General Membership Meeting: PVFT
March 12, 2007
I. The Meeting was called to order at 3:40 by Don Brown.
II. Approval of Minutes.
With the exception that Francisco Rodriguez would like to have the reference to himself be replaced with the word COPE so that item I a. paragraph 2 now starts with “COPE’s Report,” the minutes were accepted.
III. Balloting and Forum Update.
Don Brown walked everyone attending through the process of voting and through the procedure of the Candidate’s Forum. He introduced Morgan Rankin, from the League of Women Voters, who had agreed on short notice to moderate the event. Anyone interested in asking a question was told to write it on a 3 by 5 card and someone from the Election’s Committee would pick it up so that Morgan could sort through them for consideration and grouping similar questions. One union member asked if it was possible to hand in election ballots on March 28th in some location, rather than mailing them. Don said that he would take this question up during the Election’s Committee meeting he was calling for after the Forum, as there were a few additional issues to be discussed as well. Don said that since we have not had a contested election in a long time, we have discovered unforeseen issues. These issues and concerns will be prepared in a report that will be forwarded to the Executive Council, including a recommending for a standing Election’s Committee. These will be presented to members following this election, so that future elections can better overcome some of the issues confronting the current committee.
IV. COPE Report.
Francisco gave the COPE report as follows:
- Due to the recent approval of COPE’s by-laws the need for an election of the Committee’s President has become an agenda item for the committee. Until a more formal approach for including all committee members is decided upon, those attending the COPE committee today (3/12/07) unanimously voted Francisco as Interim President.
- Francisco made available a handout from the PVFT office stating that there were 66 members making COPE contributions, with $449 per month coming in, of which $200 monthly is contributed to the CFT Defense Fund. COPE spent $7364 on the 2006 statewide election campaign, but has a current balance of $1940.25.
- Francisco reported committee interest in some up-coming events and actions that focus on healthcare for all, and for solidarity actions with CFT, AFT and other unions.
V. Member Surveys
Carolyn said we are in the middle of survey season.
- We have the calendar survey we would like returned by Friday, the 16th of March. This will help set the District Calendar for the next 3 years.\
- We have Administrative Surveys which are currently being turned around in the PVFT office fairly quickly; building reps, please work to get surveys in on your established timelines.
- And, soon members will be asked to make comments and mark priorities on where the negotiation team should focus as ALL parts of the contract are on the table when our current contract expires in June.
VI. Central Labor Council
Sarah Ringler updated the membership on activities regarding the MBCLC.
VII. The Candidate’s Forum started at 5:05
The job descriptions for President and for Vice President were handed out. Don reintroduced Morgan, and the Forum started.
- The two Candidates for President, Carolyn Savino and Francisco Rodriguez each gave opening remarks of up to five minutes in length. Then followed 12 questions for which each candidate had an opportunity for 2 minutes of response. These questions were on these topics: Goals as President, RSRS/DAG/SAIT, public representation of the union, budget development, growth of union membership, special education concerns, bilingual education concerns, relations with district administration, adult education, shared contracts, need for nurses, and recommendations to the negotiating team. Then each candidate was allowed a 3-minute closing.
- The 4 candidates running for Vice Presidential positions, all unopposed, each had up to 3 minutes to give perspective on their candidacy. We heard from: Caroline Calero, Jennifer Laskin, Lisa Massey, and Sarah Ringler.
VIII. Adjournment was called for and unanimously agreed to at approximately 6:30 PM.