Minutes
Jan. 30th, 2006
Adrianne, Ursula, Sharyn, Morgan, and Elizabeth were present.
I. Reports from office sweeps
Ursula & Sharyn talked to lots of people and signed up one; basement of Sycamore was a productive place--AI offices for both Religious Studies & Philosophy, people there in most offices. Criminal Justice higher up in SY. Harder time in Chem--only found one AI office. A few in basement of Goodbody. Some Ling. folks are out in Weatherly and in an annex on Atwater. Elizabeth & Adrianne found lots of Math people in their offices as well; stuck to mostly inviting folks to mass meeting & passing out materials. Pretty productive overall; having a specific event to invite people to helped to start conversations. (Physics folks--a lot are in labs outside B-ton.)
II. Dental/health
Dental basically taken off the table by admin. (fixed amount of $ decided on), therefore budget more or less moot--back to agitation. Julie is still optimistic about the SAA committee and wants to advocate for voluntary dental as a first step/better than nothing kind of thing. Some in Sociology seem to like this idea. Would the university kick in, say, half the premium? Might cost univ. $350k if lots of people signed up--but would they? (How many do we need to make it cost-effective?) Would be cheaper if we could buy into the faculty plan; Ursula suggested only worth it in this case. Because we're a new group, we would likely get only preventive coverage the first year. But going for voluntary plan might weaken later negotiation for better dental plan--in terms of long-term strategy a mistake. Our position: continue to advocate for a mandatory plan (part of our compensation for working) as hard as possible. Not that we're not willing to compromise, but we don't want to suggest this route--but maybe GPSO could?
Practical decision: Adrianne will talke to Julie again and explain why the steering committee is against the idea of a voluntary plan. If she still wants to present it at the meeting, we will have her present the pro side and then Ursula present the con side, and invite the members to discuss; we could have them vote on whether to explore this as a viable option.
SAA committee meetings: 1st--University's position, Feb. 9; 2nd--debate, Mar. 29; 3rd--vote, date? If it looks like dental is really off the table, we should plan an action around the March 29 meeting.
Julie also wants to talk about health insurance in general at the meeting--especially the issue of outpatient surgery being out-of-network with people not aware of it. And why this massive increase in premium on Chickering's part? If the reason is that a couple of people have maxed out their benefits, that is not a good reason--there are safety nets for insurance companies.
Morgan will have stewards send a message to their departments, asking anyone with health concerns to send them to Julie.
III. Side note: about stewards--important for stewards' officer to get phone numbers in order to get in touch with them--email often ignored.
IV. Agenda for mass meeting
1. Reports:
A. Sharyn, on Poker Night/having spent $, will also invite people to sign up to organize/host future social events
B. Morgan & co.: Stewards' reports/introductions, also recruiting new stewards
[who was going to mention the open steering committee positions--Sharyn or Morgan?]
C. Ursula: our meeting with CWA Friday
[D. workload study committee if they want to--Ursula will ask--very briefly! All these reports need to be brief, actually.]
2. Elizabeth: officially voting on Ursula's representing GEO on anti-sweatshop advisory committee to president
3. Dental/Health
A. Adrianne will introduce Julie--presentation, 5-10 min. max.
[B. Ursula will present cons of voluntary plan, if necessary]
C. Discussion, possible vote
[who is going to facilitate the discussion? Adrianne? Ursula?]
D. Discussion of non-dental health care, if it hasn't already come up
4. Sharyn: Next steps
A. Pass out buttons, start wearing every Monday as show of support for GEO
B. Invite people to stay and help us plan tabling
Elizabeth will email Jeff about leftover pop from Poker Night, Sharyn has cups
V. Tabling ideas: IMU? (mostly u-grads?) Education, Woodburn, SPEA? (not here that long), Wells Library (won't have to reserve, therefore easy). Start with library, then perhaps Ed.
VI. CWA meeting: Friday Feb. 3, 1:30 pm, conference room opposite CWA office on 3rd floor of Poplars