Contract and dues ratified

CONTRACT RATIFICATION
YES: 301 (99%)
NO: 3 (1%) 

DUES AUTHORIZATION
YES: 285 (97.2%)
NO: 8 (2.8%)

Pretty good turnout for an in-person vote, I think the union currently has about 1000 members. Next order of business is nominations for officers and representative assembly members, then a vote by mail. I’ll post the details on this process soon.

10/7/2013: Compiled from various union docs:

Meeting: ERB MEMORIAL UNION BALLROOM, 6PM-9PM, Tuesday Oct 8.

Links:

Revenue:

 

 

1.     Union revenue comes from dues from union members and “Fair Share” payments from non-members. These will be deducted monthly from paychecks starting with the ratification of the contract and will apply to all taxable income including stipends and summer pay. All bargaining members will have the same percentage of monthly pay deducted. At the end of the year our auditor will calculate the FS rate using standard rules, and we will refund the difference between the dues rate and the FS rate to non-union members on their request. We expect the FS rate to be about 85% of the union member rate. 

2.     We expect dues collection will begin with the end of October paycheck (pro-rated). Our fiscal year will start when we receive these dues from the university, presumably Nov 1. 

3.     After raises the annual bargaining unit payroll will be about $92M. However because of the FS deductions every 0.1% in dues is about $86K in annual revenue. This will increase to about $92K next FY, because of raises and hiring. 

4.     With dues set at 1.1%, FS at 85% of dues, and assuming 60% of the faculty join the union, we expect to have about $951K in revenue for the first year, and about $1,039K for year two. 

 

Expenses:

 

 

5.     UAUO’s largest expenses are the “per cap” payments to our state and nation affiliates. In return the affiliates provide subsidies for conferences, support for bargaining and arbitration, and pay for most of UAUO’s legal costs. AFT also lobbies the state and national government in support of education and public employees. Because of our joint affiliation we get a discount on per caps from each affiliate. We pay 2/3 of the normal rate to the AAUP and 1/2 of the normal rate to AFT-National. AFT-Oregon will rebate 40% of our per caps, for the first 3 years, as organizing assistance. This rebate will be about $180K. Net of the rebate we will pay AAUP $214K a year and AFT $430K, for a total of $645K . 

6.     Our main local expenses are staff. We plan on a full time Executive Director and a part-time office person, with bookkeeping experience. Including benefits, we estimate these costs to be about $146K. Office expenses including rent and copier lease will be about $26K, after some cost sharing with our affiliates.  Other UAUO local expenses include sending union members to AAUP and AFT conventions and conferences (including meetings where we can vote on policies), mailings, legal advice, audits, etc.  We estimate these costs at $66,000.  So total UAUO local costs are $239K for year 1. 

Summary and forecasts: 

 

With dues at 1.1% we expect to end the first year with a $68K surplus. The second year we will have higher revenue because of raises, but also higher costs because it will be a bargaining year, and we estimate an (additional) $86K surplus. These forecasts assume no increases in per caps, and are based on estimates of revenue and expenses.  

ERB MEMORIAL UNION BALLROOM, 6PM-9PM, Tuesday Oct 8.