FFECC Member Update September 2024

Welcome back to all FFECC members for another, hopefully stimulating and productive, semester at SUNY Erie Community College.

It really seems that this summer flew by with fall just around the corner. Over the summer your leadership team has been extremely busy with regular labor management meetings, AFT and NEA representative assemblies, PAC activities, negotiations meetings, NYSUT endorsements and dealing with various contractual concerns.

Additionally, we have begun the process of meeting with some of our union's constituency to discuss concerns for our ongoing negotiation process. In October we plan on scheduling campus meetings to continue these conversations. The College has indicated that they would like to complete negotiations by January. We shall see in time what that would look like as talks become more substantive. We will be sending out updates on our progress. 

Southtowns site: We finally have some good news regarding a continuing presence in the Southtowns. This has been one of the FFECC leadership’s priorities for some time, maintaining a full-service south campus.

The College has entered into an agreement to lease 37,000 square feet of space on 20A near California Road at 50 Cobham Drive. The College will move into a new facility during the summer of 2025 with the first classes beginning in Fall 2025. The FFECC will be discussing programing and faculty campus assignments in labor management meetings with the College as required by our contract. The College is committed to having faculty input on programmatic space needs within the new facility.

Health Care Coverage: Another important item to be aware of is the change to Univera as our health care provider this January 1,2025. The LMHF conducted a request for proposal for the medical portion of the health care. This extensive process took more than three months comparing all aspects of each of the proposals to service our membership. The best and final presentation was conducted by the LMHF board and Lawley consultants over a 4 day period with both Highmark- Blue Cross our current carrier and Univera.

Ultimately Univera demonstrated that they would provide the best service model for our members. Additionally, Univera provides members and our families with a much expanded local and national network. This change in providers will not affect any of our negotiated medical benefits. The LMHF and Univera will be providing member updates throughout the next few months prior to the implementation in January.

Marketing: You may have noticed that the college has been very active in marketing on both traditional and social media platforms. I have always believed that proper marketing will help increase enrollment, which will solve many of the college’s issues. Let’s see if this marketing will help with enrollment. If it does  – which I believe it will, we must push for additional positions which will be more than justified.

City Campus: The City campus atrium skylight replacement project contractor ran into some issues with lead paint on the super structure. The college President closed the building. The county required the project management team and the contractor on this count- run project to provide its remediation and containment plan. A third-party expert was hired by the college to review the process and test lead levels. The building was reopened on Wednesday after the third-party expert found the levels to be safe in writing. This project is on hold until the containment structure is in place.

Holistic Advisement Model: The college is also working on a new advisement model that will involve a holistic approach to student advisement by academic division with faculty and counselors working collaboratively from admission to graduation. This new model is expected to improve student retention with the college.

Workday: Workday, as you are aware, is still an issue for many of us, but the college is trying to be somewhat proactive by bringing Huron staff in to help troubleshoot issues with advisement. I believe that the college has a long way to go to simplify the Workday product as a tool that will work for us. This should not be a tool that requires adapting systems or contracts in order to function when it will not interface with academic and human resources.

We still have a long way to go to reposition the College, but I do believe that there has some been progress. We still have many issues within this institution, some of which have been long standing. Getting our contract settled is now and has been a priority with improved pay and benefits. Without higher pay our institution will not be able to attract the next generation of faculty and non-teaching professionals to continue to provide a quality educational to our students. All the FFECC members’ impact on our students is the reason why this institution and our union has succeeded. Without the dedication of our members and our advocacy as a union we wouldn’t be in a position for a hopeful future.

Your FFECC Leadership team,

Andrew Sako, President                      sakoad@ecc.edu                      851-1026

Angela Crocker, VP City                      crockera@ecc.edu                   270-5275

Michael Kozlowski, VP North            kozlowski@ecc.edu                 851-1537        

James Ruggiero, VP South                  ruggiero@ecc.edu                   851-1770

Joan Bukowski, Grievance Chair      bukowskij@ecc.edu                851-1522

Jacqui Bollinger, Secretary                 bollinger@ecc.edu                  270-2981

Melissa Dennee, Treasurer                  denneem@ecc.edu                 851-1082