http://www.grccfaculty.com
January 8, 2008

Call to Order:  F. van Hartesveldt called the meeting to order at 7 a.m., Wrestling Room in the
Ford Fieldhouse.

Approval of Agenda:  Approved as written.

President’s report / negotiations and discussion: 

• A welcome back was extended to Sherry Rhoden, who has been off due to a serious
  illness.
• Faculty attending the December Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting served as a catalyst for movement on the contract.
• Scaled down negotiating groups met after the holiday shut-down to resolve contract issues.
• On January 7, 2008, about sixteen table agreements were reached.  There are still six to
  eight outstanding issues.
• Negotiations will resume on Wednesday, January 9, 2008.
• The negotiations team is not prepared to release specific information today.

J Spoelman reported the following:

• Many thanks were extended to the Negotiating team which includes N. Alexander, L.
  Burris, J. Doane, D. Godfrey, R. Montes-Sutton, and J. Spoelman. 
• The major parts of the financial package are completed.  It is not a linear package in which everyone will get the same percent.  Individual percentages will vary.
• A complete agreement could be reached by the end of the week.

Questions and Answers

• Q – Is retroactive pay expected?  A – Yes.
• Q – Are all things in the contract plus, negative, or constant?  A – Most things are positive
  or neutral. 
• Q – Do adjunct faculty suffer under the new agreements?  A – No.
• Q – Should we keep wearing our pins?  A – If you’d like.
• Q – What happened to the proposal for administration assigning overload to adjunct faculty before allowing faculty to select overload?  A – Not in the discussion or agreement.
• Q – Does the contract create a two-tier system with faculty to pay new faculty less than
  returning faculty?  Is there a grandfathering clause?  A – No.

Additional Comments

• Issues during negotiations are not going to go away.  It is important that faculty remain
  unified and show support for the negotiating team.
• Faculty attending the December BOT meeting and the prospect of faculty taking action on learning day helped settle the contract.
• The next Faculty Council meeting is on Friday, January 11, 2008.  Contact your council representative for the most up to date information.
• If a contract s reached this week, a ratification vote will happen within a few weeks.

Next Meeting: 

·         To be determined (at time of meeting).

Adjournment: 

• Motion to adjourn G. Burbridge, M. Campo seconded.  Adjournment at 7:34 a.m.

Submitted by K. Danko, Secretary.