[C] 2012 September 20

[CORRECTION: The information posted below are actually NOTES from the discussion during Chuuk Campus Faculty and Staff meeting on 9/20/2012. Per comment posted by Maika Tuala (see Comments section below), Prof. Alton Higashi prepared the official minutes which have more details. The official minutes will be posted here as soon as we receive the copy by email. ~ Rafael Pulmano]

Chuuk Campus Faculty and Staff meeting

Date: 9/20/2012

Special Contracts

Chuuk Faculty and Staff feel that the “special contract” issue is long overdue. Those that are under special contracts are not getting benefits such as holidays, health benefits, sick leave and we feel that this is not fair. Also, such employees are not eligible to borrow money from the bank because they are not considered as full time employees. Our need for these special contract employees (e.g. security, maintenance, janitors) still continues yet we make a contract every 6 months, this does not make sense, we need to make such positions permanent and offer them the benefits they deserve. Some faculties have suggested that special contracts be made for one year rather than 6 months should we not be able to make the positions permanent to save on the paper work. We really want our special contracts to be a permanent (e.g. our security guards, and maintenance workers). Why has nothing been done for this? We have some staff that has worked under special contracts for more than 5 years. 

[ See related discussion at National Campus Faculty/Staff General Assembly - SPECIAL CONTRACTS FOR STAFF MEMBERS ]

Salary Freeze

Salary, we need to look at our budget before we demand a raise. We need to think about staff as well. If we don’t have enough money for everybody, than why are faculty so important? Why summer pay is so important, is it so that more people will teach during the summer? Or just because you want more money? We need to think about the whole college, instead of ourselves. We like to have an increase but we are concerned about the whole college not being able to pay for everybody first. And the stability of the college… that has to do with the accreditation. Thinking about a salary raise at this time, is not a logical decision. If Faculty demands a raise, they need to answer this question: Where are they supposed to take the money from in order to raise faculty pay? That money will have to be taken away from POs supplies, and Staff pay. If this is the case, is your faculty saying that we should take money away from staffs in order to give them more money? Is that fair?

Hiring process for faculty/staff

Motion: That there is a due process in a firing of an employee. Vote was unanimous in support of the motion.

Meeting of Faculty and Staff across all campuses

We propose that Faculty and Staff at National and in all campuses need to meet together and not be divided. A Motion was made and the decision was unanimous in that Faculty and Staff across all campuses including National should meet together and should not split faculty from staff.