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MSUNAG  October 2008

MSUNAG October 2008

Subject:

Re: APA raise

From:

Cheryl A Akers <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Cheryl A Akers <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 7 Oct 2008 16:26:00 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (143 lines)

Cheryl A Akers writes: 

> OOPS.  Hit send too soon.  
> 
> I think this is a great and thoughtful discussion.  Is anyone forwarding 
> this to the APA chair?  Does anyone object if I do?  Ehren, I could leave 
> your post out if it makes you uncomfortable.  
> 
> Ehren Benson writes:  
> 
>> I wish I had time to attend those however I was not able to.  
>> 
>> Sorry for so long but I encourage the read to see if anyone else feels 
>> this way....  
>> 
>> 
>> It bothers me to NO END that we are affiliated with MEA/NEA.  I get the 
>> stupid MEA Voice newsletter at my house and as I look through that I 
>> struggle to find even a single that that is even remotely relevant to 
>> higher ed.  Yes its like "Legal fee insurance" but here are a few of the 
>> things that are big on my hot list at the moment.  
>> 
>> These are not going to be exact numbers as I don't have the newsletter in 
>> front of me but you will get the point, look up the numbers if you want 
>> to know down to the penny.  Ok so many years ago APA was in hot water 
>> with a few thousand in the bank and 50K in debt.  At that point they 
>> affiliated with MEA and MEA covered the debt and started being a APA CYA. 
>> Which at that point made sense.  This was 20 years ago...a completely 
>> different world.  Several years ago APA had something like 750K in the 
>> bank at which point instead of raising dues they decided to start using 
>> that to subsidize the dues.  Good idea right?  
>> 
>> NO  
>> 
>> What APA should  have done is say, OK great we have some money now... And 
>> at that point disaffiliated with MEA/NEA, ridding the union of the 
>> expenses related to membership with MEA/NEA and LEAVE (yes LEAVE) the 
>> dues the same for 2 or 3 years allowing the union to rake in some cash 
>> and stash away 2-3 million bucks.  THEN LOWER THE DUES to a reasonable 
>> amount to cover the operating expenses of the union plus a small 
>> percentage to still add a bit to the 'reserves'.  Then the 3-4 million in 
>> reserves should be smartly invested and managed to gain return and that 
>> money used to allow APA to 'insure themselves'.  Managed properly this is 
>> a no brainer, this is what most of the other unions do.  
>> 
>> All that said now most of that 750K has been squandered away subsidizing 
>> dues, my belief is that this was partly done on purpose so that the union 
>> did NOT have as large of a reserve and so people could NOT say... HEY BUT 
>> WE HAVE THIS RESERVE DO WE REALLY NEED THEM?.  Now the damage is done 
>> though and it is around a third of what is was (the actual number is in 
>> the newsletter) so doing what I said above would be much more difficult.  
>> 
>> Which leads me to my next point... I have heard from several reliable 
>> sources that our chairpersons mother is a higher up at the MEA (conflict 
>> of interest if you ask me) and given that he is headed down the 
>> lawyership path would aspire to be a MEA Lawyer someday.  Take this with 
>> a grain of salt because this is my opinion but thinking this really makes 
>> me wonder if our chairperson is even going to be ABLE to see what is best 
>> for the membership of APA, or what is best for HIM.  Because clearly 
>> disaffiliating with MEA would not be best for him (my opinion again), but 
>> in the long run may be in the best interest of the APA as a whole.  
>> 
>> I really wish the disaffiliation discussion would be had amongst the 
>> membership on a very serious level.  I have been speaking with MANY APA 
>> members and not a one I have ever talked to has said "we should stay with 
>> MEA", so why is no one making a stink and pushing the issue?  
>> 
>> Everyone please feel free to Flame me or Pat me on the back, I can take 
>> both and would like to hear all the different angles.  All I know is with 
>> the way expenses on everything are going up and true real Income is going 
>> down (even though we get raises) our union should be looking for new was 
>> to actually help its members make more with experience and years of 
>> service instead of yet again seeing my net income go down compared to the 
>> cost of living.  
>> 
>> End Rant  
>> 
>> /Ehren  
>> 
>>   
>> 
>> On 10/7/08 3:16 PM, "Rachel Zakhem" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:  
>> 
>> Just a reminder, there are informational sessions today about the dues
>> increases.  
>> 
>> Akers Hall - room 133  - 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm  and
>> Communication Arts  - room 147 - 5:15 pm to 6 pm  
>> 
>>   
>> 
>> Rachel A. Zakhem
>> Site License Coordinator
>> Michigan State University Computer Store
>> 110 Computer Center
>> East Lansing, MI 48824
>> Tel: (517) 432-5367  
>> 
>> 
>> On Oct 7, 2008, at 2:54 PM, Joe Besko wrote:  
>> 
>>> On Tue, 7 Oct 2008, Steve Bogdanski wrote:  
>>> 
>>>> a.) That those who choose to not become a member pay a smaller
>>>> service
>>>> fee that would reflect the costs/benefits of collective bargaining on
>>>> their behalf without charging them for other services that are for
>>>> members only.  This seems rather easy to implement without much
>>>> hassle.  
>>>> 
>>>> -or-  
>>>> 
>>>> b.) That those who choose not to be members do not benefit from any
>>>> collective agreements at all.  So in the case of the recent APA raise
>>>> of 2.75%, those who had previously chosen not to be members would not
>>>> get the raise.  As long as such things were made clear at time of
>>>> employment, so that individuals could make their own informed
>>>> decision,
>>>> I don't see what the problem is.  Well let me rephrase that, I
>>>> don't see
>>>> where the problem is for employees, but the APA definitely wouldn't
>>>> like it if they started losing members (a.k.a. $$).
>>> 
>>> Service fee paying members pay a substantial amount, but they don't
>>> have a
>>> voice in the contracts, they don't get to vote, they have to fill out
>>> paper work every year to continue their service fee status and are
>>> considered *non-members* to the APA/MEA, but they still pay a hefty
>>> sum.  
>>> 
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------  
>>> 
>>> Joe Besko                      Phone:        517.432.5335
>>> Systems Programmer             Fax:          517.353.9847
>>> Michigan State University      E-mail:       jbesko(a)msu.edu
>>> 313 Computer Center
>>> East Lansing, MI 48824-1042  
>>> 
>> 
>  
> 
> 
 

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