Renton Federation of Teachers
Local 3914
General Membership Meeting
10/13/16
This meeting was called to order by President Simone Terrell at 2:47pm
Members present:
Simone Terrell Larry Price
LynnDee Spencer April Morris
Martha Chamberlin Rick Giest
Special guests in attendance were introduced: Marilee with RFT and Karen Strickland AFT President
Items Discussed:
*Rick Giest voiced concern in regards to the job description of a part-time and full-time instructor. The work load of a part time instructor in some cases is the same as a full-time position. Should some of the part time positions become a full-time position without the tenure track? Could we save the amount being spent on the Special Assignment Memo for the part time positions?
*The administration is looking at decreasing the credits for programs campus wide. This could affect the 40-hour work week by less contact hours with the students. If we reduce the credits in our programs this reduces the amount of money for the college. This would mean the push for more FTE’s campus wide.
*Working on the accreditation is adding more hours spent without reimbursement from the college.
Marilee commented on the concerns and advised that we need to have two to three meetings before February to prepare for some of these issues at the bargaining table.
*One member asked if anyone knew if the proctored testing center is shutting down. No one at the meeting has heard that they are at this point. It is a concern for students that have accommodations. Simone said that she will investigate and report back.
*Another member asked if the Professional Development courses created by Liz Falconer are mandatory and how many extra hours are required for some of the courses that are available. There is a $200 stipend that is reimbursement but the amount of time spent on some of the course outweighs the benefit.
*The building reps list is almost completed and will be sent out to the members
*Karen Strickland the AFT President took the floor. She has been the AFT president for the last three years. Karen is looking for volunteers that would like to join a couple of committees.
The first is the National AFT Professional Technical Committee. The purpose is to increase the presence of higher education for students. We need to bridge the gap from high school to college. The committee meets by phone and would require little extra time.
The second committee is the State Labor Council Committee for Education Training and Apprenticeship. They meet quarterly. The committee is looking at post-secondary opportunities for the students that do not fit the four-year college track.
Karen handed out bookmarks for the endorsements of the upcoming election. She stressed that we need to get everyone out there to vote. Some ideas to encourage people to vote would be by having a ballot party. AFT has representatives that will help in organizing a function to increase the votes.
*Martha, treasurer gave the current amounts in the checking and the savings account. Her concern is that now she is not able to write any checks because there are no past members from the E-board on the current E-board. The bank is requesting past executive board minutes, three current signers and one former signer of the account to meet at the bank to transfer the names on the account.
*Reminder that November 10th is a mandatory day for safety training.
Meeting was adjourned by Simone Terrell at 3:45pm