Archive for year: 2008

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 . 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.

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.

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.

A UH-Hilo faculty member was recently published in a past
issue.  It would be great to see more UHPA members represented in this
national forum.  Please seriously consider advancing your name.