Minutes of CEBC Meeting
January 23, 2012

Attendees: Dennis Ray, Karen Tusack, Beth Ann Workmaster, Lea Aschkenase

Business:

1. Minutes of November 16, 2011 and December 14, 2011 CEBC meetings were approved.

2. Karen Tusack volunteered to be the Representative to the UW System Fringe Benefits Advisory Committee.

3. Layoff Communications Project.

Members discussed dissemination of lay-off communications, and it was decided that members would brainstorm ideas, list those ideas, and then pass the ideas along with a recommendation to ASEC. Three general areas were discussed: a) providing direct communication to anyone receiving a lay-off notice, such as by asking APO to modify its layoff notification letter template; b) providing a general information communications targeting all academic staff, such as by mailing a postcard or sending an e-mail; and c) creating generally accessible information, such as a web page or an electronic document that could be linked from, say, a CEBC web page. Members discussed these three ideas in more detail, and agreed to make the following recommendations to ASEC: create an electronic document that could be linked; send one email or one postcard to all academic staff; ask if APO could provide direct communication to anyone receiving a layoff letter. This will require asking APO to modify their letter to include a link to the Know Your Rights document. Further development of these communications would await a decision from ASEC and would likely be done in cooperation with the Communications Committee.

4. Members discussed the Know Your Rights document and made the following changes:

Under Know Your Rights, #1, d. was added: Your unit has to follow the policies laid out in Chapter 19. Under the same section, a new #1 was created to read: Layoff notices are often rescinded. Discuss this possibility with your supervisor to see if anything can be done. As a result of this change, the original #1 is now #2, and so forth. The document will be sent to ASEC by February 6, 2012. Beth has agreed to write a cover letter to include with the document in which the dissemination approaches and recommendation would be presented.

5. Members had a brief discussion about upcoming CEBC membership changes, and Dennis highlighted the importance of identifying a co-chair and a webmaster.

6. Lea reported on the progress of the Budget Impact on Academic Staff committee. The survey instrument is complete, and the committee is discussing when the survey will be disseminated to academic staff. The sub-committee that is working on follow-up telephone interviews has not yet completed the interview instrument.

7. Dennis report on the work of the Budget Committee. They are beginning to gather ideas for projects or programs to help academic staff deal with the changes occurring in compensation, working environment and procedures, and vision for the University.

Next meeting: February 20, 2012 9-10:30