See below for a complete list of winning candidates:

President
Merle Cuttitta

Executive Vice President
Ruth Musicante

Secretary
Nuri E. Funes
Treasurer
Pia Morrison

Trustee
Donna Hanson
Bella Portillo
Vice Presidents
K-12 Division, MCPS Paraeducators Chapter
Nathalie Bourdereau
Sally Murek
K-12 Division, MCPS Office Employees Chapter
Nikki G. Bucci
Monika C. Roberts
K-12 Division, MCPS Media & Technology Employees Chapter
John Garrett
K-12 Division, MCPS Transportation Employees Chapter 
Bob Herron
Michael A. White
K-12 Division, MCPS Building Service Employees Chapter 
Richard I. Dorsey
Sheila D. Sanford
K-12 Division, MCPS Food Service Employees Chapter 
Mary M. Belin
Higher Education Division
Kip Lornell

This Statement of Principles explains our values and talks about how proud we are of what we do each day. It is our positive vision of our work and what we as workers do each day to better the lives of the kids in the school system and the community as a whole.

We are asking MCPS Support Service professionals to schools sign on to theses beliefs and principles.

We, the supporting service employees of MCPS and members of SEIU Local 500, are essential to the delivery of excellence in education to the students of Montgomery County.  We are 38.2% of all staff members in MCPS and 30% of the direct instruction occurring in our school system.

No matter what position we have and what service we provide, “Commitment to Students” is our number 1 competency.

We recommit ourselves to a collective bargaining agreement that reflects our dedication and commitment to the students and our profession through the adoption of the following principles:

• An Organizational Culture of Respect fully implemented at every level of our school system

 

• Compensation and benefits worthy of our contribution to student achievement and reflective of our improving economy
• Improvements to our position designs that will maximize the value and relevance of all supporting services work, as well as enhancing our contributions to closing the achievement gap and ultimate student success
• Institutional respect and support for continuing professional development.
• Continuous improvements to work rules that maximize our contributions to student success employee morale
• Ensuring that every employee is safe and secure in their work places

 

Click here to endorse these principles!

For the first time in *years*, we have a real chance to modernize our immigration and enforcement systems; keep families together and put 11 million aspiring Americans on a dignified roadmap to citizenship. If this bill becomes law, undocumented immigrants can finally come out of the shadows and fully participate in our economy and our democracy–and future immigrants can come here legally.

#2: A path to citizenship.

An achievable path to citizenship for 11 million aspiring citizens who are currently undocumented is finally within reach.

If you’re an undocumented immigrant who arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, haven’t committed a felony, have a job, and pay a $500 fine and back taxes, you will immediately gain the status of “registered provisional” under this law. This measure will allow undocumented individuals to legally stay in the U.S. without fear or risk of deportation.

Ten years after being granted “registered provisional” status, applications for permanent residency would be allowed to start. In conclusion: the recognition-to-citizenship process would take a total of 13 years and require approximately $2,000 in fines from each adult affected.

#3- Keeping families together.

S. 744 contains provisions to reunite families separated by immigration detention and deportation.

Approximately about 23 percent of deportees have U.S. citizen children, many of whom end up in foster care upon separation from their mothers and fathers. S. 744 contains provisions to reunite families separated by immigration detention and deportation with children, spouses and/or parents who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents would be eligible to petition to return to the U.S. to be with their families. They would apply for Registered Provisional Immigrant status, or RPI, the 10-year visa that can then lead to a green card.

Keeping families together is the humane and right thing to do.

#4: We haven’t forgotten about the DREAMers…

The commonsense immigration reform bill released on April 17th includes a broad version of the DREAM Act. It would create a faster five-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the country before the age of 16.

Another big plus in the DREAM Act provisions is that they include no upper age limits for applicants. To qualify for a speedier path to citizenship, DREAMers who entered the country as children must have been enrolled in college for two years, graduated from college or served in the military for at least four years.

S. 744 also acknowledges the importance of farmworkers to the industry and authorizes workers who continue working in agriculture to apply for permanent residence five years after the bill’s enactment.

#5 – Protection for workers.

Exploited immigrant workers who blow the whistle on employer abuse will be eligible to apply for special visas. Employers who underpay or abuse undocumented workers will face 10-year imprisonments and enforced backpay compensation.

The bill also provides expansive new protections against exploitation and discrimination by foreign labor contractors – including prohibiting foreign labor contractors from misleading workers and establishing new disclosure requirements in an effort to prevent human trafficking.

E-Verify is a flawed system, but the bill will make improvements designed to provide workers with redress in case of system errors or employer misuse. Employers will be be mandated to begin using an improved version of E-Verify – an online system for determining the legal status of current and prospective employees – within five years.

By giving immigrants a voice at work, it will make not only their own workplaces safer–it will also have a ripple effect through entire industries, making work safer for all workers.

#6 – Achievable border security.

We have the strongest border security in American history.

S. 744 includes a significant expansion of enforcement – at the border, through the mandating of employment verification and in the interior. To construct a workable and humane immigration system, we need to target enforcement, spend resources wisely and respect basic rights. We also need to stay vigilant to make sure border security measures don’t become an excuse to stop the undocumented from receiving legal status and earning citizenship.

While this bill is not entirely perfect, it would represent a marked improvement over the current dysfunctional system. The bill, S. 744, needs support from both parties to move through Congress and to the President, and could be passed as early as June 2013. This short timeline makes it all the more urgent we make our voices heard now and throughout the month of May as amendments we like and dislike are introduced.

If you’re not already a part of our rapid response immigration action team, join us now.

We need to stand together to make sure these changes will work as they’re supposed to and that they’re fair to all workers. The only way this bill will become a law we can all live with is if we keep pushing to make it happen.

SEIU is committed to working with the Senate and House to make sure that Congress passes sensible and fair immigration legislation that will create a roadmap to citizenship without burdensome barriers, protect all working families, and strengthen future immigration channels.

On Friday, May 3, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) counted the votes for the Georgetown University Adjunct Faculty Union election.

The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the union, with 72% of the vote in support of forming a union.

“Universities across the country have been relying more and more on adjunct faculty over the last forty years,” said Kurt Brandhorst, an adjunct in the Georgetown philosophy department. “But the way adjuncts are viewed and treated has not changed to reflect this reality. This victory will help improve conditions at Georgetown, but because we are joining adjuncts at other institutions across the region, the implications go far beyond Georgetown.”

The University was praised for their attitude towards the adjuncts’ efforts to organize a union.

“This was a respectful process between the union and Georgetown University,” said David Rodich, Executive Director of SEIU Local 500. “The administration made a point of putting their social teaching into practice. They respected the right of adjunct faculty to organize, remained neutral and gave them the space and freedom to make this choice. I hope that other institutions will look at how Georgetown put its just employment policy into practice and that they will view this as a model for how universities should handle organizing campaigns.”

Everyone involved with Local 500 is entirely dedicated to its mission and it is a pleasure to be part of a group that really cares about, listens to and strives to acquire the resources part-time faculty need in order to do what we love – teach!

- Layla Hashemi, Montgomery College

I have worked as an adjunct professor, teaching English at colleges and universities for nearly thirty years, first in Ohio and now in Maryland. Adjuncts have always been paid a fraction of what full time professors make, never been given benefits and usually have little to no office space. It is my belief that as professionals on whom universities and colleges rely, we deserve better. I joined SEIU to work for these benefits for me and others like me. Since joining the union, I have seen some pay increases and other benefits. We expect to see more and larger benefits in the near future.

- Beverly Ricks, Montgomery College

 

Job Security

• More timely assignments
  • Assignments to teach will be made as early as possible
• Protections on recurring assignments
  • Assignments will be for a period of a semester, a semester, part of an academic year, one academic year, or longer. The terms of current appointments will be honored.
  • If an adjunct has taught the same course for at least semesters in the past three academic years, and the same course is going to be offered within one year of the adjunct’s most recent assignment, the adjunct is entitled to “good faith consideration” to reassignment to that course. This means that your assignment may only be cancelled, reduced or denied in certain circumstances outlined in Article 6.2.A of the contract. Those circumstances surround program or departmental downsizing, absorption of the course by a full-time faculty member, course cancellation for under-enrollment, misconduct, or the availability of an adjunct with “greater professional qualifications.”
  • If a course is denied in these circumstances, AU will make a “good faith effort” to find an alternative course.
  • If an adjunct is replaced by an adjunct with “greater professional qualifications” the replaced adjunct will receive 75% of the fee they would have received to teach the course.
• An expanded and more transparent evaluations process
  • Adjuncts will be evaluated at least every 3 academic years. The purpose of evaluations is to support excellence in teaching, to further academic and professional standards, and to provide for professional development.
  • Each teaching unit or academic unit establishes guidelines for evaluating teaching by members of that unit.
  • Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) will not be the sole criteria upon which adjunct faculty are evaluated. Other metrics will be taken into account.
  • Adjuncts may submit additional materials regarding the employee’s professional, artistic, or scholarly credentials that the employee desires to have considered as a part of the evaluation process.  Adjuncts may submit a written response to student evaluations, and any such response will be considered in the evaluation process.
  • Adjuncts may submit additional questions for the Department or Program to consider adding to their student evaluations, in order to address issues that are specific to the Department, Program, or course.
  • Adjuncts must be notified about concerns about their performance as soon as possible after the concerns arise. This means that you will be given the opportunity to address issues of concern.
  • Adjuncts may demonstrate effective teaching in a variety of ways, including course design, development of new curricular initiatives, up-to-date course content, student engagement and achievement outside the classroom, and adherence to evaluation procedures that accurately reflect student accomplishments.  Teaching units or academic units may also view publication and presentation of teaching materials and methodologies as a contribution to teaching.
  • Adjuncts entitled to good faith consideration may request a classroom observation and evaluation of the adjunct’s classroom performance once every six (6) semesters of teaching. The adjunct will receive feedback and may discuss the feedback with the evaluator.
• Discipline and Discharge for Just Cause Only
  • A “just cause” standard now applies to any discipline or discharge. This means that AU must provide substantial evidence of wrong-doing to justify discipline or dismissal, and must not act in an arbitrary, capricious or illegal manner. Adjuncts have due process if they are accused of wrong-doing.
  • ‘Binding arbitration’ applies to discipline and dismissal. This means that if the union or the adjunct faculty member believes that discipline or dismissal occurred without “just cause” a neutral arbitrator will make the final, binding decision.
• Academic freedom
  • The contract guarantees that adjuncts enjoy the same rights and obligations of academic freedom as do all faculty at American University, as provided in the Faculty Manual.
• Non-discrimination
  • American University and the Union will comply with the provisions of all applicable laws forbidding discrimination and harassment against or in favor of any employee on account of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, political affiliation, family responsibilities, disability, familial status, matriculation, marital status, source of income and place of residence or business, veteran status, or union membership. 
• Grievance and Arbitration
  • Any violation of the terms of the contract is subject to a grievance procedure that culminates in “binding arbitration” by a neutral third-party arbitrator. The union and American University will jointly bear any cost associated with a grievance brought by an adjunct.
  • New Minimum Rates Per Course
    • In order to bring the lowest paid adjuncts to a reasonable level of pay, new minimum rates are set up by the contract.
    • These minimums are designed to be a floor, not a ceiling.
    • Adjuncts paid below the minimum rate for a course taught in a prior academic term will be paid at the minimum rate or receive a $100.00 increase to their current rate (for each course taught), whichever results in a greater rate increase.
    • The rates will come into effect in summer 2013 and will be effective for the length of the agreement

Compensation

• Pay increases for adjuncts paid above the minimums
  • An adjunct paid above the minimum rate will receive a onetime $100 increase to their base rate for each course they teach.
  • An adjunct who is paid at or above the minimum rate as of August 31, 2014, but less than $5,000.00 as a base rate, will receive a onetime $50 increase in base rate beginning with the Fall 2014 Semester.
  • Increases will remain in place for the duration of the contract.
  • Music faculty
    • Applied music adjuncts will receive $60 per lesson hour, or for service on a jury committee, chamber music or sectional coaching.
    • There will be a $1000 stipend for performance ensembles in addition to the fee for the course
    • Compensation for other duties

• Course reduction fee
  • If your course is cancelled within three weeks of the date of the first class, you will receive a course reduction fee of $300, plus the pro-rated amount for classes taught if the course is cancelled after classes begin.
  • Other issues surrounding compensation
    • Adjuncts will be paid on a timely basis in accordance with the University’s normal business operations.
    • Adjuncts cannot be required to perform duties for which they are not compensated.
    • Adjuncts will have access to access to materials and supplies needed to teach the assigned course(s); access to computer workstations; access to printing and photocopying services for class related purposes; access to administrative support services for standard and reasonable requests during normal work hours; access to space (but not necessarily office space) to meet with and advise students; access to departmental guidelines or procedures relevant to adjunct faculty; and access, upon request, to and the use of standard instructional software and computer programs used to teach the assigned course(s). Adjuncts will be given access to a University email account, and shall regularly check for and return messages.
    • Student will be assigned to an applied music adjunct as soon as reasonably possible after the student signs up for the lesson.
    • Music adjuncts will have access to the Recital Hall and other performance spaces based upon the same criteria of priority use that apply to individual full-time faculty.
    • Adjuncts will be reimbursed for expenditures for materials and supplies used in the classroom and for costs associated with field trips or other extra-curricular activities with students that are pre-approved in writing by the Department Chair, or designated teaching unit administrator.
    • The contract creates a Professional Development Fund of $25,000, through which adjunct faculty may apply for reimbursement for professional development opportunities related to teaching.
    • An adjunct whose application is accepted will be reimbursed up to $550 in an academic year for verified expenditures related to the approved professional development opportunity.
    • An adjunct may miss one class related to attendance at the professional development opportunity, provided that the employee finds a substitute and notifies the Department Chair of the absence. The adjunct is not required to compensate the substitute.
    • Adjuncts will have access to the resources and assistance provided by American University’s Center for Teaching, Research and Learning.
    • Adjuncts may apply for support from the Teaching Enhancement Fund, Ideas Incubator Program, and Online Learning/Distance Course Development Grants.
    • The Union and American University will create a joint committee to discuss issues of mutual interest to adjuncts and AU.  The committee may consider and make recommendations on matters of general importance to adjuncts and AU. This committee gives adjuncts the opportunity to address issues between contract negotiations and to build a collaborative relationship between AU and the adjunct faculty union.
      • University meeting space and the intra-University mail system and food service will be made available to the Union in accord with the procedures established by Management for University organizations.
      • Courses suggested by employees
        • Adjuncts who have taught at American University for at least two (2) consecutive semesters may propose new courses to be taught, and offer the design of and syllabus for the course with the proposal.  If the Department or equivalent academic unit decides to offer the course as designed by the adjunct, the adjunct will be:  (1) given the right of first refusal to teach the course the first time that it is offered; or (2) paid a minimum course development fee of $1500.00, at the discretion of AU.
        • Leave
          • Leave requests will continue to be reasonably accommodated.
          • Candidate Presentations
            • Adjuncts may be invited, but are not obligated, to attend candidate presentations conducted in the hiring of full-time faculty.
            • Personnel files
              • American University will maintain one (1) official personnel file for each adjunct to which the employee will have access upon reasonable notice in the same manner as other American University employees.
              • This Agreement becomes effective as of June 1, 2013, and shall continue in full force and effect until August 31, 2015.
              • We will reopen negotiations for a second agreement in the spring of 2015.

Supports for teaching

• Adjuncts will have access to access to materials and supplies needed to teach the assigned course(s); access to computer workstations; access to printing and photocopying services for class related purposes; access to administrative support services for standard and reasonable requests during normal work hours; access to space (but not necessarily office space) to meet with and advise students; access to departmental guidelines or procedures relevant to adjunct faculty; and access, upon request, to and the use of standard instructional software and computer programs used to teach the assigned course(s). Adjuncts will be given access to a University email account, and shall regularly check for and return messages.
• Student will be assigned to an applied music adjunct as soon as reasonably possible after the student signs up for the lesson.
• Music adjuncts will have access to the Recital Hall and other performance spaces based upon the same criteria of priority use that apply to individual full-time faculty.
• Adjuncts will be reimbursed for expenditures for materials and supplies used in the classroom and for costs associated with field trips or other extra-curricular activities with students that are pre-approved in writing by the Department Chair, or designated teaching unit administrator.

Professional Development Fund

• The contract creates a Professional Development Fund of $25,000, through which adjunct faculty may apply for reimbursement for professional development opportunities related to teaching.
• An adjunct whose application is accepted will be reimbursed up to $550 in an academic year for verified expenditures related to the approved professional development opportunity.
• An adjunct may miss one class related to attendance at the professional development opportunity, provided that the employee finds a substitute and notifies the Department Chair of the absence. The adjunct is not required to compensate the substitute.

Other Professional Development Opportunities

• Adjuncts will have access to the resources and assistance provided by American University’s Center for Teaching, Research and Learning.
• Adjuncts may apply for support from the Teaching Enhancement Fund, Ideas Incubator Program, and Online Learning/Distance Course Development Grants.

Union/Management Collaboration Committee

• The Union and American University will create a joint committee to discuss issues of mutual interest to adjuncts and AU.  The committee may consider and make recommendations on matters of general importance to adjuncts and AU. This committee gives adjuncts the opportunity to address issues between contract negotiations and to build a collaborative relationship between AU and the adjunct faculty union.

Union Rights

• Dues deduction
  • AU has agreed to deduct union membership dues and/or fees from the compensation of those adjuncts who choose to join the union
  • Adjuncts may choose to have voluntary contributions to the SEIU Local 500 Committee on Political Education (COPE) deducted from their compensation.
• Modified agency fee
  • Adjuncts who are currently employed to teach at American University may choose to join the union and be full members. Those who choose not to join the union will receive all the protections and benefits of the contract and will be equally represented by SEIU Local 500, but will not be required to pay a fee for those services.
  • Adjuncts who are newly hired by American University under the terms of this contract may choose to either join the union or pay a service charge (agency fee) toward the cost of representation and administration of the contract.
• No strike/no lockout
  • Our agreement represents the establishment of a productive relationship between the adjunct faculty and American University. During the length of the adjuncts agree not to strike and American University agrees not to “lockout” the adjunct faculty. This does not mean that adjunct faculty cannot undertake other activities and actions designed to ameliorate their working conditions at American University.
• Bulletin boards
  • Adjuncts will be permitted to post notices pertaining to legitimate and appropriate Union interests on designated University bulletin boards.
• Union leaders
  • Adjuncts who choose to become workplace leaders for their Union will be recognized by the Union and the University as representatives of the Union and will be able to attend to matters of administration of the agreement.
• Meeting space and mail

Miscellaneous

• Courses suggested by employees
  • Adjuncts who have taught at American University for at least two (2) consecutive semesters may propose new courses to be taught, and offer the design of and syllabus for the course with the proposal.  If the Department or equivalent academic unit decides to offer the course as designed by the adjunct, the adjunct will be:  (1) given the right of first refusal to teach the course the first time that it is offered; or (2) paid a minimum course development fee of $1500.00, at the discretion of AU.
• Leave
  • Leave requests will continue to be reasonably accommodated.
• Candidate Presentations
  • Adjuncts may be invited, but are not obligated, to attend candidate presentations conducted in the hiring of full-time faculty.
• Personnel files
  • American University will maintain one (1) official personnel file for each adjunct to which the employee will have access upon reasonable notice in the same manner as other American University employees.

Length of Agreement

• This Agreement becomes effective as of June 1, 2013, and shall continue in full force and effect until August 31, 2015.
• We will reopen negotiations for a second agreement in the spring of 2015.