August 3, 2010
AT&T Wireless Discounts for
TAUP Members
Dues-paying TAUP members are eligible for a discount of 15% on AT&T wireless services*. You are offered the AT&T discount, as well as other AFT+ Member Benefits or UnionPlus benefits because of your union membership. Bargaining unit members who wish to have these benefits can do so by joining TAUP.
By using the discount, TAUP members can save 15% off regular wireless service costs including phone and data plans. In addition, members can receive other savings on cell phones and accessories. Based on a $39.99 monthly plan, families typically save $71.88 a year with the UnionPlus AT&T Wireless Discount, based on 15% savings. Higher minute plans save even more. The discounts include the new iPhone 4 and other smartphones offered by AT&T. These savings can go some way toward offsetting your dues. The discounts cover new and existing AT&T customers.
You will be asked to fax proof of union membership if you call AT&T customer service to purchase or change your existing wireless service. The AFT membership card that was sent to TAUP dues-payers in the spring contains all the information you need to show proof. If you don’t have your AFT membership card, you can call (215-763-2287 or 1-7641) or email (taupaft@aol.com) the TAUP office for help.
In addition, using these benefits supports union workers and their families. AT&T is the only wireless company that is completely unionized. Some 40,000 AT&T Mobility employees are represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
* Credit approval and new two-year service agreement required. Additional lines for family plans, unlimited plans and Unity Plans or plans combining land and wireless are not eligible. Other conditions and restrictions apply.
July 27, 2010
Salary Raises in July
Good news for TAUP bargaining unit members: the across-the-board pay increases and the 0.75% bonus that TAUP negotiated in the 2008-2012 contract will appear in your July paychecks.
Increases for those who were promoted will also appear in your July paycheck (rather than in January, as in the previous contract). All these pay increases are calculated on your June 30 base pay. In addition, if you qualify, you will find increases because of new salary minima. These are applied to your July 1 base pay.
- BONUS
All bargaining unit members will see a one-time lump sum bonus of 0.75%. This amount is not added to your base pay. This bonus is being paid because the total of Temple's appropriation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania included the proper portion of State Fiscal Stabilization Funds from the federal stimulus program to trigger the contract provision (Article 21, Section B.1, page 63) that calls for the bonus.
- ACROSS-THE-BOARD INCREASE
All bargaining unit members will see an across-the-board increase (ATB), but it is applied to librarians and academic professionals in a different manner than it is applied to faculty. All ATB amounts are calculated on your June 30 base pay.
Librarians and Academic Professionals
If you are a librarian or an academic professional, you will see your base pay increase by 2% in July.
Faculty
If you are a faculty member you will see the 2% ATB in two pieces. First, all faculty will receive an across-the board boost of 1.75% in their July paychecks. The remaining 0.25%, though, is contingent on your submitting the new annual report by September 24, 2010. If you meet the deadline, you will see the other 0.25% increase, retroactive to July, in your October paycheck. If you don’t submit the annual report by September 24, the 0.25% you would have received will be added to the general merit pool.
Annual reports are related to merit in another important way, beyond adding the 0.25% ATB. Annual reports are also required for faculty to be considered for merit. For more information on the merit and annual reports, click here.
- PROMOTION INCREASE
If you were promoted in grade or rank effective July 1, you will see an increase of 8% to your base pay effective immediately. This raise is, like the ATB, figured on your June 30 salary. Having the increase go into effect upon promotion is a change from the previous contract, when those promoted had to wait until the following January to see the increase.
Combining the ATB and the promotion raises: If you are a librarian or academic professional, your total increase will be 10% in July. If you are a faculty member, you will receive a 9.75% increase now, with the other 0.25% coming in October, again, provided you have turned in your annual report by the September 24 deadline.
- SALARY MINIMA INCREASE
Some faculty will see their pay go up because of new salary minima [Article 20, Section A, page 59]. Increases because of new minima go into effect July 1, that is, after you have received your across-the-board increase and, if applicable, the promotion increase.
If you have any questions about these salary increases, please contact the TAUP office by phone (215-763-2287 or 1-7641) or by email (taupaft@aol.com). To expedite our answering your inquiries, please have your June and July paystubs ready when you call, or send them as an attachment if you email.
July 15, 2010
Merit Reporting Period Clarified -
For Most Faculty
July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010
Temple administration has agreed with TAUP that the merit reporting period will remain as it has been in practice. This means that for nine of the eleven TAUP schools and colleges (FSBM, SCT, Education, Engineering, CHP&SW, CLA, Boyer, Pharmacy and STHM) the period is July 1 - June 30. Two colleges, Tyler and CST, switched a few years ago to using the period September 1 - August 31, and they will again use this period for their annual reports. All merit reporting periods will be twelve months only.
The deadline for submitting annual reports this year remains the same: September 24. Timely submission of annual reports has two financial advantages for you.
First, the annual report is required for you to be considered for merit. Only if you submit it by September 24 will you be eligible. Each school or college may have additional guidelines for what else needs to be submitted with the annual report form that is found in TUportal.
Second, if you meet the deadline, you will receive a 0.25% across the board salary increase. This raise will be calculated on your base salary as of June 30, 2010, and will be retroactive to July 1. The amount for July, August and September will be included in your October paycheck as a lump sum. In addition, you will see the ATB increase in your base pay. The amount will be 0.25% of your June monthly base pay. This 0.25% increase is in addition to the 1.75% ATB that went into effect July 1.
In our e-Bulletin of June 17, 2010, TAUP reported that the TAUP-Temple contract called for the University to use July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010 as the merit reporting period. Temple administration had previously instructed some faculty that the reporting period should be September 1, 2009 – August 31, 2010.
To clarify the issue, TAUP and Temple met on May 26.
If you have any questions about the reporting period for the annual report, let us know ASAP. We have also been getting feedback about the annual report form itself. Please contact TAUP by email (taupaft.aol.com) or by phone (215-763-2287 or 215-204-7641).
June 29, 2010
Encourage US Department of Education
to Issue Regulations of For-Profit Colleges
TAUP would like your help contacting Congress and the Secretary of Education regarding the important issue of regulating for-profit universities. There has recently been a lot of discussion in Congress surrounding the for-profit sector of higher education. See this Inside Higher Ed article on last week's hearing in the U.S. Senate as an example of the concerns that a growing number of legislators and policymakers have about some for-profit schools. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/25/hearing
AFT has been actively working with a coalition of groups to encourage better regulation of that sector and in fact earlier this month the U.S. Department of Education proposed some important new regulations aimed at ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and effectively on federal student aid, but it did not issue a draft regulation defining “gainful employment”. Each year, students borrow and taxpayers spend billions of dollars to subsidize attendance at programs required by law to “prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation.” Yet current regulations include no definition of “gainful employment,” leaving the law unenforceable.
The Department of Ed has said it will issue the draft regulations on the definition of gainful employment “shortly”, but if the Department doesn’t issue them by the first week of July, these rules likely won’t go into effect until July 2012. In the next year alone, taxpayers will likely underwrite more than $30 billion in loans to students attending programs that are required to prepare them for gainful employment. Students and taxpayers shouldn’t have to wait another year to be protected from for-profit career education programs that over-charge and under-deliver.
Here is how you can help:
Go to www.protectstudentsandtaxpayers.org today and urge Education Secretary Arne Duncan, OMB Director Peter Orszag and your Members of Congress to make sure that next year strong regulations are in place to protect students and taxpayers from exploitative career education programs. The for-profit higher education lobby is doing everything it can to get the Department to not issue or delay issuing these important regulations and so the Department and Congress need to hear from everyone who believes better regulation is needed.
Thank you.
Art Hochner
President, TAUP
