Though the April 30 deadline for complete your SCP has come and gone, there are still several things you need to keep in mind before October 1, when receipt of the third salary increase provided in 2012 under the URA Agreement are distributed:
A. If you have not done so already, you can still send a self-appraisal/comment to your SCP but it must be submitted before June 1, 2012
B. Those who were not given an evaluation by the April 30 deadline will automatically receive a 2.25% merit raise effective October 1, 2012
C. Everyone whose overall rating is “Meets Standards” must receive a minimum increase of 2%. The maximum merit increase is 4%. You can only receive a merit-based bonus if you are at the top of your salary grade. You must be employed at Rutgers in a URA position to be eligible for the October raise.
Wednesday, May 23
Rutgers AAUP-AFT & URA-AFT
URA members are invited to join the Rutgers AAUP-AFT and other higher education unions.
Our State Legislators will to discuss important higher education issues. Governor Christie’s proposed higher education re-organization including Rutgers-UMDNJ units in New Brunswick /Piscataway and Rutgers-Rowan will be key to these discussions.
Members of the Legislature from Central New Jersey as well as members of the Higher Education, Health and Budget committees have been invited.
Wednesday, May 23
8:00 am – 9:30 am
Busch Dining Room A (Lot 67B)
RSVP to lmillerand@ura-aft.org by Monday, May 21 (Note: this invitation is to “full dues”, “signed” union members. Members who need union release time to attend should discuss with their supervisor ASAP and reply by Friday, May 18)
Alexis Rivera Alvarado, a Project Coordinator in the Camden Registrar’s office has been elected by the URA Executive Board to fill the vacant position of Camden campus Vice President.
Join us in congratulating several of our stewards for their hard work and accomplishments:
Joyce Sagi, Cook steward and Health & Safety Committee Chair graduated Fri. 5/11/12 from SMLR/LEARN’s Employment Law for Union Representatives program.
Eric
Himsel, Lead steward on Busch Campus graduated Sat. 5/12/12 from SMLR’s Master of Human Resource Management program.
Marilyn
Tankiewicz, steward on the College Avenue Campus graduated Sat. 5/12/12 with honors with a B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies and a minor in both Labor Relations and Psychology.
We wish them continued success. If you or another URA member is a recent graduate please let us know so we can join you in celebrating.
Christine O’Connell, chair of our Off Campus Concerns committee, took the AFTNJ convention experience to another level by inviting some off campus members to participate at the April 20th event. She noted that The highlight of the weekend for me was after dinner when I discovered that several off campus members of the URA had joined us. It was fabulous having an impromptu off campus meeting to discuss issues that pertain to our department only
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(Pictured l to r: Shari Harding, Peter Fazzino, Christine O’Connell & Louella Heaton)
The counties that were represented that evening were Shari Harding, Mercer County; Peter Fazzino, Cumberland County; Louella Heaton, Gloucester County; and Christine O’Connell, Middlesex County. For her, Christine said it was particularly heartwarming because that is the first time that multiple counties were able to get together and talk about specific problems that arise in our jobs. Although it was far from representative of the entire state’s off campus employees, it was fine beginning. She said she looks forward to their next opportunity to get together and exchange information amongst more Community Assistants and Coordinators.
To that end, the committee is planning an off campus meeting on June 6, 2012. Most members of the EFNEP and SNAP-Ed community should be on campus that day and she hopes to take advantage of that time to get together. If your job title is a Community Assistant, Community Coordinator, Administrative Assistant for the EFNEP or SNAP-Ed program AND you are a full member of the union, please keep an eye out for an invitation to join us for some fun, food, and conversation at the off campus committee meeting on June 6th. More details will follow as they are finalized.
In 2010, University HR proposed changes to the vacation policy for staff. URA called for negotiations to protect our unit members and negotiated a letter of agreement which applies specifically to URA members. Both documents can be viewed on the URA website http://www.ura-aft.org/node/500. The URA negotiating team found most members who had accrued high amounts of vacation accrual did so because their requests to use vacation time had been denied. The new vacation policy which we negotiated states for the first time states that “Requests for vacations shall not be unreasonably denied.”
Now, as we approach the end of fiscal year 2011-2012 and face the summer vacation season, URA members should consider how to use this policy to their best advantage. Keep in mind that by July 1, 2013 it will be almost impossible to “roll over” more than one year’s vacation allowance.
Here are some steps you should take to avoid losing your hard-earned vacation days:
You should also be aware of provisions in the URA vacation policy agreement on emergency call-back from vacation: including compensation for partial days’ call back, protection from discipline if you are unable to return from vacation, and a provision to carry over vacation days you would normally forfeit if you are called back from vacation during June.
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