Minutes
Employee Assembly
January 21, 1998
Day Hall Board Room
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 12:18 p.m. by M.Overstrom.

II. Open Forum

a. Bright Red Bookshelves

Cindy Kramer of the Public Service Center introduced herself. She stated that they have become involved with the America Reads program. They have a FWS program that allows students to work in the community, and currently there are approximately 50 students working in literacy programs. The newest initiative is Bright Red Bookshelves. Gently-worn books for younger children from individual homes that no longer need them will be collected. The Public Service Center will collect, sort, and then place these books on red bookshelves throughout the community. Families will be able to take books home for free and keep them.

C.Kramer stated that the Public Service Center is one drop-off site, and requested that the EA members suggest collection and distribution sites. A list was passed around for members to sign if they know of any potential sites. C.Kramer would also like to publish this initiative in PawPrint. The books would be collected in milk crates. These crates will hopefully be available in a couple weeks. If this initiative is successful, then the bookshelves will be replenished as long as possible.

b. Elections -

M.Overstrom stated that there are seven seats up for election, and the seats are those of T.Calvert, L.Caswell, M.Esposito, T.Fraboni, D.Marsh, C.J.Lance-Duboscq, and M.Purvis. M.Overstrom requested that if one of these members are not running again, that they would let the Assembly know. She noted that it is important to find more employees to run for seats. Therefore, there will be competition among interested members. The member who brings in the most candidates will be treated to lunch by the Office of the Assemblies, along with the candidates they sponsor. All candidate materials are due on February 16 in the Office of Assemblies. This includes an eligibility statement and a petition signed by 25 permanent employees. There will be another information session on February 4, before the next EA meeting.

III. Approval of Minutes

The minutes were approved as submitted.

IV. Announcements and Reports

a. Assembly Leadership Meeting -

A sheet was passed around at the meeting for members to submit questions.

V. Business of the Day

a. Statutory Benefits -

John Lambert, Associate Director of Statutory College Affairs and Director of Statutory Finance and Business Services, introduced himself and his associate, Edward Quay, Associate Director of Finance and Business Services.

E.Quay stated that there were four areas that he would cover. The first of these areas is health insurance. The opportunity for changing plans has passed. PHP lost about 20% of its subscribers due to the rate increase. Because PHP originally had only 900 subscribers, this is quite a substantial loss for them.

The next area is the salary improvement programs. The statutory colleges will complete this program. Currently, the pay bill is still in the Finance Committee and needs to be voted on. Once it is approved, the SUNY Board of Trustees will pass a resolution giving Cornell the authority to implement the pay program for the exempt employees. The increase will be effective January 1 and will be paid retroactively to that date. The program for non-exempt employees has already been completed.

For next year, the plan is to have a 5 1/2% merit-based program for exempt employees. There will be a 1% merit-based program in the fall, followed by a 3 1/2% merit-based program in January, and then another 1% in the fall of 1999. These programs are in legislation, and once they are passed, approval will once again be needed from SUNY. The appropriations for the increase is a part of the original bill.

There will also be an increase to new pay ban minimums. This will make sure that Cornell is not lagging behind the market in salaries. In some cases, there is an increase of 12 to 15%. For statutory college employees, they will receive increases in the pay ban minimum by January 29. Some of these increases are tied up with the salary improvement program, and therefore, for some exempt employees, there will be a delay. However, the pay will be received by them retroactively, if necessary.

Finally, there will be another retirement incentive program for state employees this year. This program will probably be very similar to the one last year. However, there is not much information available on this program yet.

E.Quay stated that he would like for the EA to help communicate such information to employees. There are a number of people in his office whose job is to counsel employees as to what choices they have available to them. The primary focus is on health insurance and retirement, because the other benefits are shared throughout the university.

In response to questions by members, E.Quay noted that it would be useful to have an article in PawPrint about statutory benefits. He noted that the statutory unique benefits are often forgotten. Unfortunately, his office does not have the resources to assign a liaison either to the EA or to PawPrint. However, it would be possible to work on an article on statutory benefits in conjunction with an EA member. It would also be helpful to add more statutory employees to the PPC.

E.Quay stated that PHP is just starting to see the effects of the rate increase. They have yet to voice any concerns about the changes. E.Quay said that the state would allow any provider to function here. However, the community is very closed to outside providers due to the Cayuga Area Plan. This is a loose affiliation of local doctors that are attempting to form their own HMO. If someone else wanted to become a provider, they would have to prove to the Civil Service Commission that they had a base in the area. Thus, they would have to have physicians sign up. Because the market is so close and not large, it is very unlikely that another provider will come into the area.

E.Quay clarified that the 5 1/2% salary improvement program will be merit-based. There will be some parameters for the program, but the increase will not be across the board. In response to members’ concerns over such a merit-based program, E.Quay stated that they stress in their communications there should be a face-to-face conversation with each employee. However, this is not done by all supervisors.

J.Lambert noted that the University is divided into many units and each unit has its own unique way of handling things. However, the distribution of funds is university-wide. With the last program, there was pressure to have a very tight distribution of salary increases around an average because no one had a salary increase for so long.

E.Quay stated that all of the money given to the units should be used on existing employees. It is not possible to use this money on new employees. E.Quay stated that employees should insist on routine face-to-face appraisals with their supervisor in order to make sure that their supervisors know the employees’ value to the organizations. It is a University policy that these appraisals be done annually and that they be on file.

C.Gardner noted that by tying appraisals to salary increases, it is likely that they will become more important to employees.

With respect to the Retirement Incentive Plan, E.Quay said that it will hopefully be announced earlier and that the parameters will also be out earlier. In past years, this was not done until the state budget was passed. In order to advertise such programs, the office sends a notice to every employee that qualifies for a program and asks them to reply as to whether or not they are interested. In such a way, it is possible to determine the target population. There are different windows of opportunity for faculty and staff. Generally, the faculty program is tied to the academic year.

E.Quay said that health insurance is the easiest transfer to make when an employee switches from the endowed side to the statutory side, or vice versa. The health benefits are carried over to the other side, unless one is on PHP or managed care. Retirement is more problematic. Those who are eligible for the optional retirement program can transfer across from endowed to statutory. However, there is a different contract since contribution levels are different. Those who are not eligible, must sign up for NYSERS if they move to the state side. For employees who transfer to the endowed side, they can remain with NYSERS if they have been with it for ten years or more and participate with the endowed program. If this is not the case, one can either stay with NYSERS or they can buy that employee out. For the statutory side, there is a mandatory 3% contribution for employees. For the employer, it is 8% for the first ten years, and thereafter, it is 9%.

VI. Old Business

a. P2K Open Forum -

M.Overstrom said the Open Forum will be on February 3. Members will be needed from 11:30 to 2:00 to pass out information, seat people, handle the microphones, and to clean up afterwards. Unfortunately, there will not be an organizational meeting, but she will ask for people to be specific as to what function they will perform. Volunteers will be asked to wear something red.

b. “Frontline Feedback”

D.Stein announced that the EA will have a special four-page insert in PawPrint. The possible dates for this insert are February 19 and March 5. D.Stein stated that currently the plan is to use the insert for the elections. M.Overstrom noted that the information from the candidates is due on February 16, and so it would be difficult to prepare such an insert by February 19. It was decided that the insert will be in the March 5 issue. L.Caswell and C.Gardner volunteered to help D.Stein with this special issue.

VI. Committee Reports

a. Communications

There will be a reception on February 2 for Dedicated Service Award nominees who did not win. The invitations are being organized and the catering has been arranged. The President’s attendance has been confirmed. The agenda still needs to be arranged.

b. PPC

L.Clougherty asked whether or not members have any additional comments to add to the layoff policy. She requested that members mail any comments to her by Friday, and that on Monday morning, she will pass them on to Anita Harris.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:33 p.m.