously passed the motion to approve the HGTS criteria and application form as presented.  Information about the 2009 seminar will be posted early in spring semester 2009.

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE

Directors unanimously passed the motion to appoint Ernest Kho of Natural Sciences, UH-Hilo, serving a two-year term as the Faculty Representative for Primary Academic Unit 035.  His term begins immediately and will expire on May 31, 2010.

PERSONNEL COMMITTEE

Due to changes to the IRS code regarding the staff’s 401(k) retirement plan, the Personnel Committee met to discuss modifications, which were reflected in their written report to the Board of Directors.  Directors unanimously passed the motion to adopt the resolutions presented by the Personnel Committee.

PROPOSED BIDDING & CONSTRUCTION PLANS FOR UHPA

Directors were informed that the building permit for the modifications to UHPA’s Palm and Akala buildings has been approved, and that the Executive Committee met with Mr. Alan Hirota of AES Design Group, Inc. to discuss the bidding process.  It was agreed that bids would go to both union and non-union contractors with the provision that non-union workers receive comparable union wages for this project.  Directors unanimously passed the motion to approve the bidding process and construction plan in the AES Design Group, Inc. memorandum dated October 24, 2008; and authorized the Executive Director to take all actions necessary to implement and facilitate the bidding process.  Additionally, since construction could begin as soon as December 2008, a special meeting would be needed to approve the selection of the contractor.  Directors passed the motion to call a special meeting to be conducted by telephone conference for the exclusive purpose of considering the recommendation of the Executive Committee to accept a contractor for the construction of the building improvements to the UHPA properties at Palm Drive and Akala Lane; and that the special meeting will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25, 2008.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Collective Bargaining Committee Chair Karla Hayashi reported that Faculty Representatives were given similar bargaining scenarios to those being presented at the thirteen separate campus meetings.  Although the options for some of the “door” numbers were changed, the general reactions were similar to those from campus meetings.  Directors were informed that UH Vice President for Administration Sam Callejo, who replaced Ed Yuen as the University’s Spokesman, will be retiring and UH Vice President for Community Colleges John Morton would probably take over.  All of the scheduled bargaining sessions have been canceled.  Since this time, new and informal discussions with the UH and state administration representatives have continued.  Regular updates can be found on our website at http://uhpa.org/uhpacontract.

NOTICE

As an UHPA member you are also a National Education Association (NEA) member and receive their publications.  One of these, “The Advocate" has an opinion column located on the last page that expresses the views of higher education faculty members.

The NEA is looking for members willing to express their views on the following three questions for upcoming issues.

(1) Should undocumented students be barred from attending public colleges?  YES/NO

(2) Should Colleges and Universities do more to standardize the grading practices of professors?  YES

(3) Should professors consider e-textbooks rather than copy textbooks to help lower costs for students?  NO

If you are open to writing your opinion for the topics above, please contact Truphena Choti at the NEA pubint3@nea.org.  She would like your response ASAP.