March 2015 (Archives)

Musto’s Road Show: Saying farewell to faculty after 35 years

By UHPA President David Duffy. It may have been Friday the thirteenth, but it was all good for the 80 faculty who showed up for the last stop on JN Musto’s farewell tour of the University system at Manoa Gardens. The drinks were free but the bar line was long, although the pupus and the conversations made the wait more palatable. At the end of the gathering, about 40 remaining faculty gathered to hear JN talk about his time with the [...]

Legislative Update for March 2015 by John Radcliffe

There have been 197 bills introduced in the 2015 Legislative Session that have to do with the University system, UHPA, or related subjects. Of those, many have had to do with some aspect of the University that makes someone upset about something.  Some have to do with other more mundane subjects.  However, the main thing for our members to understand is that many of these legislative proposals are intended to  “send a message” to UH officials.  Of the 197 bills introduced (a [...]

2015-03-27T14:01:38-10:00March 27, 2015|Frontpage, Legislative, Newsletter|

FacFAQs: Sabbatical Policy vs. Contract

Realizing she may never get timely information from her campus Human Resources office, Nora, a 9-month Instructional faculty member at ‘Āhinahina Community College, has decided to start researching Sabbatical information online herself. She noticed a discrepancy between policy and the UHPA faculty contract. She discovers that Policy A9.400 states that faculty must return to service at UH for one year, with item 6 stating that "Employees who fail to return to service subsequent to a sabbatical leave or who do not complete [...]

2015-03-24T17:50:47-10:00March 24, 2015|Academic, Commentary, FacFAQs, Newsletter, System Policy|

Claim your free $20,000 in Group Term Life Insurance

As a benefit of your UHPA membership, you  automatically receive $20,000 in Group Term Life Insurance coverage at no cost to you.  You do not have to choose this coverage – you automatically receive it as a UHPA Member.  However, you do need to designate the beneficiary on your policy.  If you have not yet designated a beneficiary you can complete it online: Designate your beneficiary now If you would like more information on this benefit, and information on purchasing additional [...]

2018-05-21T15:02:33-10:00March 24, 2015|Frontpage, Membership Benefits, Newsletter|

FacFAQs: Will Proposed Budget Cuts Undermine our Next Contract?

Lenny was perusing a Star-Advertiser article published on March 13th, 2015 titled "Panel trims $72M from UH Budget," where he was suprised to read President Lassner quoted as saying the $72 million cut made by the House Finance Committee could "hurt operations." Now he's a bit worried about his raise. How will this affect implementation of the 2015-2017 contract? Answer: Don't believe the hype. The additional cost of the collective bargaining settlement is part of the Executive Budget, and therefore remains unaffected [...]

2016-06-08T12:26:06-10:00March 24, 2015|Financial, Newsletter|

SB 1011, SD 1, HD 1, Relating to Collective Bargaining.

The House Committee on Judiciary Tuesday, March 24, 2015 2:00 p.m. SB 1011, SD 1, HD 1, Relating to Collective Bargaining. Dear Chairperson Rhoads and Committee Members: The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA) has long advocated for changes in the Hawaii bargaining statute that would allow EUTF contributions to be subject to impasse procedures including arbitration or strike as provided for each respective public sector bargaining unit. The current amended measure has placed language within that would remove the American Arbitration [...]

2015-03-23T15:11:45-10:00March 23, 2015|Legislative News|

HB 1356, Relating to Unfunded Liabilities.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor Tuesday, March 24, 2015 9:25 a.m. HB 1356, Relating to Unfunded Liabilities. Dear Chairperson Keith-Agaran and Committee Members: The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA) is opposed to the measure HB 1356. It appears to be in conflict with Act 268 which was formed to establish a fiscally viable approach to providing health care to public employees. UHPA urges the committee to defer this measure. Respectively submitted, Kristeen Hanselman Associate Executive Director

2015-03-23T11:09:44-10:00March 23, 2015|Legislative News|

HB 1370, HD 1, Relating to Divorce.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor Friday, March 20, 2015 9:15 a.m. HB 1370, HD 1, Relating to Divorce. Dear Chairperson Keith-Agaran and Committee Members: The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA) has reviewed the proposed measure. Of concern is the high cost attached to the changes necessary to the existing data/accounting of Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) to obtain the modifications sought in the proposal. The lack of appropriations to address the antiquated nature of the current data system is of [...]

2015-03-19T11:32:23-10:00March 19, 2015|Legislative News|

Faculty Op-Ed: Political Inaction No Longer a Luxury

By Karla Hayashi Political activism was probably not the reason why most of us earned our degrees and found our place here at one of the University of Hawai‘i campuses. We got here initially because of our passion for our academic discipline, desire to share that passion with students in the classroom, and opportunities to engage in research and other professional activities which we believed would benefit our students, campuses, community, and profession. Now more than ever, however, we also need to [...]

2015-03-31T06:44:11-10:00March 18, 2015|Commentary, Frontpage, Newsletter, Opinion, Political|

HB 553, HD 1, Relating to Collective Bargaining.

The Senate Committee on Higher Education and the Arts The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor Tuesday, March 17, 2015 2:00 p.m. HB 553, HD 1, Relating to Collective Bargaining. Dear Chairpersons Taniguchi and Keith-Agaran and Committee Members: The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA) urges the committee to support passage of this proposed measure by amendments to the Hawaii Revised Statues Chapter 90 that will advance the interests of graduate assistants. These employees are essential to instruction and research that contribute [...]

2015-03-16T15:33:15-10:00March 16, 2015|Legislative News|
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