Chancellor Rogers

Chancellor Rogers expressed his support of the wellness programs at the university and is look for additional ways on how to become a healthier workforce.  He encourages staff to provide input and ideas.

He stated that the legislature is moving towards a 50/50 funding module.  At this time it is 60/40.  This means the university will be responsible to find additional revenue.  This may come in the form of increase tuition and moving around of internal processes, etc.  The loss of the DOD funding has been huge for the university.  All but six of the ARSC staff have been placed.

There is a possibility of research to be done on building on permafrost.  As there is a big area down by the Cold Climate Housing Research facility, there is talk of building student housing in this area and using it for the research.  This will bring in research monies and provide additional housing for students.

Things Chancellor Rogers is working on:

• Outdoor Recreation Advancements
• Future plans of building additional dining areas onto the Wood Center
• Building more student housing on campus

Health Care Audit

The health care audit done by Consova is completed.  There are currently 200 cases being reviewed to evaluate whether removal of dependents is required or not.  The cases are being evaluated case by case.  The cases are being reviewed because some employees are not responding to requests made, additional paperwork is needed, etc.

UAF Staff Council is looking into how much this audit processed has benefited the university and its employees.

What Happened at the June Meeting?

New motions are being made and/or readdressed to the UAF Staff Alliance.  These motions include: smoker surcharge, employee tuition waiver, and a new health care task force.

What are these motions?

• Smoker surcharge requests the removal of the smoker surcharge to the FY13 Health Care Plan.
• Employee tuition waiver relates to not supporting any alteration of the current waiver to include a 6-month waiting period for new hires and the repayment of tuition waived for any classes failed.
• Health care task force - this is requesting a new group to be established to help review the health care plans provided by UAF.

Union Organizing Activities

An arbitrator has ruled that only Alaska State Employees Association (ASEA) can proceed with unionization efforts at UA. They have filed a petition clarifying the employee group they are trying to organize. A copy is available on the Statewide Labor Relations site (click here). You can also view ASEA site (click here).

UA Labor and Employee Relations website is updated regularly. It has all the communication between the University and the union organizations. ASEA filed a revised petition April 13, 2010 to include Exempt and Non-exempt staff who do not hold supervisory positions. This site has great information for review.

The number of employees not represented between Exempt and Non-exempt is about 2500. UAF, UAA and UAS staff make up this number. UAF and ASEA will now begin the process of determining who are supervisors and who are not. Once this process is completed it will then be determined whether ASEA has enough signature cards or if more need to be obtained to have a vote. It is unclear at this time how long the process may take.

Whether you are for the union or against the union be informed. If it goes to a vote please remember to let your voice be heard and VOTE.

Technology Advisory Board (TAB) Spring 2010

Approximately $210,000 was available for awards. Twenty were either fully or partially funded for a total of $108,754 being awarded. The remaining funds were set aside as a one-time allocaiton for the UAF Faculty and Student Technology (FAST) Committee to propose a much needed strategic direction to OIT on Smart Classroom requirements on campus.

These funds may be used to refresh existing Smart Classrooms that are failing or to convert non-Smart Classrooms into a minimum level necessary (Tier 1) for most basic classroom instruction on campus.

UAF Mediation

• There were 40 people at the mediation training in February. EEO has put together a solid mediation program.
• Continuing edcuation type trainings will continue to be offered by mediators.
• General Counsel has created solid documentation for mediators to use for the mediation process.
• An example of a mediation session is a dispute between a supervisor and employee. Or employee Vs employee.
• If UA became unionized the process would probably fold into the union.