Hire more Counselors? Better pay for faculty? CSN students say: yes!

NFA-CSN activists and bargaining team members spent several days tabling, discussing the collective bargaining negotiations and asking students to sign a support petition.

The students shared all kinds of feedback about their experiences at CSN with the NFA-CSN tablers. Tablers described some of the working conditions at CSN, and how the bargaining could improve those conditions.

There was tremendous support for NFA-CSN bargaining from students: they signed the petition at a rate of more than one a minute, resulting in over one thousand signatures so far.

Board of Regents, 3/2/2017

Good morning, Chair Trachok and Regents.  For the record my name is Kent Ervin and I am representing the Nevada Faculty Alliance. 

We would like to thank Chancellor White and NSHE for giving NFA the opportunity to present our views on faculty compensation at Tuesday’s budget hearing.  The Board has repeatedly stated that your highest budget priority is having NSHE faculty compensation treated the same as other state employees.  We are very appreciative of the 2% COLAs in the Governor’s budget, which allows salaries to keep pace with inflation. Unfortunately, the COLAs have been misstated at the legislature as a substitute for merit pay, which was funded for classified staff but not faculty. COLAs are not a substitute for merit. Our performance-based merit award system rewards and promotes academic excellence. Merit is essential for recruiting and retaining high quality faculty, and for preventing salary inversion due to new hires coming in at higher competitive market salaries than continuing faculty who have performed excellently.  NFA asks for your strong support at the legislature for restoration of merit pay, even if that means a compromise from NSHE’s request of 100% from the general fund. 

I would also like to call the Board’s attention to “understatements” in the NSHE base budgets in the executive budget.  While the Governor’s budget for NSHE is indeed positive over all, the touted full funding of caseload growth and CTE and capacity enhancements is simply not true because of arbitrary reductions of the base by up to $35M. Rather, a portion of those enhancements and formula funding are either carveouts from existing program budgets or else using student funding.  That subverts the intent of the new WSCH formula and the spirit of the agreement that student fee growth would not be offset by general fund reductions.  At best, it is a non-transparent method for redirection of program funding in the executive budget.

Please provide appropriate direction to the Chancellor when you discuss legislative actions and the budget.  We ask for your proactive support for restoring a sustainable merit pay system along with COLAs. Thank you.

At its January 2017 meeting, the NFA State Board passed the following values statement:

The Nevada Faculty Alliance urges members to "act to maintain safe and respectful work and learning environments" and to be aware of laws "that pertain to harassment and assault based upon sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, national origin, military status or obligation, religion, or marital or family status."

As members, we will therefore continue to bear these legal protections in mind and support them. We will also bear in mind that, in our increasingly diverse society, some of our colleagues and our students may be subject to incidents of hostility or violence. We will therefore seek ways to support and ensure the safety of all our colleagues and our students in our educational and workplace settings.

NFA political update, by Kent Ervin, NFA Legislative Liaison

Governor’s Sandoval’s executive budget has good news for NSHE, but less good news for faculty compensation and benefits. Thanks to the improved economy and revenue estimates, the 5% cuts requested last spring were cancelled and NSHE is slated for additional funds. Enrollment caseload growth will be funded through the Weighted Student Credit Hour (WSCH) formula; the next phase of the UNLV Medical School will be funded with a $13M increase; rural community colleges will lose the one-time bridge funding from the last biennium but the community colleges will gain with a higher WSCH formula for Career and Technical Education; $10M is provided for new programs related to economic development goals; the Engineering Building at UNR receives a $41.5M state match through a lease-purchase arrangement; and the Hotel College building at UNLV will be finished and furnished. For further details see “NSHE praises Gov. Sandoval's Executive Budget recommendation” and NSHE’s presentation to the legislature.

Faculty compensation

The Governor’s State of the State address also emphasized compensation for state employees: “From 2010 through 2015, state employees endured furloughs, pay cuts, benefit reductions and loss of merit and longevity pay. For some, these reductions have been the equivalent of a 30 percent loss of wages and benefits. Tonight, I want to recognize the enormous contributions our state employees have made to help get the state back on track and acknowledge the dedicated work they have performed for the people of Nevada during this demanding economic period. Last session we were able to eliminate furloughs, restore merit pay, and provide a modest cost of living adjustment. This session, my budget includes a four percent cost of living adjustment and increased funding for health benefits to recognize the shared sacrifice and dedication of our state employees.”

The NSHE Chancellor and Board of Regents have stated: “In order to recruit and retain the highest quality faculty and staff necessary to fulfill our mission and best serve the State of Nevada, all full‐time employees of the Nevada System of Higher Education should be treated in the same fashion as all other state and major employee groups with respect to cost of living and merit increases appropriated by the state. Improving faculty and staff compensation is the Board of Regents’ highest priority.”

In the Governor’s proposed budget, there is a 2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in both years of the biennium for both classified staff and faculty. Classified employees will be eligible for annual merit step increases (3.5%–4.8%) if they have not reached the maximum of their range (after 9 steps). COLAs will keep faculty salaries from further losses in purchasing power (about 10% on average between 2009 and 2017, see attached charts). However, the Board of Regent’s request for a 2.5% merit pool for performance-based raises for faculty was not funded. Thus, despite the strong support for NSHE programs in the Governor’s budget and his mention of restoring merit pay, as well as it being NSHE’s “highest priority”, NSHE faculty members were again singled out as the only rank-and-file state employees not receiving funding for merit pay. From the mid-1980s through 2015, faculty merit was always funded whenever classified steps were funded by the legislative. It is particularly disappointing that NSHE officials are “delighted” with the executive budget even though it does not treat faculty compensation the same as other state employees, their stated highest priority.

Healthcare benefits

The executive budget’s “increased funding for health benefits” covers expected inflation only for PEBP’s “base” plan—the horribly reduced benefits level back in 2011. Per PEBP staff that is insufficient to maintain current 2016-2017 plan benefits. The changes in benefits approved by the PEBP Board as of 1/19/2017, mostly one-time funding from “excess reserves”, are shown in the table below.

In addition, the employee premiums for the PEBP HMO plans will increase by 7-9% for the preferred plans with HHP (north) and HPN (south), which have broader provide networks and do not require referrals to see a specialist. As a new option, PEBP will offer cheaper alternative HMO plans, with increased premiums of 1-2%. The alternative HMO plans have narrower provider networks and are not available in many of the rural counties.

At this juncture, NFA will need to pursue restoration of performance-based merit pay and retention of health benefits through the legislature and the Board of Regents. You may contact Governor Sandoval to ask about his budget priorities at http://gov.nv.gov/Contact/Email-the-Governor/, or find your legislator at http://mapserve1.leg.state.nv.us/whoRU/ and Regents contacts at http://system.nevada.edu/Nshe/index.cfm/administration/board-of-regents/current-regents1/.

Benefit (high-deductible PPO plan only)	Current 2016-2017 plan year	Approved by PEBP Board for 2017-2018 only (as of 1/19/2017)	After July 1, 2018, unless changed by PEBP (“base plan”)
Deductible	$1500 single/ $3000 family	$1600 single / $3200 family	$1900 single / $3800 family
Co-insurance	Participants pays 20% after satisfying deductible	Participant pays 20% after satisfying deductible	Participant pays 25% after satisfying deductible
Dental	$1500/yr maximum	$1500/yr maximum	$1000/yr maximum
Annual vision exam	Up to $120, no co-pay	Up to $120, $25 co-pay	none
Life insurance	$25K active / $10K retiree	$20K active / $10K retiree	$10K active / $5K retiree
HSA/HRA employer contributions	$1100 +  $300 per dependent (up to 3)	$700 + $200 per dependent (up to 3) + $200 incentive after annual physical exam, blood lab tests, dental exam, and dental cleaning	$700 + $200 per dependent (up to 3)
HRA cap (does not apply to HSA)	None	HRA balances above $5000 to be taken back by PEBP	uncertain
Preventive drugs	Participant pays 100% up to  deductible	20% co-insurance for select preventive drugs via mailorder or from preferred pharmacy network, 100% for other drugs	uncertain

Note: Dr. Ervin’s legislative updates represent his own interpretations. Official positions by the NFA state board will be identified as such. Individual questions about compensation or benefits should be addressed to your institutional HR/benefits office or to PEBP. To receive regular updates, join the Nevada Faculty Alliance www.nevadafacultyalliance.org.

You can see charts depicting NSHE salary trends prepared by Dr. Ervin here: NSHE_salary_trend_charts_20170105b.png

The following statement was delivered to the PEBP Board at the 11/17 meeting, by Kent Ervin, on behalf of NFA:

Good morning. My name is Kent Ervin E R V I N. I am an active participant and today I am speaking on behalf of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, which represents NSHE faculty statewide. My comments are for the record.

We are concerned that the plan changed proposed in Agenda item 9 represent a significant reduction of benefits and net compensation.  While we appreciate that so-called “excess reserves” are being used to maintain some of the so-called “enhancements”, the net effect is a reduction of benefits.  Excess reserves are simply savings by PEBP due to overaggressive past cuts in benefits and poor cost projections, and enhancements are simply partial restoration of those benefits.  The 2015-2017 plan design, including those enhancements, should serve as the base model moving forward.  Changing plan design year-to-year is confusing for participants and likely contributes to the extremely bad streak of actuarial cost predictions over the past 5 years.

Regarding the specific proposed cuts, the worst for participants is the increase in deductibles from 1500/3000 to 1600/3200 or higher, well above the HSA minimums for HDHP plans, and the possible decrease of the 80/20 coinsurance rate.  These regressive cuts hit hardest those participants who have the highest health needs and the lowest incomes.  The HDHP out-of-pocket maximums are unaffordable for our starting classified employees.  

Decreasing HSA/HRA contributions has the same net effect as increasing the deductibles, and is also highly regressive. The reduction or elimination of HSA/HRA contributions for dependents is unfair because the rates and employee premiums are set based on the four tier groups, not the number of dependents. Effectively, you are decreasing the net deductible as the number of dependents increase. The HSA contributions should be a constant percentage of the deductible for all tier groups.  

The two options for supplemental HSA contributions each have problems. Treating HSA matches differently from HRAs in unfair to those ineligible for HSA.  Tying HSA contributions to a revived wellness program flies in the face of firm legislative guidance not to fund a wellness program and risks legislative pushback on the PEBP program.

The idea of taking back HRA balances over $5K is penalizing those who have carefully saved up most for future needs, which the proposal encourages for HSA participants. Furthermore, it will fail to realize savings because those participants will spend down their balances as soon as this scheme becomes known.

Decreasing life insurance to $5K for retirees and $10K would be restoring cuts from previous levels prior to the great recession, $10K/25K.  $5K isn’t even enough for a basic funeral. 

We are also highly concerned about the changes to retiree subsidies. Would retirees lose their Part B reimbursement?

Finally, the current proposals do not reflect the potential impacts of a flat state subsidy or a 5% reduction along with the medical cost trends.  You as board members should insist on a report on the full cost of maintain the current plan design including so-called enhancements.  Then we can start from there to address budget realities. The participants and legislators deserve to see the actual state of affairs, rather than have those hidden until it is too late in the process to make informed decisions.

Thank you. I look forward to working with all of you on behalf of the Nevada Faculty Alliance and NSHE participants.

Dear colleagues:

I would like to introduce myself, Kent Ervin, as the legislative liaison for the Nevada Faculty Alliance for the 2017 session of the Nevada legislature. I am a Professor in the Chemistry Department at UNR, starting here in 1990. For NFA, I will be following legislative issues and representing all faculty state-wide to the best of my ability. Here is a post-election update.

The Nevada Legislature experienced a blue wave in the election, changing the party leadership of both houses:

    Nevada Senate 11-10 Democratic

    Nevada Assembly 27-15 Democratic

The Democratic majorities mean equal pay and Lily Ledbetter bills and a strengthening of legal redress for employment and civil rights protections--bills that were quashed in the Assembly in 2015 after support for weakened versions in the Senate--will have a good chance of passing. A campus carry bill, which was opposed by NFA last session, is much less likely to be viable.

Regardless of party affiliations, however, support of higher education is not at the top of priority list for a majority of legislators, and there are old and new legislators who have an incomplete (to be kind) understanding of what university and college faculty do. Changing that is our major challenge.

What we hear about the Governor's budget, to be presented in January, is not encouraging. Estimates of projected budget deficit range from $400M to $800M, after accommodating case-load growth in Medicaid, K-12 education, and higher education. It is rumored that the Governor's budget is unlikely to include either COLA or merit/steps for state employees, in which case those would have to be added and funded later. Any tax increases would require a two-thirds majority, and it would be a huge surprise if the Governor proposes any. This means a difficult session for the budget.

We will carefully monitor Bill Draft Requests about reforming or restructuring NSHE.

At it's meeting on 11/17/2016, the PEBP Board will be considering benefits changes and cuts to meet the Governors request for flat and 5% lower budgets. This will be a big battle just to maintain what we have now.

The next big event to watch is the Economic Forum revenue projections in early December.

NFA members will receive periodic updates such as this during the legislative session. I appreciate all feedback. NFA will be seeking your input to your local legislators on issues of critical concern--hope you all will help.

Best regards,

Kent Ervin

NFA's Southern and Northern Political Action Committees have completed their endorsement processes for the upcoming election. We spoke to many candidates about the need to increase funding for higher education, particularly faculty compensation. Our endorsements are as follows:

South

Senate:

District 1: Patricia Spearman

District 3: Tick Segerblom

District 4: Kelvin Atkinson

District 5: Joyce Woodhouse

District 6: Nicole Cannizzaro

District 7: David Parks

District 11: Aaron Ford

District 18: Alexander Marks

Assembly:

District 1: Daniele Monroe-Moreno

District 3: Nelson Araujo

District 4: John Piro

District 5: Brittney Miller

District 6: William McCurdy II

District 7: Dina Neal

District 8: Jason Frierson

District 9: Steve Yeager

District 10: Chris Brooks

District 11: Olivia Diaz

District 12: James Ohrenschall

District 14: Maggie Carlton

District 15: Elliot Anderson

District 16: Heidi Swank

District 17: Tyrone Thompson

District 18: Richard Carrillo

District 20: Ellen Spiegel

District 21: Ozzie Fumo

District 28: Edgar Flores

District 29: Lesley Cohen

District 34: Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod

District 37: Sean Lyttle

District 42: Irene Bustamante-Adams

North

Senate:

District 13: Julia Ratti

District 15: No endorsement was made in this race, due to the excellent credentials of both Heidi Gansert and Devon Reese. Both candidates have very good, but different, credentials to serve in the Nevada Senate. Heidi Gansert has extensive experience with legislative matters and knows the NSHE budget process well, having worked for UNR for the past three years. Devon Reese is an articulate, up and coming attorney who voices very strong support for higher education, and is looking for ways to increase funding for the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Assembly:

District 24: Amber Joiner

District 25: Jill Tolles

District 27: Teresa Benitez Thompson

District 30: Mike Sprinkle

District 31: Skip Daly

Regents

District 6: Michael Wixom

District 7: Mark Doubrava

District 8: Cathy McAdoo

District 9: Sara LaFrance

District 11: Jason Geddes

A Message from Nevada Faculty Alliance President Jim Strange

October 3, 2016

I hope everyone’s Fall semester is off to a good start and proceeding smoothly. I wish to tell you about some of the good things the Nevada Faculty Alliance has going on across the state.

Collective Bargaining

Faculty at CSN voted to certify collective bargaining in April. This successful campaign was a team effort between NFA members and other faculty at CSN, state NFA led by Executive Director David Steel, and the AAUP. Currently CSN-NFA is assembling its bargaining team and has formally requested to bargain with the CSN administration. Join me in wishing them the best in their effort “at the table.”

WNC is preparing to enter negotiations for the renewal of their Collective Bargaining Agreement. The overall relationship with the WNC administration is good, and all are hopeful for constructive negotiations.

Collective bargaining training was held Sep 9th and 10th at CSN. Mike Mauer  from the AAUP led the training. David Steel is planning to give negotiation training to chapters in the north based on these training sessions.

Preparation for the 2017 Legislative Session

The NFA currently has a promising lead on a lobbyist for the 2017 legislative session. Top priorities are faculty compensation and benefits and the NSHE Funding Formula. The NFA will be watching for any initiatives put forward by Governor Sandoval or the legislature which could potentially impact working conditions at the universities and colleges.

Political Action Committees: Preparing for the November Elections

The NFA Political Action Committees north and south have given a series of endorsements for both NSHE regent and state legislative races. The northern endorsements are complete, the southern vetting process is ongoing.

PAC members have questioned candidates on issues relating to higher education, from funding, including faculty pay, to the potential restructuring of NSHE. So far, SPAC endorsed candidates, all of whom have spoken face-to-face with PAC members, are:

Senate:

District 3: Tick Segerblom

District 5: Joyce Woodhouse

District 6: Nicole Cannizzaro

District 11: Aaron Ford

District 18: Alexander Marks

Assembly:

District 3: Nelson Araujo

District 4: John Piro

District 6: William McCurdy II

District 8: Jason Frierson

District 9: Steve Yeager

District 10: Chris Brooks

District 15: Elliot Anderson

District 17: Tyrone Thompson

District 20: Ellen Spiegel

District 21: Ozzie Fumo

District 29: Lesley Cohen

District 34: Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod

The NFA northern PAC has also been active. Endorsees:

Assembly:

District 24: Amber Joiner

District 25: Jill Tolles

District 27: Teresa Benitez Thompson

District 30: Mike Sprinkle

District 31: Skip Daly

Senate:

District 13: Julia Ratti

District 15: No endorsement was made in this race. Both candidates have very good, but different, credentials to serve in the Nevada Senate.

Regents endorsements:

District 6: Michael Wixom

District 7: Mark Doubrava

District 8: Cathy McAdoo

District 9: Sara LaFrance

District 11: Jason Geddes

Advocacy/Legal Defense

Chapters and members of the state board have been handling various issues and cases over the last few months. Most of them deal with disputed evaluations, support through grievances, and workload disputes.

NFA Vice President Rob Manis and David Steel conducted a legal defense training at NSC on September 17. This training covers the types of legal support and methods for assisting NFA members and fellow faculty with various labor issues that can arise.

Organizing/Recruitment

Steven Cohen has been hired as an organizer to work UNLV. David Steel has met with him several times, put him through training, and has given him materials. We are still searching for a recruiter for UNR. We gained 21 new members in the month of September. David will be discussing new membership goals at the next meeting of the NFA State Board.

I want to thank you for your continued support of the Nevada Faculty Alliance. Through your support we are able to help improve our professional lives and those of fellow NSHE faculty.

The NFA northern PAC has endorsed the following:

Assembly:

District 24: Amber Joiner

District 25: Jill Tolles

District 27: Teresa Benitez Thompson

District 30: Mike Sprinkle

District 31: Skip Daly

Senate:

District 13: Julia Ratti

District 15: No endorsement was made in this race. Both candidates have very good, but different, credentials to serve in the Nevada Senate.

Regents:

District 8: Cathy McAdoo

District 9: Sara LaFrance

District 11: Jason Geddes

Dear NFA-UNLV Chapter Members,


Welcome back for the fall 2016 semester! During the summer we held elections and I am pleased to announce our slate of new chapter officers:
Sandra Owens, President https://www.unlv.edu/people/sandra-owens;
Al Izzolo, Vice President https://www.unlv.edu/people/al-izzolo;
Barbara Luke, Treasurer https://www.unlv.edu/people/barbara-luke;
and Nate Bynum, Secretary https://www.unlv.edu/people/nate-bynum.

We are all long time members of the chapter and we are honored and eager to serve you. We are inviting all members and potential members to our first chapter meeting of the semester. The meeting will be held at noon on Friday, September 23, 2016 in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs Dean’s Conference Room, 5th floor. Come to the meeting to discuss our/your plans for the chapter, and to enjoy a lunch that will be catered by Stefano’s Greek and Mediterranean Cuisine.


This year our UNLV chapter and NV state activities will continue to be focused on advancing the academic freedom, shared governance and financial security of full-time and part-time faculty and academic staff through advocacy, organizing, and nurturing strong alliances http://www.nevadafacultyalliance.org.

NFA-UNLV has a membership seat on the UNLV President’s Advisory Council (PAC) http://www.unlv.edu/president/advisory-council and we will continue to be active participants in the PAC discussions and decisions of the UNLV President and his cabinet members. At our membership meeting we will discuss items that members what me to bring to the next PAC meeting. In August the NFA state board met in Reno and among other items we accepted the endorsement recommendations from the members of our Southern and Northern Political Action Committees. Come to the meeting to learn the details of the endorsed races and the various amounts of money we have thus far donated to individual candidates. We will also have a couple of as yet unendorsed candidates attend the meeting.


As your new NFA - UNLV chapter president I am committed to improving the employment experiences of our faculty via confidential consultations, supportive advocacy, and policy change. And I invite you to contact me in confidence regarding any matter that may be of concern to you or your colleagues. We want to hear about the problems, solutions, questions, and successes related to your working conditions as UNLV faculty, academic professionals and graduate students. Thank you in advance for your time and energy to be focused our NFA activities in the coming year.


In Solidarity,

Sandra Owens, NFA - UNLV President Sandra.owens@unlv.edu (702) 612-6371
David Steel, NFA Nevada Executive Director (Dsteel@Nevadafacultyalliance.org) Steven Cohen, NFA - UNLV Part-time Organizer (CohenS3@Unlv.nevada.edu)