MINUTES UAF STAFF COUNCIL MEETING #90 Wednesday, May 7, 1997 Wood Center Ballroom I Paula Long called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Banks, P. Cushing, N. Bender, L. Kenworthy, M. Carroll, P. Harris, L. Chapman, C. Pederson, J. Enochs, K. Pierce, R. Frey, B. Trice, D. Gieck, B. Wilken, S. Howald, C. Underwood, S. Johnson, J. Jordan, S. OTHERS PRESENT: Leavy, D. Christensen, S. Long, P. Combellick, M. Magee, P. Harris, L. McHenry, Y. Kastelic, P. Murawsky, N. Mosca, K. Oleson, B. Nuss, S. Plowman, S. Scholle, M. Powell, D. Wadlow, J. Ritchie, E. White, P. Scalise, G. Thomas, M. B. The Minutes to Meeting #89 (April 8, 1997) were approved as distributed via e-mail. C. The agenda was adopted with the deletion of a report from Vice Chancellor Rice, since he was attending a conference out of town. Don Lynch from the Faculty Senate gave his report first, since he had to attend another meeting. II Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Remarks - M. Rice Vice Chancellor Rice was attending a conference out of town, no report available. III Chancellorıs Remarks - J. Wadlow The Chancellor seconded the comments of Don Lynch regarding the accomplishments of Staff Council and the Faculty Senate this past year, especially the staff training and the recognition program. The Chancellor also cited the marvelous editorial by the former University president, William Wood in the Daily News Miner today regarding the greatness of the University of Alaska. The Governor signed a proclamation commemorating UAF's 80th birthday and calls for a year long celebration. The proclamation was read by Tom Moyer at a general luncheon meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. There are a number of Alaska high school graduating seniors who are undecided on where they are going to college or if they are going to go. UAF has developed a campaign to pursue these seniors which will include radio, TV, telephone, mail, and e- mail. Also, UAF will be sponsoring a picnic on June 11 for graduating seniors. There will be tours of the campus and various departments will be making presentations. FY99 Budget Planning - The Chancellor has sent information regarding the budget request for FY99. A list of priorities for improvement increments will be submitted for new monies to the legislature. However, the legislature has not funded this for the past 5 years. The governance groups, as well as deans and directors, will provide input by the end of May. The Board of Regents passed a $5/credit technology fee which may change the priority of computerizing the campus as one of the increments. There is a lot of uncertainty regarding next year's budget. UAF is looking at a shortfall of $4-7 million. When the Chancellor knows what the budget will be, she will let Staff Council know. President-Elect Long asked what vehicles are being utilized to alleviate this shortfall. The Chancellor stated that since January, the deans and directors have been asked to prioritize filling RIP positions, asked to identify funds to pay for salary increases internally, and asked to find additional funds through administrative cost reductions. Multiple tools are being used to alleviate the shortfall. All positions full- time permanent, RIP or otherwise, that become vacant have been frozen. The Chancellor encouraged everyone to become more politically active and advance the case of the University. The Chancellor stated that she is looking forward to the staff longevity awards program on May 15. A representative asked if programs, i.e. exercise science, that are going to be cut because of decreased funding will be reinstated in the future. The Chancellor stated that it depends on the level of funding from the legislature and the direction the Regents establish in their long range planning. The Chancellor will be attending commencement ceremonies at Bethel, Bristol Bay, and Unalaska. IV Presidentıs Report - P. Long President Pierce is currently in the lower 48 participating in training. The longevity awards ceremony will be on May 15 and President-Elect Long encouraged everyone to attend. Nominations are due May 16 for the Chancellor's Recognition Award which will be presented on June 6 at the staff picnic. President-Elect Long reiterated the comments by Don Lynch and the Chancellor that all UAF employees need to become more politically active in light of the current financial outlook for the University. President-Elect Long attended the rally at the Legislative Information Office. Buttons were distributed at the rally and the Staff Council meeting which say, "I proudly support the University of Alaska." Buttons were also sent to the rural representatives. Special thanks to Staff Alliance for providing the funding for the buttons. Marie Scholle, past president of Staff Council has been elected vice president of the Alumni Association. JEF Project - President-Elect Long stated that it has come to her attention that prior to the JEF project statewide employees underwent the evaluation process and received raises for all the employees who moved up a range. Staff Affairs has requested the President-Elect Long write a strong letter of protest for these actions. Representatives concurred and made and seconded the following motion which was passed with unanimous approval. MOTION PASSED (unanimous) =============== The UAF Staff Council moves that President-Elect Long write a letter of protest to President Komisar through Staff Alliance regarding Statewide employees receiving increases due to their job being evaluated and that staff at the other MAUs will not receive an increase unless they are below Step A. EFFECTIVE: Immediately ********** Governance Reports A. Faculty Senate - D. Lynch Don Lynch thanked Staff Council for the opportunity to speak at the Staff Council meetings and stated that the Faculty Senate, Staff Council and ASUAF have had a good working relationship this past year. The new senators will be seated at the May meeting and John Craven from Physics will take over as president. Madeline Schatz from Music will be the President-Elect and Maynard Perkins from Northwest Campus will be the third member to the Faculty Alliance. This past year, the Chancellor has approved all the motions sent to her from the Senate. Don Lynch encouraged everyone to be politically active in the coming year. B. ASUAF - S. Nuss Steve Nuss, newly elected president of ASUAF gave the report. ASUAF selected Liza Fonte from Wood Center and John Zarling from Mechanical Engineering for the biweekly staff and faculty awards. They also sent certificates to everyone who is retiring. ASUAF is getting the Technology Board up and running and asked for two staff members to serve on the committee. The Board will be made up of staff, faculty, and students and will set priorities on how the $5/credit technology fee will be utilized at UAF. ASUAF will continue to work with faculty and staff governance for the betterment of the University. The recycling program will be restructured next year by targeting offices, i.e. paper recycling. Representatives asked Steve Nuss what his long term goals are and what made him run for president of ASUAF. Steve Nuss stated that he was not allowed to speak with the Chancellor and decided to run for president and have a student voice to the Chancellor. His long range goals have not been completed yet, but one area will be the community service director. This position has been vacant for a semester and he would like to see this become an extremely active department. It is very important that UAF have strong-positive visibility in the community. Also, clubs on campus will be encouraged to participate in community service. VI Guest Speaker A. Patty Kastelic, Executive Director, Statewide Human Resources Job Evaluation Project - The University undertook this project because a number of positions did not have a current description on file and appropriately placed. This also helped alleviate inequities in the system. A vast majority of the jobs stayed at the same range. The appeals committee, made up of staff and the personnel directors from each MAU looked at approximately 330- 350 appeals systemwide and were commended for their hard work. Representatives asked how many appeals were reversed. Patty Kastelic stated that only approximately 10% were reserved and this is a strong affirmation of the initial placement. A staff member stated that she was misinformed on how to fill out the JEF and employees were not allowed to elaborate on their duties during the appeals process and asked what was the next step to get this corrected and how will jobs be evaluated in the future. Patty Kastelic stated that job duties change all the time. Once the appeals process is over, there will be an opportunity to submit changed jobs and Human Resources will continue to use some means of outside evaluation in this process. As of March 30, those employees below Step A in their new range were moved to Step A and received an increase. Those employees who were within their new range did not receive an increase. Paid Time Off - Patty Kastelic reported to the Board of Regents that staff was not unanimous regarding this issue and that it has never been the goal with PTO to save money but as a system that is equitable for everyone involved. Changing to PTO may discourage the misuse of sick leave. The budgeting process for sick leave may be changed to alleviate the misuse. In the past, departments have asked their employees to take sick leave to alleviate a budget shortfall. Representatives asked what is the status of the sick leave bank. Patty Kastelic stated that ADA requires a certain amount of privacy when it comes to matters of illness and the bank is not in compliance with that. She also thanked Staff Affairs for the information they forwarded regarding sick leave banks from the School District and the Borough. Over the summer, Human Resources will be developing a few options regarding a sick leave bank for staff consideration. Representatives stated that a majority of their constituents are in favor of PTO and recommended that staff and administration continue dialogue on this issue and Patty Kastelic stated that she is willing to continue discussing this issue. Marie Scholle stated that Staff Alliance has been working on PTO and coordinating efforts with Staff affairs. Concerns have been expressed by rural representatives regarding sick leave usage. For example, rural staff in Kotzebue has to travel to Anchorage for a root canal, and a staff member in Seward has to drive part of the day to Anchorage for a doctor or dentist appointment which would take an hour or two for a staff member in Fairbanks. Loosing eight days of sick leave would greatly impact rural staff. Cheryl Chapman reiterated that rural staff have to travel for certain medical care and tests. Patty Kastelic stated that there is a serious financial problem and the University cannot be instituting programs which will add to the problem. The program has to be revenue neutral. Health Benefits - The Task Force is preparing a summary report that will be posted on their web page. The minutes and agendas are also available on the web page. The Task Force is looking at two avenues, cap the University's contribution for health care and let the plan stay exactly as it is and have employees absorb the extra cost of the plan, or the University caps what they are going to contribute but the plan is modified in incremental small ways so that the cost increases are slow and there isn't a lot of cost shifting to employees. The plan currently costs $402/month per employee and is a sizable contribution by the University. This amount has been agreed to in the new ACCEFT contract and will be in the CEA contract plus a 3% inflator. The employees in these two groups will be absorbing the extra cost increases beyond that amount next year or discussing plan modifications. Patty Kastelic will be making a presentation in the fall on the results of the Health Benefits Task Force work. Representatives recommended contracting more care with nurse practitioners for routine and preventative measures. Also representatives again recommended instituting a wellness program to take a proactive stance to rising health costs. Representatives asked for clarification on if the Health Benefits Task Force will be making recommendations/decisions to the health benefits package. Patty Kastelic stated that the Task Force was not making recommendations/decisions and she would not ask any employee to do that. The Task Force just considered what standard options in health care plan design and reviewed them and reviewed the impact and will submit a report. This is not at the level of submitting a recommendation. A compensation survey will be done this summer to see where the University has to be to compete with other employers. Patty Kastelic also stated that there will probably be layoffs because of the budget shortfall. VII Committee Reports A. Elections, Membership & Rules - L. Bender 1. Bev Frey and Carter Howald had been nominated. However, Carter Howald regretfully withdrew his name from consideration for president-elect. After a brief discussion, a motion was made and seconded and passed with unanimous approval that Beverly Frey from Geophysical Institute will be the next president-elect of Staff Council. MOTION PASSED (unanimous) =============== The UAF Staff Council moves to approve Beverly Frey from the Geophysical Institute as the president-elect beginning June 1. EFFECTIVE: Immediately ********** 2. Motion to amend Bylaws to include the role of immediate past president, First Reading A great deal of debate took place on the first reading of the motion to formally incorporate the duties of the immediate past president in the Staff Council Bylaws. Concerns were expressed that this would limit the president from appointing whomever they wish to various committees. Former past presidents stated that their resources are tapped all the time and they are still active in governance. After further discussion, the motion was sent back to committee for further review. B. The Council took a five minute break. C. Rural Affairs - B. Oleson 1. Resolution on Health Benefits Task Force The committee passed two resolutions, one regarding health benefits and the other regarding Paid Time Off. The Paid Time Off resolution was combined with the motion from Staff Affairs. The committee addressed supervising training topics for the next fiscal year. Suggestions included handling stressful employees; conflict management; humor in the workplace; and money management, i.e. pension plans. The committee is looking into who funded the supervisory training for rural sites and will formally thank them. The committee is continuing their work on the paper flow issue. Barb Oleson was elected chair for the coming year. RESOLUTION PASSED (unanimous) =================== WHEREAS, Local governance groups were asked to appoint staff to a Statewide Health Benefits Task Force; and WHEREAS, The primary roles of the Task Force are to be a sounding board for plan design issues, assist in identification of effective communication methods, help assess benefit options, keep governance and the administration informed, and assist the University in identifying options that will slow the rate of increase in the cost of health care; and WHEREAS, The Rural Affairs Committee members, as well as the rest of Staff Council, have listened to issues related to the review process of the benefits package; and WHEREAS, The Rural Affairs Committee members have reiterated the issues associated with medical care in a rural area, i.e. availability and travel, etc.; and WHEREAS, The Task Force members have expressed their frustration regarding providing input on taking a proactive instead of a re- active approach to curtailing health care costs; now THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the Rural Affairs Committee opposes the Benefit Task Force focus on proposing cuts to the current benefit package; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Task Force focus their efforts on curtailing the health care costs without decreasing the level of benefits currently in place by focusing on the areas which are the most costly and develop ways to decrease these costs and implement a wellness program. Dated this 7th day of May, 1997. ********** D. Staff Affairs - B. Frey 1. Resolution on Paid Time Off Per the Regents' Office, all the chancellors has asked that the issue of Paid Time Off (PTO) be put on hold. However, Staff Affairs would like staff comments on record when this issue resurfaces. PTO benefits all employees, especially long term employees. A great deal of debate focused on the comments by Patty Kastelic that PTO must be cost neutral in light of current financial situation. Representatives stated that some of their constituents were appalled at the recommendation from Administrative to cut sick leave by eight (8) days. Other representatives stated that some form of concession may be needed to implement such a program. Rural representatives reiterated their point that a majority of the time, they have to travel to another city to receive medical care. Representatives reiterated the need for a sick leave bank and commended Staff Affairs on the information they compiled on the Borough and School District's sick leave banks. A motion was made and seconded to approve the following resolution and passed with 2 nays. RESOLUTION PASSED (20 yeas, 2 nays) ================== WHEREAS, The University of Alaska Statewide Office of Human Resources has proposed changes from our current leave program to a combined sick leave/annual leave program; and WHEREAS, the idea of Paid Time Off (PTO) is supported by the staff of the University of Alaska Fairbanks; and WHEREAS, the current proposal presented to the staff of the University of Alaska Fairbanks is unacceptable; and WHEREAS, this proposal directly affects the current working onditions of all the staff of the University of Alaska; and WHEREAS, the staff of the University of Alaska Fairbanks believes that a communal and shared sick leave bank is of value to the University and its classified and APT employees; and WHEREAS, the combining of sick and annual leave would eliminate the pressure placed on some staff to use sick leave to alleviate budget shortfalls in their department; and WHEREAS, the staff of the University of Alaska Fairbanks believes staff input is vital to the process of changing contract benefits under which we were hired; now THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the current leave program be replaced with a program which includes the elements outlined below: A. LEAVE POLICY 1. The annual leave and sick leave benefits of the classified and APT employees of the University of Alaska will be combined into one Paid Time Off (PTO) benefit. 2. Said PTO would be available for employee use when the staff member experiences a sick event, or at time when the current annual leave would be used. 3. PTO leave accrual rates will be: 0-5 years' employment [22] hours per month 5-10 years' employment [24] hours per month 10+ years' employment [26] hours per month These accrual rates are in line with other governmental units in the Fairbanks area (See Appendix A) 4. No caps will be placed on the amount of leave in which a staff member can accrue. 5. There will be no mandatory requirement for annual PTO leave usage. 6. A voluntary, shared, communal sick leave bank will be established based on the example of the North Star Borough and the North Star Borough School District (see Appendices B and C) which contains the following elements: a. Participation in the bank will be open to all UA classified and APT employees, on a voluntary basis b. A Sick Leave Bank Committee will be convened from within the University of Alaska Fairbanks, membership to include 2 classified staff members, 2 APT members and 2 representatives from the UA statewide office of Human Resources, to include one voting member and one non-voting member. No more than 3 members of the committee shall be of supervisory status. c. Monthly contributions will be 2.5 hours, with the understanding that the rate is subject to increase if the bank falls below a number of hours determined by the Sick Leave Bank Committee. d. Participating employees of the sick leave bank shall have access to leave hours in the bank following a 30 day initial waiting period. Following that period, granting of sick leave hours from this bank will be the decision of the Sick Leave Bank Committee. e. All information regarding requests and the decisions of the Sick Leave Bank Committee are to remain confidential. f. The policies and procedures for requesting sick leave from the bank will be determined by the initial Sick Leave Bank Committee, and will become effective pending acceptance of such policies and procedures by the UAF Staff Council. B. LEAVE CONVERSION 1. Current leave balances will be converted at the following rates: a. All annual leave will be converted into PTO on at a 1:1 ratio. b. Sick leave will be converted at a 1:1 ratio up to a combined total of annual and sick leave which is not to exceed 160 hours c. Any excess sick leave beyond the total PTO hours of 160 will be converted at the employees' discretion in one of 3 ways: 1. Excess sick leave hours will go into a personal sick leave bank. This personal bank will be available for use by the employee in the event of a sick event. Access to this sick leave bank will be governed by the rules currently in effect regarding sick leave usage. At the time of termination, this sick leave bank will disappear. 2. Employees may convert excess sick leave to PTO at a rate of 40%. That is, 40% of their excess sick leave will be converted to PTO. The remaining 60% will disappear. 3. Employees may convert excess sick leave into a cash- out option of 25%. That is, 25% of their excess sick leave will be cashed out by the university. The remaining 75% will disappear. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any part of this proposal is unacceptable to the University of Alaska administration, the current leave system will remain intact, pending further discussion between the University of Alaska administration and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Staff Council. ******************* Appendix A For the sake of comparison to other governmental units, we present the following accrual rate information. It does not represent agreements between the particular unit and any collective bargaining unit. The first column represents the years the employee has been employed by the institution. >From the State of Alaska Division of Personnel (which has a combined annual and sick leave benefit): 0-2 years 2 days/month = 24 days/year 2-5 years 2.25 days/month = 27 days/year 5-10 years 2.5 days/month = 30 days/year 10 + years 3 days/month = 36 days/year >From the Fairbanks North Star Borough Division of Personnel (which has a combined annual and sick leave benefit): 0-1 years 2 days/month = 24 days/year 1-3 years 2.25 days/month = 27 days/year 3-7 years 2.75 days/month = 33 days/year 7 + years 3 days/month = 36 days/year >From the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Department of Personnel: The School District does not have a combined leave program. Sick leave accrual is 1 1/3 days per month, which equals 15.6 days per year, a .6 increase over current University sick leave accrual. Annual Leave accrual is as follows: 0-2 years 1.5 days/month=18 days/year; combined=33.6 days/year 3 years 1.7 days/month=20.4 days/year; combined=36 days/year 4 years 1.9 days/month=22.8 days/year; combined=34.8 days/year 5 years 2.1 days/month=25.2 days/year; combined=40.8 days/year 6 years 2.3 days/month=27.6 days/year; combined=43.2 days/year 7+ years 2.5 days/month=30 days/year; combined=45.6 days/year >From the City of Fairbanks Personnel Department: Accrual rates are 20 hours per month of Personal leave. This equals 2.5 days per month, 30 days per year. ****************** Appendix B FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR BOROUGH SICK LEAVE BANK POLICY ELIGIBILITY Employees are eligible to become a member and contribute leave to the Sick Leave Bank when they have been employed by the Fairbanks North Star Borough in a permanent position for ninety (90) days. Employees are eligible to request withdrawals from the Bank when they have been a member of the bank for ninety (90) days. MEMBERSHIP Membership in the Bank shall commence by submitting a completed membership form to the Personnel Division. Membership forms shall be distributed to employees by the Personnel Division upon request. Employees wishing to discontinue membership shall submit a Notification of Withdrawal from Membership to the Personnel Division prior to November 1 of each year and shall become effective January 1. LEAVE CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions of leave to the Bank constitutes a minimum of four (4) hours at the time of membership and an additional four (4) hours each January thereafter. During the January donation period, the Committee shall be empowered to delete members not authorizing sick leave donation within thirty (30) days from date of notice. The Committee will inform all members of the Bank if the bank balance falls below a minimum amount (to be determined after the initial membership drive). The Committee shall be authorized to require additional leave donations to bring the bank balance up to the designated level. There is no limit as to maximum leave amount allowable to be contributed. Leave contributions to the Sick Leave Bank cannot be reinstated to the employee's personal accrued leave balance. WITHDRAWALS All accrued or donated leave hours must be exhausted prior to utilization of Bank hours. Employees will continue to accrue leave while using leave donated from the Bank, but the employee's personal accrued leave during the pay period will be applied before bank hours are used. Requests for withdrawals from the Bank shall be reviewed by the Sick Leave Bank Committee. Withdrawals will not be approved if the Sick Leave Bank account falls below a minimum number of hours. The leave in the bank will be held until additional leave is donated. A Medical Certification Form must accompany the request, which will include the following information from the employee: name, patient's name, diagnosis, date condition commenced, probable duration of condition, and treatment to be prescribed. The following information will be required for a member of the immediate family: diagnosis, necessity of employee's attendance, and period of time needed. While on leave, employees may be required to report periodically to the Committee regarding the status of the medical condition and their intent to return to work. A maximum of 240 hours will be permitted for withdrawal per year per employee. The maximum number of hours granted per illness will be calculated by the Committee based on the illness, doctor's statement, and ability to perform essential duties. In no case shall the maximum withdrawal that can be drawn on any given illness or injury exceed 240 hours. A maximum withdrawal per employment, per member, is 960 hours. Request for withdrawal for parental leave is prohibited. Death in the Immediate Family The Intent of the Sick Leave Bank Guidelines is to provide members with the ability to use up to 120 hours of paid leave in the event of a death of an immediate family member. Withdrawal from the sick leave bank will be effective upon exhaustion of the three (3) day funeral leave and all accrued or donated leave hours (e.g., if a death in the employee's immediate family occurs and the employee has a total of 40 hours of accrued personal leave, the Sick Leave Bank policy will be applied as follows: 24 hours funeral leave, 40 hours personal leave, 56 hours sick leave bank for a maximum total of 120 hours). The use of personal leave is not being limited by this policy. GENERAL GUIDELINES Yearly review of the Sick Leave Bank shall be conducted by members of the Committee, consisting of at least one representative of APEA and one from the Employer. Approval or denial of Sick Leave Bank withdrawal requests by the Committee shall be final and not subject to the grievance procedure. Action by two members of the Committee (one APEA, one Employer) may be taken after a reasonable attempt has been made to notify all members of the Committee. Any section of the APEA Contract with reference to the Bank shall be adhered to and rigidly followed by the Committee. The Sick Leave Bank Committee shall keep records of all actions taken by the Committee. GUIDELINES FOR COMMITTEE USE IN DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 1. Illness or injury of employee. 2. Illness or injury to a member of employee's immediate family which requires the attendance of the employee. 3. Death of spouse or other member of the immediate family which requires absence for more than three (3) working days (see withdrawal criteria) DEFINITIONS Immediate family shall be defined as a spouse, son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, mother- in-law, father-in-law, or grandchild. ****************** Appendix C Taken from: Negotiated Agreement between Board of Education, Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and Education Support Staff Associated, July 1, 1995 - June 30, 1997; pages 32-35 e. Sick Leave Bank 1. There is hereby created a Sick Leave Bank which shall be administered by the ESSA. The ESSA shall indemnify and save the District harmless against any claim by any person or entity rising out of any use or claimed misuse or nonuse of the Sick Leave Bank. This provision shall not be subject to the grievance procedure. 2. Any employee is eligible to becomes a member of the Sick Leave Bank. An employee may elect to join the Sick Leave Bank by informing the ESSA in writing during the first thirty (30) days of initial employment for newly hired employees, or during the month of May for all other employees. An employee electing not to join the Sick Leave Bank shall not be eligible for Sick Leave Bank grant until the next annual enrollment, when the employee will again have the opportunity to become a member of the Sick Leave Bank. A member's election to join the Sick Leave Bank shall remain in effect until the next annual enrollment. The bank shall be administered through the same administrative channels and regulations as for sick leave except as noted in this Article. 3. Employees will be permitted to transfer a maximum of two (2) days of sick leave annually to the ESSA Sick Leave Bank. Following an employee's enrollment as a Sick Leave Bank member, one (1) day of sick leave shall be transferred from his/her sick leave account to the Sick Leave Bank. This shall occur by the first day of the fiscal year for current employees, or after the 30th calendar day of initial employment for newly hired employees., If, at the time of required contribution, an employee does not have a day to contribute, the next available day shall be transferred. All leave transferred to the Bank by an employee is final and not recoverable for recredit to his/her personal sick leave account. If at the end of each fiscal year the remaining number of days in the Bank exceeds one hundred percent (100%) of the number of ESSA members now are members of the Sick Leave Bank, only newly hired employees will be permitted to transfer leave to the Bank after the 30th calendar day of initial employment. Employees will be permitted to transfer up to five (5) days of sick leave to the ESSA Sick Leave Bank upon retirement or resignation. 4. In any fiscal year, an employee will be permitted to withdraw up to twice the number of days of sick leave the employee had accrued before the onset of the illness, up to a maximum of forty (40) days. If an employee has accrued ten (10) or fewer days of sick leave before the onset of the illness, the employee would be eligible to withdraw up to twenty (20) days in any fiscal year. 5. Requests for withdrawal from the bank may be approved by the Committee when the following conditions have been satisfied: a. All of the employee's accrued sick leave has been exhausted b. The employee has been on leave without pay for at least five (5) working days. The five (5) days leave without pay may be reimbursed from hours granted by the Sick Leave Bank. c. A doctor's certificate is presented verifying the employee's need for leave. The Committee shall not grant any requests for Sick Leave Bank hours in excess of the number of hours in the Bank. Should an employee who has received a grant from the Sick Leave Bank return to work prior to using all the hours authorized by the Bank, the remaining hours will be restored to the Sick Leave Bank from the employee's sick leave account. 6. Administration of the Sick Leave Bank shall be audited at the end of each school year by a representative of the Association and a representative of the Administration. During the term of this agreement, if the District should agree to contract language with the Fairbanks Education Association (FEA) that includes the automatic transfer of a Sick Leave Bank members' hours to the Sick Leave Bank following initial enrollment until such time as the employee revokes his/her membership in the Sick Leave Bank, the District will make a comparable procedure available to ESSA. f. Emergency Provision In the event the Sick Leave Bank has exhausted its days available for use by employees, the ESSA shall notify the Employer in writing of its intention to conduct an emergency Sick Leave Bank drive. Any employee who may wish to contribute one (1) day of his/her accumulated sick leave to the Bank must do so in writing. Supplemental contributions may be made only once per fiscal year. 2. Committee Report In the February 10, 1997 Benefits Update information, rationale was presented for changing from the current system of leave to a combined Paid Time Off (PTO) system of leave. One of the reasons for the change is quoted below. "Currently, all eligible full-time staff accrue 15 days of sick leave annually. This leave can only be used in specific circumstances and its accumulation serves as "income insurance" in cases of illness. The University funds this program based on past years' actual costs, not on the accrued amount. It is assumed that in any given year many employees, or dependents requiring care, will have short illnesses requiring the use of a few sick leave days while others will find themselves in circumstances which require more sick leave usage. The national average sick leave use varies by occupation and industry; however, most employees use 5 days of sick leave per year." At the April 8 meeting, Staff Council directed Staff Affairs to get documentation which would back up the annual sick leave usage average of 5 days per year. The documentation provided by Mike Humphrey consisted of the following articles: Employee Cost Indexes and Levels, 1975 - 1992, US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 1992, Bulletin 2413, pages 10-16, and page 101 Bureau of Labor Statistics Data from their web page found at http://stats.bls.gov:80/datahome.htm Alaska Economic Trends, Alaska Department of Labor, October 1995, pages 1-6 Are Sick Days a Thing of the Past? Sixth Annual CCH Survey Shows Worker Absenteeism Costs Business Millions Annually, Illness Is No Longer Primary Reason for Unscheduled Absences , Pattie Schiele and Mary Dale Walters. A summary of Commerce Clearing House (CCH) Incorporated survey entitled 1996 Unscheduled Absence Survey Firms take new look at sick days, USA Today Newspaper, Tuesday October 8, 1996, page 8B. The bulk of the information regards private industry, not government jobs. The US Department of Labor believes that such a comparison is misleading. In the booklet Employment Cost Indexes and Levels, 1975 - 92, the difficulties associated with comparing private industry and government jobs is addressed on page 15. "Aggregate compensation cost levels in State and local governments should not be compared directly with those in private industry. Differences between the two sectors stem from a number of factors, particularly the variation in work activities and occupation structures. Manufacturing and sales, for example, make up a large part of private industry work activities but are rarely found in State and local governments." Further down in the article it states, "Occupational categories in some cases contain a substantially different mix of occupations in private industry than in State and local governments. Service occupations in State and local governments (including police and firefighters) had compensation costs that averaged nearly twice as much as those in private industry (where occupations such as waiters and waitresses, cooks, bartenders and janitors were prevalent) -- $16.52 and hour compared with $8.43." It is our opinion that such comparisons do not accurately portray how the University of Alaska ranks in benefit compensation in comparison to other universities with similar student populations, in similar locations, or providing similar services. A comparison of this type would be far more fruitful in determining if leave usage is out of line with other entities which are truly like us. The only place I found any average for use of sick leave by people in governmental units was the USA Today article, which had a chart saying that the national average of sick leave use by government workers is 6.1 days per year. The information was taken from the CCH Survey, of which a copy was unavailable. To find how uninformative this information by itself is, I go to the summary of the CCH survey provided. The summary states, "Industry sectors hardest hit by mean unscheduled absences and costs also were hardest hit in the number of sick days granted compared to the number of sick days used. Among all companies, 15 sick days is a common benefit for employees. The maximum number of sick days offered are by Universities with 24 days, Government with 21 days and Manufacturing with 20 days." Using this quote alone, one could surmise that the 15 days currently granted by the University is well below the maximums being offered by some Universities, Governmental units and Manufacturing. The article goes on to say, "These sectors also reported the highest number of sick days used by employees as well. Universities and Government employees each use 15 days annually in sick time (does not include approved vacations)." Unlike the graph presented by USA Today but referencing the same survey, the University of Alaska is well below average use by University and Government employees, as the data from the University of Alaska Office of Statewide Human Resources shows - 11.4 days for FY95 and 10.9 days for FY96. If the benefits of University employees are to be changed in a reasonable and equitable manner based on what others are doing, we suggest that comparisons be made with other like entities, serving like student populations and offering like programs. If this is not possible, we suggest that the benefit programs be compared to other Fairbanks governmental units. When this is done, the benefits currently offered by the University are below the average of those offered to employees of the City of Fairbanks, The Fairbanks North Star Borough, The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and the State of Alaska. D. Staff Training - D. Powell & E. Ritchie The staff longevity awards program will be on May 15 and there will be a media presentation honoring the staff members taking the RIP. Dean Gabrielli will be presenting rural staff their awards when he attends the commencement ceremonies at the rural sites. There will be three supervisory training sessions this summer. The first one will be on June 5 - Mentoring and Role Model presented by John Keating from 3-5 p.m.. The second session will be July 16 - How to Deal with Illegal Activities presented by Terry Vrabec from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The third session will be August 5 - Job Evaluation Form Process presented by Patty Kastelic. All training sessions will be in 202 Natural Science Facility. E. System Governance Council - M. Scholle The Board of Regents have gone to monthly meetings to address Board business. It is still wait and see for the University budget. Marie Scholle stated that the University of Alaska is fortunate to have such a committed staff and thanked everyone on the Council for their support this past year. President-Elect Long thanked Marie for all her hard work on the Staff Alliance and System Governance and stated that she would be appointed to these positions again next year. F. Task Force on Health Benefits - C. Plowman The Task Force met in April and May. The Task Force is working on a report and not recommendations regarding health benefits. A number of the Task Force members felt like they have wasted their time since they were under the impression that they were supposed to identify ways to slow down the rate of increase of health benefits and not make cuts. A survey will be distributed regarding possible changes to the health benefits and Task Force members encouraged everyone to fill out and return the survey. G. Picnic Committee - S. Jordan The UAF Staff Council will again be raffling off two Alaska Airline tickets to any US city served by Alaska Airlines outside of Alaska. Proceeds from the raffle will go to the Carolyn Sampson Memorial Scholarship, established by the UAF Staff Council. There will also be three runner-up prizes: two season tickets for Nanook hockey courtesy of UAF Athletics, two tickets on the Riverboat Discovery courtesy of the Binkley Family, and two tickets to El Dorado Gold Mine courtesy of the Binkley Family. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20 and are available from Staff Council representatives or the Governance Office, 312 Signers' Hall. The drawing will be on Friday, June 6 at the staff picnic. You need not be present to win. The airline vouchers must be redeemed by March 10, 1998. The UAF Staff Council named the scholarship in memory of Carolyn Sampson, former executive secretary in the Governance Office. Carolyn was instrumental in obtaining support services for the Staff Council and provided support for the Faculty Senate and Academic Council while employed at UAF. The scholarship is designed to provide new career paths or retraining to applicants wishing to re-enter the job market or whose work activity may be threatened by economic, health or other factors. For more information, contact your Staff Council representative. The Staff Picnic will be on Friday, June 6 at 4:00 p.m. next to the Student Recreation Center. Units are asked to bring the following items: Units 4 & 7 Salads Units 8 & 9 Baked beans and casseroles Units 10 & 12 Condiments (mustard, pickles, ketchup, onions, lettuce and tomatoes.) (Representative will be collecting $1 from constituents to purchase economy size mustard, ketchup, etc.) Units 11 & 16 Hamburger buns Units 5, 6, & 13 Desserts (cookies, cupcakes, brownies) Units 15 Fruit Units 14 Vegetable trays and dip Units 18 Hot dog buns VIII OTHER BUSINESS A. Resolution on a wellness program - M. Combellick Michelle Combellick, chair of Health Issues Committee under the UAF Governance Coordinating Committee addressed the Council on the possible implementation of a wellness program. The Committee is looking at implementing a program in the fall pending Chancellor's approval. The main component in implementing a wellness program will be flex time for staff to participate in activities at the Student Recreation Center. Liability has been an issue of concern and other universities are being contacted which have a wellness program to see how this is addressed. Representatives reiterated that a wellness program will assist in curtailing the rising costs of health care. A motion was made and seconded to approve the resolution. The vote was unanimous. RESOLUTION PASSED (unanimous) =================== WHEREAS, University of Alaska Fairbanks employees are concerned over the rising cost of health benefits; and WHEREAS, As early as 1988, employees concerned about rising health care costs asked UAF to investigate the possibility of implementing a wellness program which might help reduce costs and mitigate increases in health care costs to employees; and WHEREAS, University of Alaska administration has taken a reactive measure in curtailing health care costs by charging a fee for dependent care, as well as looking at cuts to the current plan; and WHEREAS, University of Alaska Fairbanks employees will once again be asked to pay for an increased proportion of their health care benefits; and WHEREAS, There is ample evidence that a wellness program can result in significant savings and is being adopted by more business, government and educational organizations; now. BE IT RESOLVED, That a wellness program be established at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the purpose of reducing medical insurance costs and that Chancellor Wadlow use the full force of her office to support this program by allowing employees flex time to participate in a wellness program; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the University of Alaska Statewide Human Resources negotiate with Blue Cross of Washington and Alaska to provide incentive programs for healthy lifestyles for University of Alaska employees similar to those provided by Independence Blue Cross (Pennsylvania). http://www.ibx.com/hlthls00.html ********** IX Comments and Questions X Announcements Walk America - Team UAF raised over $350 for the March of Dimes. Representatives expressed their dislike and offense regarding union information recently distributed that stated the union stopped the Paid Time Off (PTO) issue, since both Staff Affairs and Staff Alliance put in a great deal of time on this issue and continue to address concerns and be a strong voice for staff regarding PTO. XI The meeting was adjourned at 11:37 a.m. Tapes of this Staff Council meeting are in the Governance Office, 312 Signersı Hall, if anyone wishes to listen to the complete tapes. Submitted by Kathy Mosca, Staff Council Secretary.