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Senate President's UpdateTable of contentsNo headers
Result of Meeting with President Daisy on Salary Freeze and Summer Contract Pay
In behalf of the faculty senate, Prof. Richard Womack, Dana Lee Ling, Resida Keller and Rafael Pulmano, met with President Joseph M. Daisy at his office on April 27, 2012 at 3:00 PM. The president welcomed the group, and Dr. Womack began by providing background information about the salary situation at COM-FSM from long before the recent job audit up to the present.
President Daisy listened intently, asked questions, thanking the group for sharing this information while at the same time giving assurance that he'd been doing his homework and is looking at possible options.
After learning that some faculty had to teach extra classes and also teach during Summer to cope with the high cost of living in the FSM, the president expressed that faculty shouldn't be working on extra load to make a living. The president wants to have salary options with costs presented to him. He is open to ideas, he "gets" that the faculty are underpaid and the ramifications for recruiting and retaining qualified faculty.
The president indicated he realized full-well the recruitment and retention issues are serious, as well as a declining sense of "good morale". Womack noted that with having to maintain overloads etc...to make ends meet--working paycheck to paycheck when announcements like---the accreditation course shall be put in one's evaluation and the work many are doing is NOT put in one's "permanent file"--it rubs folks--the wrong way. Faculty are perhaps becoming too sensitive---but for a reason.
Lee Ling suggested that the college avoid going back through another salary study and use the current tracks which are four percent per step, one percent per substep, and simply extend the track beyond step 20. That would not incur any immediate cost. He also suggested "cutting off" the bottom of the track and hiring in "higher" on a track to make salaries more competitive. Womack argued that the cut-off should result in a salary on par with Marshall islands.
The president noted that the step increase freeze would have to remain in place for now. He noted that the FSM Congress is looking to appropriate $700,000 to assist the college and that it would not look appropriate if the college received the 700K and then turned around and used it to pay for step increases. Womack noted that the faculty had expressed a willingness to make a one year sacrifice, but that an end date to the step freeze was desired. Recruitment and retention are already problematic, the freeze only exacerbates the problem.
On Summer contract pay and committee work, the president noted that for Fall and Spring, regular full-time faculty are being paid regular pay spread over 12 months, while peforming various tasks in addition to actual teaching - serving on committees, advising students, etc. During Summer, full-time faculty sign special contract with job basically confined to teaching only.
The president expressed an interest in exploring whether summer pay could simply be regular term pay. This would obviously be for the future. He presented a number of possible scenarios under consideration, and asked the faculty to also come up with options of their own for management's consideration. The president wants committee work to continue during the summer, and suggested maybe a stipend for non-teaching faculty who have committee work during the summer.
Lee Ling noted that all faculty are currently part-time in the summer and part-time faculty do not have committee duties at the college, thus the stipend might be due to all faculty who serve during the summer.
The president said he would ask Academic Program Director Karen Simeon and Comptroller Danny Dumantay to put numbers on his desk to find out as to what a 20% incentive would cost. He requested that he be given until Monday (April 30, 2012) to look into the financial implications of a similar increase in summer pay given last year, but expressed his desire for a continuing dialogue.
NOTE: This is the text of the memorandum sent by Chairman Kasio Mida of the COM-FSM Board of Regents, to Professor Resida Keller, Faculty/Staff Senate President, in response to her letter to the Board, addressing the salary freeze issue. (Click here to see scanned copy of this memorandum.)
March 29, 2012 MEMORANDUM: TO : President, Faculty/Staff Senate FROM : Chairman, Board of Regents SUBJECT : Clarification on Salary Pay Freeze
Best wishes to you and your colleagues. The intent of this communication is to respond to your letter of February 17, 2012 regarding the recent decision of the Board of Regents to put a freeze on step increases for all employees of the college in the 2013 Budget and the steps the administration took to arrive at this decision. Please know the Board of Regents (BOR) carefully considered the February 17, 2012, letter you submitted on behalf of the Faculty/Staff Senate.
With regards to the first question on pay increase or step increases for all employees, the board approved the recommendation that there will be no step increases to take effect only for the budget year 2013. The reason was in response to the JEMCO Resolution for $700,000 dollars annual decrement for the college for the next four years. The plan was for the college to work closely with JEMCO and the FSM Government to reinstate the funding or seek alternative funding.
Your second question was about if and when, the salary freeze ends, will the salary of employees move up one step or two steps? The administration recommended that because $700k will be reduced from the 2013 budget, there would be no funding to address this shortfall. If the FSM government funds the $2.8 million, the Board will re-examine its decision on the freeze of step increases.
The college administration reported to the board in the January 2013 Board of Regents meeting that the 2013 budget followed the budget development process. Unfortunately, the college prioritization plan was not completed and PRC was also going through its transition to review the new budget. The 2013 Budget needed to be submitted to the FSM President's Office on January 15, 2012 as called for in the FSM budget timeline. The college recognizes its shortcoming with regards to the development of the 2013 budget. We have processes in place to ensure people are involved and people are encouraged to be engaged in the work of the committees. By all efforts, we must be sure to keep all faculty and staff aware, informed and involved in these important deliberations.
Last Friday, March 23, 2012, the college appeared before the JEMCO mid-year meeting here in Pohnpei to find ways to postpone the implementation of the JEMCO resolution and seek support to also lift the IDP freeze. As you may have aleady known, we were not successful in this effort. At this point in time, we are not able to determine whether the freeze will be for 2013 only.
COM-FSM is not alone in facing the serious financial challenges that all other colleges in the US and the region are facing. As we move forward, it will be clear to all of the subsequent funding challenges faced by the college.
Thank you for your inquiries and hope to continue to work closely with you on matters of great importance to the institution.
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Date posted: April 23, 2012
NOTE: This message was originally sent to Senate Faculty/Staff Representatives via email Date: January 13, 2012 2:11:31 PM GMT+11:00 Subject: Updates and pressing issues
Dear Senate members:
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