The FA's EC, and Your First, Very Important Vote as Members

by Sarah Gutowski, Chair, New Member Mentoring Program

 

Last month I wrote about what to do if you witness a violation of the contract (see our Grievance Officer!). Today, I want to remind you about the existence of the FA's Executive Council (EC). If you would like a particular issue brought to the attention of the FA (separate from a grievance) your EC Representative is the person to go to.

 

It's not quite beach weather yet. But one can dream . . .
(Unless one has 60+ papers to grade. Back to work, you!)

The EC Representatives act as liaisons between the union's membership and its officers. You may have noticed, however, that our officers are pretty approachable and easy to speak to, so the other significant function of the EC is that it occasionally acts as a decision-making, or governing, body within the union.

 

Because that's a fairly important charge, EC Representatives are elected by members within their academic areas (although some academic areas are grouped together). This is one of the reasons it's so important to become a voting member of the union. (If you haven't yet, please do!) And to find your EC Rep, visit the FA's web site at http://www.fascc.org/rep.asp.

 

The Executive Council meets monthly throughout the academic year to discuss the business of the union and its membership. You can find the minutes of past EC meetings archived at http://www.fascc.org/minutes.asp. Looking through some of these documents might give you a better idea of what kinds of concerns the EC meetings cover.

And, if a spot on the EC is ever free in your subject area, I strongly urge you to consider running for the position of Representative. I was a member of the EC as an adjunct, representing the English adjunct faculty, and I learned a lot about the union and our college in my time there. Also, service as an EC Rep counts as College-Wide service, which helps around promotion time. 

Of course, some of you may have noticed that the EC was mentioned recently regarding the new Stipulation of Agreement with the College -- the document that will extend our contract to August 31, 2019, providing that the document is ratified by the FA's membership.

The EC has already voted unanimously on this agreement. They know it's a good thing for our membership, full-time faculty and part-time faculty alike. As you may know if you attended one of the three informational sessions that were held on all three campuses this week, the agreement does a good job of keeping or enhancing what works (like our salary schedule and the benefit fund), tweaking what needs fixing (like sick leave for 12 months faculty and the Work Year dates) and getting rid of what doesn't work at all (hello Tenured Faculty Development!).

If you were unable to attend one of the informational sessions, don't worry. Copies of the agreement and official ballots will be mailed to you on April 2, 2014.

Please, please, please: read the agreement, talk about it with your mentor, and then vote. I'm not even going to say which way you should vote  . . . (okay, yes I will, you should vote for the agreement) . . . just VOTE and mail your ballot back to the FA right away. The ballots will be counted on April 17, 2014, and then we, members of both the FA and the College, can move forward. Into things like Priority Registration, and soon after, the end of this crazy spring semester. Yay!

Enjoy the warm (albeit a little wet) weather this weekend!

In Solidarity,

Sarah