CGE Executive Council Meeting Minutes – February 17, 2015
In attendance: Thomas Morrill, Shannon Andrews, Béatrice Moissinac, Drew Hatlen, Gloria Ambrowiak, Kris Osterloh; guest members Sean McGregor, Kevin Weitemier; Angela McClendon, Ashley Bromley
Meeting called to order at 6:10 PM
Minutes from 2-10-2015 Meeting – Approved
Email Decisions – None this week.
AFT-OR Lobby Day Debrief – Sean, Kevin, Kris, Janet, Clint, and Ashley went to the Capitol in Salem last Wednesday to talk with state legislators on the Education Committees. There were actually two things on the agenda: grad student representation on the institutional boards (the main item), and support for universal paid leave. Kris felt like the grad representation topic sometimes got derailed by debates about leave. Sean says it was pretty chaotic at the event with all the groups there (another big group was outside rallying for health insurance reform). Ashley thought the event was poorly organized, and appointments should have been more strategically planned out (a lot of them were clumped together early and then the schedule was empty later in the afternoon). We got a pretty honest response from one representative that our bill for a grad seat is really far down in the big ol’ pile of bills that have come in for this session. Kevin suggests sending thank-you notes to the legislators we met with; Kris will work on this with info that Ashley will request from Julia.
Aside: UW TAA – Ashley heard yesterday from a former CGE-er (Vera!) who is now a steward in the grad union at the University of Wisconsin. Vera told Ashley about how the WI governor is moving toward privatizing the universities. This made Ashley think about stuff here in Oregon. Lobby Day Travel Reimbursements: The EC agrees that people should be reimbursed for the Salem driving/parking costs; however, we don’t have a budget line for this kind of lobbying/political action. The expenses we incurred total $200. We expect we’ll want to send people to the general AFT-OR lobby day in April. The EC approves creating a budget line of $400 for Political Action. Ashley will ask AFT-OR to see if they’re willing to reimburse CGE folks for this; if not, the EC approves paying the reimbursements.
Steward Council Meeting Debrief – The meeting went well! We pulled together an Election Committee. Béatrice heard a lot of info from the department updates that would fit well in meetings with department heads. Officer descriptions: this part of the agenda didn’t go really well; it was meant to be a brief description of positions, but ran on a little with personal experiences and felt kind of negative. Ashley suggests that targeted, one-on-one conversations will be a lot more useful.
Trivia Night Debrief – Went really well. There were a lot more people than expected! Everyone had fun. There’s a question of whether it’s worth buying alcohol in the future. This time, we had a leftover corny keg of cider from the GMM that pretty clearly increased attendance. In the past, we generally have not purchased alcohol for Trivia Nights. The cost of this particular amount of cider would be $55. The EC now approves spending up to that amount for the next Trivia Night (with preference to using leftovers if
“We Are Wisconsin” @ Darkside – This is happening Monday the 23rd at 7 PM. This is a FREE show! SEIU failed to get the movie with showing rights, so CGE purchased it through Paypal from the creators. There were some issues in communication; long story short, the EC now approves paying the additional shipping cost if necessary for expedited delivery. Turnout: Ashley has invited ASAP!; Gloria will send a Social List email; Shannon will ask the “Drinking Liberally” group, Benton County Democrats, and the GTFF leadership; Drew will invite the OSU College Democrats group; Kris will submit it to the Barometer. Ashley will confirm with the Darkside tomorrow about people bringing their own
Teach-In – This is happening 12 – 1:30 next Wednesday the 25th, which is a national adjunct walkout day. OSU’s adjuncts are not planning a walkout; however, there will be a lunchtime conversation at the MU. Ashley would like a couple officers to meet with Nikki to help prepare a brief talk/outline CGE’s social justice aims; Thomas and Drew will do this (Ashley will set up the meeting). Thomas will email the Social List about this on Tuesday. Ashley has made a fb event: invite all your friends!
MPP Office Space – Thomas has received further information via an MPP grad: Brent Steel already has plans to move into a larger space with accommodations for grad offices. Ashley has previously drafted an email to Brent (“we’ve heard there aren’t any grad offices”) and will update it (“we’ve heard you’re working on getting grad offices – how can we help?”). We’ll check in on progress in a couple months.
Beaver Bus – Ashley is scheduling a meeting with Meredith from OSU Parking Services to talk about getting the Beaver Bus routes expanded to Orchard Court housing. She’ll email for interest in attending once the meeting is set.
ASAP! Debt Assembly – Shannon got a reply from Sam about what they’re looking for from CGE: a brief presentation on the student debt that grad students have and the vital work grad employees do at OSU, with a vision for a future of education with less debt/no debt. For a “visual aid” Sam suggested a CGE rally poster, a general CGE sign, or an informational pamphlet. Drew will work on this.
Divest Resolution – CGE has received a request from OSU Divest to pass a resolution calling on OSU to divest from fossil fuel funds and other socially or environmentally unjust investments. This kind of resolution would require approval from the general membership. We’re concerned any discussion of this would totally dominate our once-a-term GMM and we can’t give up that time. We will ask Alisha to talk with folks from some other grad unions (Ashley’s thinking of TAA, UM GEO) who regularly have resolutions or things like this. Shannon will respond to Luciana to say that we can’t pass a resolution at this time, but we’re happy for her to post the Divest petition or information about it on the Social List or fb group (which she’s already taken initiative on – yay! Someone who isn’t Ashley or an officer, posting on the fb group!).
May Day Solidarity Fair – This year the Solidarity Fair will be on Saturday, May 30th (with hopes of better weather for an outdoor event). The planning meetings have started up; it would be super-great if someone besides Ashley can attend at least some of these. (The EC agrees that Ashley should consider it work time when she’s attending.) The meetings are currently happening on Sundays at 4 PM. Thomas will try to attend some of them.
Social Security/FICA Deductions – We talked about this briefly last week but Ashley wants to be clear on how she should respond to Cheryl, who initially emailed us about this. It is tricky because there isn’t much that we can do to change who is eligible. Ashley had some conversation about this with Matt Loewen, who suggested CGE could try bargaining for OSU to create an alternative solution through allowing grad employees access to a private disability insurance that would be paid for through opt-in payroll deductions. The EC agrees this could be a good topic for the next bargaining survey.
Summer Health Insurance Post – Ashley drafted a website post about the new option to prorate summer health insurance premium payments over Spring Term paychecks. Ashley will make a couple edits as discussed. The EC agrees that this information is important enough to send to non-members as well as members – especially because it’s something SHS/OSU wants CGE to help with. Ashley will also draft an email to go out to all grad employees (through our GTA/GRA employment directory). Ashley will also take stacks of the enrollment forms to department offices around campus.
All-Member Email – We’d like to send this out tomorrow. Shannon will draft it and the other officers will provide feedback on these topics: (1) Summer health insurance summary with link. (2) Movie at the Darkside. (3) Teach-In. (4) Debt assembly.
Convention Delegate Meetings – We’ve scheduled the first meeting for Thursday, March 5th at 4 PM. We’ve tentatively scheduled the second meeting for Monday, April 6th.
Meeting ended at 8:03 PM