Two days ago we got to meet with my great-grand-boss, the Provost for Academic Affairs. She's a fresh transplant from Michigan who has been in public higher-ed for over 20 years. It was a good talk, and I am encouraged.
One of the take-away quotes from that meeting was, "This is one of the most micro-managing legislatures I've ever seen." And then went on into details. One of the things she mentioned is a bill I was aware of but haven't mentioned yet, a plan to force furlough days on state employees such as myself. SB6503 is the bill.
One of the loonier provisions is a list of days to be considered by appropriate institutions for full closure:
In the immortal words of Bill Cosby, "Riiiiight." As it happens certain parts of higher ed are exempted from this, not affected by this is, "classroom instruction, operations not funded from state funds or tuition, campus police and security, emergency management and response, and student health care." So I would be furloughed, but not the teaching staff. And woe unto the faculty member with a problem logging in to Blackboard that day, for they will be alone and all the staff pointedly ignoring their phones that day.
As it happens, this is perhaps the stick to get people to develop an 'approved compensation reduction plan.' This would allow WWU to create its own ways of reducing payroll, be it through head-count reduction, hours reduction, or interspersed furlough days arranged so as to minimally impact function of the University.
What's a furlough? "voluntary and mandatory temporary layoffs," according to this bill. So if I'm on a furlough day, you can guarantee I'm pretending I'm unemployed and will not be responding to anything work-related. The one thing that could keep me in the money during such a 'shutdown' is clause S under the exemptions: "The minimal use of state employees on the specified closure dates as necessary to protect public assets, information technology systems, and maintain public safety." Right now that's unworkably vague in meaning, but it could mean that a small selection of tech staff could be present to help the teaching function work.
This is another bill we're keeping a close eye on.
One of the take-away quotes from that meeting was, "This is one of the most micro-managing legislatures I've ever seen." And then went on into details. One of the things she mentioned is a bill I was aware of but haven't mentioned yet, a plan to force furlough days on state employees such as myself. SB6503 is the bill.
One of the loonier provisions is a list of days to be considered by appropriate institutions for full closure:
For those agencies and institutions of higher education that do not have an approved compensation reduction plan by June 1, 2010, the agency or institution shall be closed on the following dates in addition to the legal holidays specified in RCW 1.16.050:
(a) Monday, June 14, 2010;
(b) Tuesday, July 6, 2010;
(c) Friday, August 6, 2010;
(d) Tuesday, September 7, 2010;
(e) Monday, October 11, 2010;
(f) Friday, November 12, 2010;
(g) Monday, December 27, 2010;
(h) Friday, January 14, 2011;
(i) Friday, February 18, 2011;
(j) Friday, March 11, 2011;
(k) Friday, April 15, 2011;
(l) Friday, May 27, 2011; and
(m) Friday, June 10, 2011.
In the immortal words of Bill Cosby, "Riiiiight." As it happens certain parts of higher ed are exempted from this, not affected by this is, "classroom instruction, operations not funded from state funds or tuition, campus police and security, emergency management and response, and student health care." So I would be furloughed, but not the teaching staff. And woe unto the faculty member with a problem logging in to Blackboard that day, for they will be alone and all the staff pointedly ignoring their phones that day.
As it happens, this is perhaps the stick to get people to develop an 'approved compensation reduction plan.' This would allow WWU to create its own ways of reducing payroll, be it through head-count reduction, hours reduction, or interspersed furlough days arranged so as to minimally impact function of the University.
What's a furlough? "voluntary and mandatory temporary layoffs," according to this bill. So if I'm on a furlough day, you can guarantee I'm pretending I'm unemployed and will not be responding to anything work-related. The one thing that could keep me in the money during such a 'shutdown' is clause S under the exemptions: "The minimal use of state employees on the specified closure dates as necessary to protect public assets, information technology systems, and maintain public safety." Right now that's unworkably vague in meaning, but it could mean that a small selection of tech staff could be present to help the teaching function work.
This is another bill we're keeping a close eye on.