November 11, 2021 Meeting minutes

BrCCC Chapter Meeting
Members present: 67
Note taker: Robyn Worthington

1. Merrie Najimy, President of MTA and Max Page, Vice President of MTA – Fair Share Amendment

• Merrie Najimy reported that the Fair Share Amendment is campaign to win ballot initiative; progressive tax structure; infrastructure, public education through higher education
• Black and Latinx students are un-enrolling at much higher rates than white students; how can this money help to bring them back in?
  • Max Page reports that this adds one additional tax bracket to our tax system taxing income over 1 mil; coming up in 2022; 2 billion per year; built into state constitution
•  Wish list from Bristol faculty for how money could be used:
  •  Pay parity for adjuncts
  •  More full time faculty
  •  Support for students
  •  Additional resources and support for faculty and staff of color
  •  Maybe some kind of shuttle system between our campuses, if there’s demand
  •  More supports for students — to help with academics, but also food insecurity, child care, etc. Give students help with all the obstacles they face
  •  I would love to see more vocational programs as well
  • More on-campus community spaces for students
  • 21st century classrooms, yes. And updated computers and technology
  •  I wish we had a radiology tech program here or a respiratory tech program like Massasoit has
  •  laptop Computers for students so that everyone is working at the same level of technology
• Visit site for further information:
  • https://massteacher.org/current-initiatives/fairshare-ma

2. MACER/Grievance/Impact Bargaining updates
MACER
• Emily reports that if any member asked to work while out on sick leave, contact union
• Autumn advises that if anyone has an issue with management they should come to union first before quitting; once member has left, there is little union can do
• Colleen reports a discussion about the Bristol app: asked management how to have comments taken down; union will be working with Joyce Brennan
• Colleen reports on dual enrollment courses: we asked how do faculty know if these course are available; also specific expectations for faculty; faculty need to know if these expectations before accepting the course; they are outside of the contract, so deans do not have to go by the seniority list and do not build seniority

Impact bargaining

• Monday 12-2 next meeting date; will be discussing:
   New advising model
• Faculty as mentors; no language in contract
• Cancellation of physical therapy program
• Change in E7 for employee related to travel between campuses

3. DCE update

•  Catherine Adamowitz reports that nothing has changed; reached out for update; DCE state adjunct committee is cancelled due to health issue

4. MCCC BOD updates
Shelly Murphy reports that two motions proposed
1. January open meeting with proposals to organize a statewide meeting in Zoom to discuss MCCC and MTA relationship
2. MTA candidate’s night so members can meet who is running (before 1/29/2022)

5. Vaccination Mandate

•  Bargained at state level
• “All full time and part time faculty must be vaccinated regardless of modality”
• Must have two doses of vaccine or one of J & J by Jan 3
• Autumn must start vaccination process soon; non-compliance will be sanctions up to dismissal, except for those with accommodations as determined by the college
• If anyone asks for accommodations for religious reasons, must be very detailed with specific evidence
• Emily said she received a question about why adjunct faculty needed to be vaccinated if they are online
• Is there a difference between tutors who are not students are tutors and not students
• Will we know if someone is unvaccinated? Emily replied that no, because it is against the law to share that information
• Will mask mandate be dropped after vaccination policy goes into effect? Emily reports that mask policy is here for the for the foreseeable future
• Autumn asked that advisees to encourage students to register early so course need is more apparent
• Is it mandatory that all Full-Time faculty must have one course with on-campus presence?
• Autumn reports that, yes, the college policy is all FT faculty must be on campus; no FT faculty will have a fully online course load, but must be equally applied
• Will some one be able to take sick time before dismissal for non-compliance? Shelly reports, no.
• What is the direction of the college concerning students being able to finish their programs online? Emily reports that this is a very complex situation; admin says we are in an enrollment crisis and students want to be in the classroom
• Autumn reports that some programs will remain fully online to make the college more marketable; probably never go back to numbers before, likely 60 f2f 40 online
• Is the decisions about f2f or online a dean decision? Autumn reports that yes, the deans make final decisions
• Concerned about two f2f courses, given pandemic still going on, what will happen to f2f courses? Autumn reports that admin is hoping that we do not have to go back fully online.

6. Member questions/comments

•  Catherine and Autumn attended state grievance committee meeting; state interprets 500 per credit for any course that changes modality; not the practice at Bristol; Suzanne said that is not Bristol’s interpretation; outside time of grievance, but going forward, if anyone has been asked to develop a course in another modality, they could file a grievance and be a test case
•  Executive board has seen a draft of the telework policy; cannot share out yet