Stewards Council 070211

In attendance: Jamie McCandless, David Zwart, Jason Trowbridge, Tim Duby, Lisa Horton, Amanda Bellino, Mar Roldan, Erdal Terkivatan, Elise Boneau, Micah Erwin, Michelle Erwin, Katie Brambrink, Marcie Noble, Angela from Sociology, Kelly Faust, Jessica Lynam.

1. Minutes and Agenda: Not available due to the Information Officer’s error.

2. Updates

a) Membership Meeting- David reported that we have more people active after the Membership Meeting, especially for the hot chocolate activity.

b) Bargaining: Marcie Noble reported on her experience at the bargaining last week. She thought it was interesting, especially to see the perspective that the other side has of us. Some perceive us as being well-taken care of, and others who see us rather differently. She encouraged other people to attend. The next dates are: Thursday 9:30am-1pm, Feb, 22nd from 2-5pm. Thursday March 1st, 9-11. David Zwart admonished people to get the word out even if they could not attend.

c) President: David went to an employees meeting with all the labors, and they were interested in our bargaining. Paul Wilson is very much on our side, he believes that TAU will be good for the university and will make it more competitive. David also went to a GSAC meeting. GSAC discussed the half-time assistantship for the GSAC vice-chair, so they requested from the dean that the vice-chair be made into a full time assistantship, but the chair then stipulated that he would have the control over who was appointed. David suggested that the dean might not be friendly to TAU’s interest.

3. Events/Actions/Works:

a) Check lists and work on cards for your department: David proposed that we expand our ability to communicate with the membership by updating our rolls and enticing new members.

b) B-Team Back Up: Discussed with the B-Team report.

c) Western Herald Article Response: David would like to have a response to the Western Herald’s article regarding the number of graduate employees. Kelly Faust volunteered. Katie Brambrink, volunteered. Jamie McCandless, will write a letter. Micah Erwin will consider it.

d) Hot Chocolate: Tuesday and Wednesday Feb 20 and 21st, to distribute hot cocoa and propaganda. We need people to do posters. A sign up sheet was passed around.

e) Department Meeting before Spring Break: We need to communicate better with people and one possible way was to have department meetings. Perhaps people identify with their departments more but it will require the stewards to speak with their departments. David asked for opinion about this approach. Jessica proposed that we extend this to those departments that are organized, but which do not show up. We should start setting this up.

f) Publications: David proposed a weekly Monday email containing 1) what’s happening this week 2) paragraph from someone who sat in bargaining 3) etc. We should also have another newsletter, sometime after Spring Break. David and Jason made a plea to have the information updated in order to facilitate better communication with the membership via email. Amanda Bellino suggested doing office visits again, as they worked.

g) Research: David asked that the Research committee for information on our compensation and other institutions to which Western compares itself through the Carnegie grant information. It would be important for other departments to get eth information about how many classes are taught by graduate assistants. Please input the information on the wiki or email it to an executive committee member.

h) Stepping it up. David suggested that, because Pres. Haeneke has an open office that we should try to get in and see him about our problems. We also need to find out when the next board of trustees meeting so that we can start making points to the board of trustees. This is the next step in exposing ourselves to the administration and the board of trustees.

The council revisited the idea of office visits, and agreed generally that many departments will need to be visited before they can have meeting.

Sociology-talking to people

Math-Will be having a meeting

Spanish-Will be trying to have a meeting

M.I.- We will need to talk to people.

English-There is need to organize communication among the English tas/gas and their academic gangs.

Blackhole-Psychology, Geosciences, Engineering and Computer Science, Music, Social Work, Geography, ..

David admonished people to 1) work in their departments 2) attend the b-team this Thursday 3) post their letters and 4) post their stats to the wiki at taubargain.pbwiki.com.

4. Next Meeting: Sunday February 18th at 3pm.

Meeting ended at 4pm.