Join us Saturday, May 20, for the 2017 PATFA Annual Meeting. All part-time faculty members in the University of Maine System are invited to participate. We will gather simultaneously in Orono and Portland, meeting in real time via compressed video.
The meeting will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the noon period reserved for a free lunch.
Negotiations on a new contract begin May 30, so this is a timely way to share your views about priorities and issues. Everything is on the table: assignments, health care insurance options, academic-year appointments, evaluations, and, most certainly, pay.
President Michele Cheung is chairing this year’s negotiating team and is eager to hear your views on negotiations and the next contract – as well as information about how the current contract is working.
PATFA is the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine, which represents all 1,900 adjuncts who teach at any of the seven University of Maine System universities. It is Local 4593 of the American Federation of Teachers. Only members of PATFA may vote, but all adjuncts are invited to attend and speak up.
This year’s meeting will be in Room 126 of Barrows Hall at the University of Maine campus in Orono, and Room 211 of Wishcamper Center of the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus. (We will send directions in a second email.)
The PATFA Executive Council is proposing a minor language change to our PATFA constitution. The idea for the amendment came during last year’s Annual Meeting, and a majority vote at Annual Meeting this year is sufficient to make the change.
The proposed change is this: If each of the four elective offices – president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary – is uncontested at an Annual Meeting in the year an election is scheduled, the proposed language would allow Annual Meeting attendees to vote then and there on the officers. That would avoid the expense of a secret ballot election by mail.
The proposed change is in Article V, Sections 3 and 4. Following is the current language, with the proposed addition in bold:
“Section 3. Nominations for each position may be made in writing to the Executive Council at least 30 days before the Annual Meeting or nominations may be made from the floor during the Annual Meeting. After nominations are closed, the Annual Meeting shall choose a three-member ballot committee to oversee the election, including the counting of the secret ballots. No current Executive Council officer or nominated candidate shall serve on the committee.
“Section 4. If all four positions are uncontested after nominations are closed at Annual Meeting, members may vote immediately by secret ballot. If one or more positions are contested, election of officers shall take place no more than one month after the Annual Meeting. A secret ballot shall be sent to all members. The candidate for each of the four positions receiving a plurality of the votes cast shall be declared elected. In case of a tie, a coin toss shall decide the winner.”
We hope to visit with you May 20.
Your Executive Council: Michele Cheung, USM, president; Jim Seymour, UMA, vice president; Pam Mitchel, UMF, treasurer; and Tom McCord, UMA, secretary.