PRINTED ON CEPAC LETTERHEAD

 

 

 

M E M O R A N D U M

 

 

TO                   Board of Regents

 

FROM             Bonnie White, Chair, CEPAC

CEPAC members: Eileen Baker, Ray Byerly, Ellen Huber, Bob O’Driscoll, Sharon Pielaet, Matt Blazicevich, Sara France, Dan McGuire, Clara Sprague, Sheron McIlhattan, Robert Lack, Ricky Holland, Genevieve Burmeister

 

DATE              14 June 2004

 

MSU-Bozeman Classified Employees Personnel Advisory Committee

Summary of Activities, 2003-04

 

CEPAC embraces the practice of shared governance of Montana State University and in 2003-04, more than any year previously, has put its principles into action on the Bozeman campus. 

 

CEPAC is charged with serving as a vehicle of communication between the classified staff, Personnel & Payroll Services, and the MSU administration.  Its function is to provide information and advice for the improvement of classified personnel management particularly in the areas of policy and procedure.

 

As detailed below, CEPAC has spent the year contributing to and encouraging the use of the doctrine of shared governance.  As demonstrated here, we have experienced the benefits of its principles in action.

 

We have dedicated considerable time and effort in promoting input and feedback between classified staff, university administrators, and committees - both local and system-wide.  Throughout our dealings in this regard, one resounding message is being communicated everywhere:    the recent freezing of salaries for a period in excess of two years cannot continue if classified staff are to keep pace with inflation and the rising cost of living.  The buying power of the dollar has decreased by 3.78% www.aier.org/cgi-aier/colcalculator.cgi American Institute for Economic Research since 2002 (our last pay increase) a decline of a further .5% since our presentation to the Board of Regents in March, 2004!  An annual 0.5% MAP achievement pay award (for eligible staff) is an unacceptable substitute for a cost of living salary increase.

 

CEPAC is anxious to contribute in any way feasible to assisting the university administration and the Board of Regents in finding a solution to the dire financial circumstances of our classified employees.

 

Summary of Activities:

 

The first goal for CEPAC in 2003-04 was to promote and encourage the participation of its constituents.  Without this, the committee would be unable to truly fulfill its charge. To this end, this year, CEPAC has:

  • regularly disseminated information to the classified staff via the CEPAC web site, MSU classified listserv, Staff Bulletin, literature included in PPS packages to new staff, and hardcopy mailings
  • instigated vehicles for online feedback from classified staff (comments box, members’ email links from the web site) through which communications are being received
  • promoted wider staff participation in online communications and reminded supervisors of the availability of email accounts and computer equipment
  • enhanced and maintained a growing, informative web site containing documentation of every aspect of CEPAC’s work

 

Having enhanced communication methods with the staff, CEPAC invited administrators to join in, identifying issues of mutual importance.  In so doing, the committee:

  • discussed the staff’s under-utilization of the fee waiver benefit (9/03)
    • responded to President Gamble’s request for information by conducting a survey of classified staff (9/03)
    • published survey outcomes and submitted documentation to the President (10/03)
    • prepared a presentation for the Board of Regents (11/03)
    • discussed the survey outcomes with the Commissioner of Higher Education (3/04)
    • as a result of the 11/03 negotiated pilot policy, this project has been postponed and will be referred to the MUS Labor Management Committee as part of its review of the success of the pilot scheme, next Fall.
  • identified better understanding of the MAP Program as an important goal for the year and, as such:
    • conducted a comprehensive survey of MAP-covered classified staff on the Bozeman campus in order to
      • respond to Board of Regents’ questioning about MAP, and
      • to fulfill CEPAC’s original MAP-related goal (12/03)
    • produced the first compilation of MAP-related data to come from the MAP-covered employee (rather than from the administration) (1/04)
    • held a public meeting for feedback on the raw data, and met with both Personnel & Payroll Services, and with President Gamble to discuss the findings (1/04)
    • provided written reports to President Gamble and the Board of Regents (2/04)
    • presented the answers to the Regents’ November 2003 questions during CEPAC’s next scheduled agenda time (3/04)
    • provided support and assistance to Professional Council with respect to its MAP supervisor survey (4/04)
    • reviewed the progress of this project with President Gamble (4/04)
    • delivered recommendations for program improvements to Personnel & Payroll Services, and to the MAP Advisory Committee (4/04)
  • collaborated with classified staff organizations from the other MUS campuses in furthering the cause of classified raises by:
    • considering ongoing communication with President Gamble to ally this project with his existing efforts (2/04)
    • conducting a survey of classified staff with respect to the need to work more than one job to meet their basic financial responsibilities
    • collaborating with Personnel & Payroll Services staff in the production of MSU umbrella salary data
    • producing summary information, circulated to each MSU campus -classified staff representatives and president/chancellors (3/04)
    • presenting data to the Board of Regents during classified agenda time (3/04)
    • reviewed the progress of this project with President Gamble (4/04)

 

During these processes, it became apparent that CEPAC must maintain good communications with its counterparts on the other MUS campuses.  To this end, CEPAC:

  • established, and now hosts, an email listserv of CEPAC/Staff Senates across the MUS (12/04)
  • enhanced communications and collaboration with Staff Senates across the MUS (ongoing)
  • has worked with Faculty and Professional Council, MSU Communications Services, and the Office of Planning and Analysis to ensure collaborative promotion of each committee’s experience of shared governance.

 

Having established good communications with the Bozeman classified workforce, and with corresponding committees across the State, CEPAC drew on the collaborative working relationship, started at the beginning of the year, with local administration and:

  • represented MSU-Bozeman classified staff at MUS Labor Management Committee, Board of Regents meetings, and to the Commissioner of Higher Education
  • represented classified staff at other MSU-Bozeman committee meetings including President’s Cabinet, University Governance Council, MAP Advisory Committee, MSU and MUS Labor Management Committees, Personnel Advisory Board, Affirmative Action Committee, Benefits Committee, Space Management Committee, University Facilities Board, Building Naming Committee, Traffic Appeals Committee, Strategic Planning & Budget Committee, Employee Wellness Committee, Health Insurance Subsidy Task Force, TIP Incentive Awards Committee

 

As a direct result of CEPAC’s active participation in shared governance on the Bozeman campus, the committee has been:

  • instrumental in bringing about the distribution of centralized funding for MAP bonuses (3/04)
  • involved in the formation of the MAP Advisory Committee since the outcomes of the MAP survey prompted the timing of its creation (3/04)
  • able to draw from its documentation of evidence of need, to lobby UPBAC for support for supervisor training and educational opportunities (4/04).