Book Drive for Irvington Public Schools 
Over 200 Books Donated
AFT Local 1904's members donated over 200 children's books to Irvington Public Schools. Many thanks to Paul Martinez for coordinating this effort. 

Pictured here with our donation
are Patricia Dowd, Director of Special Services for Irvington Public Schools, and Dr. Colleen Martinez, who works as a therapist in the district. 

Faculty Promotion Workshop
Thursday, December 5th @ 3 p.m.
Whether you are a soon-to-be-tenured faculty member or a seasoned associate professor, you won't want to miss this AFT Local 1904 Workshop on December 5th from 3:00 -5:00 p.m. in Dickson Hall, Cohen Lounge, Room 178. Faculty Coordinator Vanessa Domine will facilitate a strategic session with colleagues from across the university on crafting the faculty dossier towards promotion. Refresh your understanding of contractual rights while gaining a deeper understanding of issues surrounding peer-review, scholarly impact, and the personnel action process. Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to Linda Turano at ext. 4453 no later than December 2nd.

 

Homecoming: 
Over 700 Bottles of Water Distributed!
AFT Local 1904 was there to greet the alumni/ae, students and their families, and other visitors at Montclair State University's 2013 Homecoming. Members of the Local handed out over 700 bottles of water, as well as AFT logo keychains, rain ponchos, stickers, pencils and the ever popular anti-bullying wristbands. Rocky even stopped by to say hello. 

Many thanks to our dedicated volunteers: Mei Ling Chow, LouiseDavies, Michael Heller, Jennifer Higgins, Deb Solomine, Bill Sullivan, Neeraj Vedwan, and Rich Wolfson. The Local would also like to thank our student intern, Alan Akins, for doing all the heavy lifting.

Performance-Based Promotions: Apply!
For Professional Staff
On October 30th, Catherine Bong sent out the annual email sharing the application and procedures for applying for a performance-based promotion (PBP). Please note the deadline by which you must apply is January 17, 2014. This application goes directly to the president of the university for consideration after being signed by your immediate supervisor.

 

Historically, professional staff have not been successful in being awarded a PBP. While we have made the argument to the administration that we do not see enough successful awards, it is very difficult for us to fight harder when less than 2% of the professional staff applies for it.

 

We realize that completing the paperwork takes time and that at the rate awards have been made, it seems like a wasted effort. However, it is never a waste to showcase your contributions to the university. If you do not receive a PBP, be sure to apply again. It gets rather difficult to continuously ignore commendable contributions. Keep in mind, the more people who apply, the more difficult it is to deny almost all of the applications, so you are helping your fellow professional staff members by applying.

 

FY15 TIMELINE FOR PERFORMANCE-BASED PROMOTION

Application Forms Available on HR's Website: October 30, 2013

Application Due to the President: 

January 17, 2014

Notification to the Professional Staff Member: 

April 7, 2014

Effective Date of Performance-Based Promotion: July 1, 2014

 

Care Packages for Students
Donations Needed
AFT Local 1904 will be accepting monetary donations to be used to create care packages that will be distributed to students who live on campus during the winter break. The care packages will be distributed at a pizza party for the students sometime in January before the Spring 2014 semester begins. In January 2013 we distributed 130 care packages and provided 30 pizzas to students who were very grateful for our thoughtfulness. 
 
To help us continue our efforts to make campus a welcoming place, contact the Local's office to make arrangements to drop off your contribution - ext. 4453 or via email at union@mail.montclair.edu.

Current Events
Links to Recent Articles of Interest
  • NJ TAG awards lag behind tuition hikes.  Read more in The Star-Ledger. 
  • "Opinion: NJ Schools aren't failing us, we're failing them." Read the entire letter in the Times of Trenton.
  • President Jimmy Carter says the middle class today resembles the poor from the 1970s. Read President Carter's "assessment of the nation's economic challenges" by clicking here. 
  • Click here to read about the impact that the unionization of graduate students has on the wages and working conditions of graduate assistants. 
  • Dorm rooms remain vacant in New Jersey.To find out why, read more in The Star-Ledger.
  • Congratulations to Cindy Meneghin and Maureen Killian on their recent marriage after 39 years together.  Mazal Tov! 
November 2013
Wolfson
Richard Wolfson, President
AFT Local 1904
President's Corner

 

The election is over and Chris Christie was overwhelmingly elected to a second term. In his victory speech he said his highest priorities are to reform education, further reform pension and benefits and reduce taxes. He said:

 

We have stood and fought every day to cut taxes, to reduce the size of government spending, to reform pensions and benefits, to reform a broken education system...

 

He further went on to say:

 

I did not seek a second term to do small things. I sought a second term to finish the job. Now watch me do it."

 

In Christie's first term he moved in the wrong direction on all four of those issues. Fortunately in this election he was not able bring the Senate and Assembly with him so we began on Wednesday to strategize on how to not just sit back and watch him "do it" to us and to try to rebuild the bridges in the democratic party and the Labor movement in New Jersey in an effort to resist the onslaught that is coming.

 

His priorities, to most observers, are to do whatever he can to reach the White House in 2016. We simply will not let him do it on the backs of public employees or teachers. He will not climb to the White House on our backs. I pledge that your officers, the Council of NJ State College Locals, and AFTNJ will do whatever we can to be sure he doesn't.

 

The work on our next contract is just beginning. It's going to be an interesting process and I am sure full of surprises along the way.

 

In solidarity,

Rich

Upcoming Events

General Union Meetings:
Time: 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Where: SC 419
When:
Nov. 13, 2013
Dec. 11, 2013
Feb. 12, 2014
Mar. 19, 2014
Apr. 9, 2014
May 7, 2014

Faculty Promotion Workshop:
Time: 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Where: DI 178,
Cohen Lounge
When: Thurs., Dec. 5th

Professional Staff Orientation:
Time: 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Where: SC Ballroom A
When: Wed., Jan. 15th


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Sprague Library Pop Picks!

The staff at Sprague Library recently introduced Pop Picks! The Pop Picks is a new Popular Reading Collection that contains contemporary fiction, graphic novels, popular non-fiction, awarding-winning books, books that have been made into movies, classic novels, and best sellers.   

 

This collection was created to help the Sprague Library address increasing student interest in leisure reading materials to supplement our academic collections.  The collection is available on the Main Level of the Library in the Periodicals Reading Room.  

More information about Pop Picks can be found at:

http://montclair.libguides.com/poppicks

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Scholarships Available 
The Essex-West Hudson Labor Council's scholarship award for high school seniors is now accepting applications. Eligible applicants must be accepted at an accredited college or post-high school education program.
Children of full dues paying members AFT Local 1904 who meet the above stated criteria
are eligible to apply. The application
deadline is April 17, 2014. For additional information, please click here. 

 

NJWELL
NJWELL is the new incentive based wellness program offered to actively employed members of the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) and School Employees Health Benefits Program (SEHBP). Eligible members and their covered spouses or partnership who meet the program's Wellness Goals each year receive financial rewards in teh form of a Visa gift card. To learn more about this program, visit the New Jersey Division of Pensions & Benfits website and click on NJWELL under "Hot Topics". Questions? Email the staff of the program at NJWELL@treas.state.nj.us.