Chuck Herring, Uniserv Director
Harriet Poch, Uniserv Field Assistant
Where’s Chuck?
| Oct. 10-12 | - ACC Faculty Arbitration Prep |
| 11 | - 14A Coordinating Council Meeting (MEA Office) |
| 12 | - Region 14 Council Meeting (BJ’s – Gaylord) |
| 13 | - ACC Faculty Arbitration Hearing (ACC) -Atlanta EA Bargaining Team (Atlanta) |
| 14 | - Chuck on vacation |
| 17-19 | - Statewide Staff Meeting (Lansing) – office closed |
| 19 | - 14A MEA-Retired Meeting (Marine Sanctuary) |
| 20 | - NMEA (BJ’s – Gaylord) |
| 20-21 | - Chuck on vacation |
| 25 | - Dinner meeting w/Kris Dandy, COPAC Chair |
| 26-29 | - ACC Faculty Arbitration Prep |
| Nov. 1 | - ACC Faculty Arbitration Hearing (ACC) |
| 7 | - Spring Arbor Student Teacher Presentation (ACC) |
| 8 | - 14A Coordinating Council Meeting (MEA Office) |
| 9 | - 14A MEA-Retired Meeting (Alpena County Library) |
| Please note – Both Harriet and I will be in Lansing October 17-19. If you need assistance or to contact us, leave a message on the answering machine. We will check daily and return calls, if necessary. | |
Did you know…
Tests for WorkKeys will be given by Alpena Community College on the following dates: October 17 & 22, 2005, January 14, 2006, February 11, 2006.
The tests begin at 8:30 a.m. and last about 45 minutes per test. The cost for a full bank (three tests) is $60.00 and $40.00 for one test, i.e., math only. For more information, contact Linda Souva at Alpena Community College 989/358-7209.
Schedule –
October will be a busy month for your Uniserv. Two arbitrations are scheduled for the College Faculty October 13 and November 1. There were three originally scheduled but one has been postponed to a tentative November date. Add to that a Statewide Staff meeting between the two arbitrations and a Fact-Finding for LSSU Faculty on the 3rd and 4th of November. The fact-finding in the U.P. is being done because I have experience with fact-finding. Sooo…bear with Harriet as she will be running interference for me. So some phone calls will be returned a little later than the norm. We’re talking about a busy boy.
Petitions –
A big "Thank You" to all who have turned in petitions. To those who have not done so—your building rep will be asking one more time. If nothing else, sign the petition yourself—that gives us a guaranteed 1,000+ signatures. Come on—find it, sign it, and turn it in. With enough signatures, we can pressure the Legislature for more money. If they do nothing, it becomes a ballot issue in November of 2006. So as my Dad used to tell me on occasion, "Get the lead out!"
Career Change –
The MEA is still looking for viable candidates for Uniserv positions. If interested, contact this office or Tom Ferris in Human Resources at 1-800-292-1934, Ext. 5532.
Food for Thought –
Eighty percent of the 45 million uninsured (health) are what Princeton Health Care Analyst, Uwe Reinhardt, calls, "low-income, hard working stiffs"—waitresses, taxi drivers, clerks, nursing home aides, gas station attendants, etc. They swing no weight among the policymakers; no lobby represents them; their pockets aren’t deep enough to buy congressional attention. Working stiffs have to depend on the kindness of strangers and we’re running a kindness deficit.
What’s more, failing to cover 45 million people is, indisputably, a bargain. The uninsured received $48 billion in free or government paid care last year (less than they needed, but so what?) Insuring them could cost about $96 billion more. Oooh, that would raise taxes, so we look away.
All health systems have pluses and minuses; all ration health care in some way. We ration it, harshly, by income and price. People with money and access command top-notch care. Those without scramble for what they can get. Big businesses negotiate good group-health insurance. Small businesses are pushed against the wall. The healthy find private policies, the sick get kicked out. That’s the American way.
Will we make a fundamental fix? Nah. Too many rich corporate players have a stake in the status quo. Princeton’s Reinhardt distills our chosen policy this way: The suffering of a few million Americans, while regrettable, is a price well worth paying for the fine coverage for the rest of us. What’s really regrettable is that that sounds to most Americans, OK.
Temma Ehrenfeld, Our "Kindness Deficit" of Care, www.msnbc.msn.com.
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