Recent union discussion has focused on low-enrollment pay agreements, the rising number of student complaints, and some unfortunate instances where faculty engaged in discussions with management that could have crossed into areas where a union representative should have been made available to our members.
You can find a copy of the faculty master contract at http://www.mcc.edu/hr/pdf/faculty_cba.pdf . It’s almost assured that you’ll be dealing with a student complaint at some point, so the EA encourages our members to make themselves familiar with Article XVI.E, which deals with deadlines, timelines, required forms, specified responsible parties, and protocols.
Be aware that not all division secretaries are aware of this part of the contract, nor are they responsible for enforcing it. The faculty member and the dean are.
You also need to know your Weingarten Rights, a process guaranteed by law to all unionized employees who find themselves in conversations with management that take a turn toward “should I have a union rep with me right now to help answer these questions?”
Your division rep, or the EA office (CM 2310) can provide you with a wallet-sized card with the Weingarten wording on it.
Finally, in the area of Pro-Rated-Pay (PRP) low enrollment course section agreements: while these might be offered by a dean several weeks before a semester starts, no agreement form should be signed until the course’s final status—low enrollment or sufficient enrollment—is known.
(Should a form be signed and a class status change out of PRP, just inform your division rep or the union office so that the needed changes can be verified with HR and the Payroll office.)