next »

[kedves]

The only part of this story I understand is the error with the insurance materials, and I'm sorry about that.  It stinks that insurance is tied to job in a way that creates so much potential for problems.  But please don't waste money on pursuing this as a legal matter.

I don't understand the part about refusing to sign the contract, and I especially don't understand the part about why everyone  should be infuriated that universities use furloughs.  What would be better, laying people off completely?

[polly_mer]

I love this "broke the law" stuff.  It would be helpful if you actually knew the law before getting all high and mighty.  I've (obviously) worked for the University System of Georgia, and trust me, they have really good lawyers...as in, the state attorney general's staff.  They're not likely to make a stupid mistake on basic employment law.

Yep.  I, too, showed up this fall on the other side of the country for a job in which the offer was X dollars and it turned out less than three weeks into the semester that I will have to take several furlough days this year so that I will make X-Y dollars.  I'm not dumb enough to think that the State of Confusion (which is not Georgia) would have done something blatantly illegal because all offer letters I've ever gotten had some sort of weasel words like "subject to budgetary pressures and other unforeseeable circumstances".  I didn't even bother to check my letter because my contract states "subject to change based on the current budget and policies of the university system".

[retired_at_last]

A couple of points:

There WAS NO subject to the Board of regents clause. I knew it should be there, so assumed the offer was solid. Again, I was on grant money.

I have paid my premiums, and STILL that information has not reached my carrier. There are three layers here: the University, their outsourced payroll contractor, and BCBS. Someone tell me this is better than what the FEDS would have done through a single payer system.

[sciencephd]

THIS has CONSPIRACY written ALL over IT.

[tee_bee]

THIS has CONSPIRACY written ALL over IT.

YES!!11!! IN GIANT CAPITAL LETTERS. FREE GOLD!! RON PAUL RELOVEUTION!

[retired_at_last]

RE: furloughs

The bind the U's are in:

1. they get paid for students "by the head", base income
2. if they scale down classes offered (to what States are now paying), lower enrollments, and lay off faculty, they lose by #3 below; the public gets incensed; and the legislature wonders how many more rollbacks they can get away with, and so are encouraged to try. Legislatures only respond to serious public outcry, and will push until it happens, and then play innocent
3. growth in funding (for any reason, including inflation) is tied to GROWTH in enrollment; income increases this is a chciken-egg problem with growing enrollment
4. a fixed number of furlough days affect a lower percentage of admin salary than faculty salary, because of the difference in 'contract days' for each, so furloughs hurt faculty income more than admin, and admin cares less about this than an across the board salary reduction

What some of them have not thought of (though I've seen governors of other states talk about it) is that missing payroll in a public entity is the beginnings of default to banks, credit score goes down, and interest rates for future (say building or bridge) loans goes up

Most of these folks had plenty of time to look at this. The standard way to do this is to encourage early retirements, hire adjuncts to fill in for those losses, and MAINTAIN without the public knowing.

[sciencephd]

Dude....what do you think the general reaction would be from faculty at your (no longer) future university, upon reading these posts ?

[aandsdean]

RE: furloughs

The bind the U's are in:

1. they get paid for students "by the head", base income
2. if they scale down classes offered (to what States are now paying), lower enrollments, and lay off faculty, they lose by #3 below; the public gets incensed; and the legislature wonders how many more rollbacks they can get away with, and so are encouraged to try. Legislatures only respond to serious public outcry, and will push until it happens, and then play innocent
3. growth in funding (for any reason, including inflation) is tied to GROWTH in enrollment; income increases this is a chciken-egg problem with growing enrollment
4. a fixed number of furlough days affect a lower percentage of admin salary than faculty salary, because of the difference in 'contract days' for each, so furloughs hurt faculty income more than admin, and admin cares less about this than an across the board salary reduction

What some of them have not thought of (though I've seen governors of other states talk about it) is that missing payroll in a public entity is the beginnings of default to banks, credit score goes down, and interest rates for future (say building or bridge) loans goes up

Most of these folks had plenty of time to look at this. The standard way to do this is to encourage early retirements, hire adjuncts to fill in for those losses, and MAINTAIN without the public knowing.

The USG operates on a two-year lag on headcount enrollment, so the schools don't have to pay for any enrollment reductions until two years from now.  Similarly, if a school has a huge increase, it gets the tuition revenue but not the formula funding for a couple of years.  At this juncture, it's not grossly disadvantageous to allow for a small downward drift in enrollment if the school is at or near capacity.

[concordancia]

Define capacity. We kicked sophomores who had registered for housing off campus to allow for freshpeeps. Classes are overloaded by administrators. There is still talk of growth going on.

[retired_at_last]

I remember a community college I worked at in another of the states now 'doing' furloughs.

I was adjunct (as was 50% of the faculty) and we struck one day in protest of lack of health-care benefits.

We lined the long drive up the hill to the campus overlooking the ocean. I drove there in a 10 year old truck.

Adminstrators, male and female, drove by in BMW's and Mercedes's, waving their middle fingers at us.

Unitl faculty are up to facing their true status this brutally, and putting out 'along the road up the hill', nothing much will change.

Good news and bad news: adjuncts got health care coverage, the state went bankrupt. Maybe not related.

Note to above about my colleagues at "former U". They know what I'm saying, but too threatened and cowed to join me. Only by leaving is it safe for me to speak.

Also interesting, two of the old dogs there have been encouraging me. They wonder why their faculty have been so docile. And they are the ones who suggested class-action suit. And yes, at least THAT campus of USG was dumb eneough not ot put the do-over clause in their offer letters.

[sciencephd]

I was adjunct (as was 50% of the faculty) and we struck one day in protest of lack of health-care benefits.

We lined the long drive up the hill to the campus overlooking the ocean. I drove there in a 10 year old truck.

Adminstrators, male and female, drove by in BMW's and Mercedes's, waving their middle fingers at us.

You own, BY your OWN description, TWO houses, AND have SUFFICENT means to TURN down a JOB because of A 3-10% mandataed SALARY reduction.

So playing the financial priveledge angle here doesn't seem very convicing.

[tee_bee]

I remember a community college I worked at in another of the states now 'doing' furloughs.

I was adjunct (as was 50% of the faculty) and we struck one day in protest of lack of health-care benefits.

We lined the long drive up the hill to the campus overlooking the ocean. I drove there in a 10 year old truck.

Adminstrators, male and female, drove by in BMW's and Mercedes's, waving their middle fingers at us.

Unitl faculty are up to facing their true status this brutally, and putting out 'along the road up the hill', nothing much will change.

Good news and bad news: adjuncts got health care coverage, the state went bankrupt. Maybe not related.

Note to above about my colleagues at "former U". They know what I'm saying, but too threatened and cowed to join me. Only by leaving is it safe for me to speak.

Also interesting, two of the old dogs there have been encouraging me. They wonder why their faculty have been so docile. And they are the ones who suggested class-action suit. And yes, at least THAT campus of USG was dumb eneough not ot put the do-over clause in their offer letters.

What state went bankrupt? I know of no state that went bankrupt in the sense that, for example, Orange Co. California, went bankrupt. They might be running a deficit. Sounds to me like you're talking about California, maybe, which is a mess, but which does not meet the legal definition of bankruptcy.

The pity party for people with two houses will likely be very sparsely attended. Your own handle suggests you're retired. Chill, dude. Stick around these fora for a while and read about people with real problems.

[oldadjunct]

You own, BY your OWN description, TWO houses, AND have SUFFICENT means to TURN down a JOB because of A 3-10% mandataed SALARY reduction.

So playing the financial priveledge angle here doesn't seem very convicing.

Well, maybe it's a couple of double wides after all.

[retired_at_last]

I own 1 house in TX, $7000 under water.

I lived in a bad neighborhood, dumpy apartment in GA. Double murder in the complex the year before I went there.

3-10% meant I couldn't even afford to live dangerously!

[retired_at_last]

Yup, Orange County, CA.