NEIUPI

Many of you have read President Hahs’ interpretation of last best and final proposal and have had a variety of reactions to her statements. At Ellie Sullivan’s request, Steve Yokich, the UPI attorney, has written a response to the Hahs’ interpretation and it is attached as a pdf file. I have included the president’s email to her administrative team describing her understanding of last, best and final for those of you who have not read her interpretation.

To: Administrative Team

From: Sharon Hahs, President

Date: March 30,2011

Re: Last, Best and Final Offer

I am concerned that confusion continues over the meaning of Last, Best and Final Offer. I have heard people say that their understanding is that the designation of Last, Best and Final does not mark this offer as any different in terms of consequence than the Settlement Offer the
Administrative Bargaining Team made earlier. Specifically, the assertion is made that rejecting a Last, Best and Final Offer does not imply a shutdown of negotiations. In fact, the assumption I’ve heard expressed is that, like the earlier rejection of the Settlement Offer, a rejection of Last, Best and Final will result in more negotiations—it will clearly demonstrate that the UPI membership wishes the negotiations to continue. It would be unfortunate if people voted down a Last, Best and Final Offer on the assumption that this will lead to further negotiations.

Last, Best and Final is a collective bargaining term. It signifies that a corner has been turned, that bargaining has ended. Implicit in designating an offer as Last, Best and Final is the inference that we are at the end of the line and there are no more concessions that can be
made. Simply put, a Last, Best and Final Offer means what it says. If the membership accepts it, the contract will have been resolved. If it is rejected, then the consequences are serious, as the whole process moves into a more confrontational mode.

As I have stated before, this is a good offer. Despite misinformation and flat denials, the workload is at or below the level of other UPI institutions while the compensation is more favorable than other UPI institutions. And at nearly $3.5 million new dollars, it is at the limit of what the University can afford.

If the membership chooses to reject the Last, Best and Final Offer, then all of us will have to decide what the next step will be. What rejection won’t do is send everyone back to the table to continue the same process that has left us spinning our wheels for the last several weeks.

I believe the confusion about Last, Best and Final Offer to be genuine. If the opportunity arises, please help to clarify this issue.

Thank you.

Please find attached information about the Chicago Federation of Labor college scholarships for children of union members. There are five $2000 awards.

Some of you may have received this message and I apologize for the redundancy but this is important information for all members. John Miller is the UPI Local Legislative Chair and he is the WIU chapter president.

STAY SAFE: Get & use a personal email address

In today’s climate, it unfortunately seems like open hunting season on University campuses in regards to political communication. Just recently, I learned that merely sending an announcement of a candidate forum with the intent of having members fill out response cards would be considered “political.” Therefore, if university email would have been used, this message could violate the state ethics laws.

And more concerns arise, for example, identifying yourself as an employee of a university when making an introduction during a political event or on your own Facebook page, which might contain a political statement. To put it frankly, this is absurd, and the law is having a chilling effect on free speech.

We have seen several cases of universities monitoring the email of UPI activists. One said, “[The university] tracked my email for six months without me knowing. The [university] regulations say they must tell me, but they did not. They were very nasty, mean and hateful.” Another activist was monitored also without his knowledge. These occurred at two different schools.

What perhaps is most troubling is the effect this is having on campuses across the state. Faculty and staff seem to be second guessing themselves and refraining from even attending political events out of confusion over the law. One professor of political science opted not to attend a political forum out of concern and confusion over the law.

While your union leadership is working on a strategy to resolve these problems, I want to urge everyone to use caution in this upcoming election. If you use your university email address (the one ending with .edu) for political or personal business, you may be in jeopardy. It is imperative that you use your own personal email address and keep any political and personal email off the university server. I would strongly urge you to refrain from forwarding a message from your university email address to your own personal address if it is in any way political or personal. Even the act of forwarding a message seems to be very problematic right now.

In addition, if you have a personal email address (such as one ending in @yahoo.com, or @gmail.net, or @Comcast.net), and you download and read your personal email messages on your university computer, YOU HAVE JUST PUT YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL ON THE UNIVERSITY SERVER. Wait till you can review your personal email at home! Remember, your work computer is not your computer and does not have the same privacy rights as a home computer.

While we understand the original intent of the law, the vagueness of the wording and its enforcement is troubling.

TAKE ACTION:

• We are seeking additional examples of where this might be occurring. So, if you have had problems regarding the ethics law prohibition, please let us know. Even if it is simply a decision not to do something out of concern, this information will be helpful as we continue to address this problem. We need to hear from you to help demonstrate the problem. Please email me at jmiller@upilocal4100.org. And please, use your home computer and personal email address!
• Steve Yokich, one of the top labor lawyers in the state, wrote a very good explanation of this law and how it may affect you. Download the article from the Spring 2006 UPI People & Issues magazine and keep it handy, just in case.

The UPI Local 4100 website has a collection of articles and editorials about the Illinois fiscal crisis from around the state. I will continue to post some of these publications to the NEIU/UPI listserv but don’t want to clog your email with each posting made by the local. When time permits check it out.

Over the last few weeks you should have received three postcards from the local. There is a local exec. board meeting this weekend and I would like to share your responses with the local leadership and the members from the other UPI campuses. If you have time, send me an email about the postcards…

Update

The negotiating team has been meeting weekly to put the last touches on our proposal. We are in the process of reviewing and editing the language so it reflects what we have learned from our members over the last two years. The team will meet our chapter exec. board next week to review our next steps. We are trying to schedule a meeting next week with the UPI local 4100 President and our lead negotiator. Earlier this week, I met with two members of the administrative team to discuss contacting the Federal Mediation Service so that we can have a mediator assigned to our campus and set up a negotiating schedule. My hope is that our first meeting with the federal mediator will take place before our December break.