Category: eBulletins

Health & Safety:  We Have Heard Your Voices

On Thursday, the results from members’ vote on Health and Safety Conditions were finalized.  92% of those who voted supported the Conditions. Thanks to everyone who stood up and voted.
Shortly after, TAUP members and leaders met on Zoom with representatives from local media to discuss concerns with the University’s plan to return to campus in the fall.
 
TAUP President Steve Newman noted how serious the potential dangers are:
“The CUNY system [City University of New York] lost 38 people in the spring. That should give us all pause. Lives and health have to be preserved first.”
 
Associate Professor of Nursing Susan Dickey told Philadelphia Tribune: 
“I believe that many of the decision makers have never met a ventilator. I’ve seen a lot of very sick patients. For many years, I worked in a critical care unit. I’ve seen a lot of sick people as a nurse and this one [virus] is terrifying, even to me.” 
Librarian and TAUP Vice President Leanne Finnigan pointed out gaps in the oversight of compliance:
“Administrators have told us that Allied Universal security guards will enforce facial covering compliance only when patrons enter the building. They’ve given no guidance about how to handle compliance once people are inside. This is insufficient. It’s dangerous.” 
She also discussed childcare now that the Philadelphia School District will be conducting online classes until at least November, stating: 
“We’re in a bind and we can’t do it all. We can’t do it all. I’ve heard from a number of single parents in particular who are extremely stressed because they don’t have the luxury of being able to tag team child care or elder care. 
 
CLA adjunct Carol Gallo noted that adjuncts who turn down courses offered to them lose their eligibility for Unemployment Benefits:
“The way things are set up, it’s incentivizing them to teach in person when they may not feel safe.” 
In addition, she shared that the administration would not commit to keeping an adjunct on payroll if they were to get sick mid semester, a policy that could induce unsafe decisions and encourage people to teach in-person while sick.
 
TAUP staffer and adjunct Jennie Shanker asked Philadelphia Magazine:
“How come they can’t give us a piece of plexiglas? How come they’re only offering face shields, which the CDC says is not adequate? How come they’re letting students come into the classroom with any kind of face covering, no matter how inadequate? 
TAUP Staff Organizer Jenna Siegel told the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“They’re asking us to take risks when COVID cases are rising. We want to work. But one unnecessary fatality is just too many.”
 
NBC10 Report:
 
PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE reports:
 
WHYY reports:
 
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER reports:
Next steps:
  1. Keep us in the loop if you have requested an accommodation and have been turned down.
  2. Reach out to TAUP organizer Jenna Siegel jsiegelaft@gmail.com and become involved in the campaign to increase pressure on the university.
  3. Report concerns you have about return plans in your college/school, department, or for your class to taupaft@gmail.com.  Please make sure to check your schedule so that you know whether you’ve been assigned to teach entirely online, in-person, or a hybrid.  Members have reported some unwelcome surprises.
And as always, read upcoming e-bulletins for information and actions you can take.

Why Higher Ed Workers Should Support the HEROES Act

On July 20th, critical business awaits members of the US Senate as they return from a two-week summer recess: the passing of the HEROES Act.  The US House of Representatives passed the $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act on May 15th, and it’s now up to the Senate to decide whether this federal aid will be there to provide relief to state, local, territorial and tribal governments as well as businesses and citizens who have been negatively affected as a consequence of COVID-19.

If the Senate fails to act, essential services will be gutted and hundreds of thousands of educators, healthcare workers and public employees such as firefighters, police, transportation and EMS personnel, teachers and other vital workers who keep us safe will be laid off. The HEROES Act offers comprehensive funding to maintain these jobs. 

Review this summary to see the range of support extended by the Act.  Provisions specifically for Higher Ed have been summarized here, and benefits to Pennsylvania can be found here. 

Join representatives from TAUP and other AFT unions at noon on Wednesday, July 8th,  to deliver a failing report card to Sen. Pat Toomey for his failure to support the HEROES Act.  Social distancing and mask wearing will be observed, and a limited number of people will be attending from each local. If you’d like to be among those attending from TAUP, please RSVP.

What does the HEROES Act Include?

Among the comprehensive and essential funding within the Act, there is:

  • Broad relief for college students.

  • New stimulus checks which will include adult dependents (such as our students) and immigrants.

  • Expanded student loan relief which will include economically distressed borrowers who have either federal or private student loans.  It will also include many who were excluded in the CARES Act because they were not eligible for federal student aid.  This penalized students based on their citizenship status, the currency of their  loan payments and their academic standing.

  • Suspension of payments and interest on student loans in addition to up to $10,000 in student loan forgiveness.

  • Protection for students who are behind in their payments from wage garnishment and other forms of compulsory repayment.

  • Extensive healthcare measures, including the elimination of certain out-of-pocket expenses for COVID-19 treatment and vaccines, and there will be $100 billion in reimbursements to hospitals and eligible healthcare providers for certain expenses and lost revenue to prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19.

  • An extension for those eligible for COBRA to maintain their employer-sponsored coverage without paying premiums through January 2021.

  • Expanded federal, state and local COVID-19 testing and tracing.

  • Requirements from OSHA to  establish temporary emergency standards for employers to protect any worker at “occupational risk of exposure” to COVID-19, and the Department of Labor will need to create permanent standards to protect workers from infectious pathogens within two years.

  • A prohibition on t employers from retaliating against employees who report publicizing health and safety hazards.

  • Funding for hazard pay..

  • An extension of COVID-19 Unemployment Compensation: the $600/week FPUC, the PUA program for gig workers, independent contractors and business owners, and the PPP program for small businesses.

  • An extension of housing and food assistance.

Republican leaders in the Senate have stated that they will not vote on the HEROES Act in its current form and would prefer to wait to see if previous stimulus packages improve the economy, and the White House has stated that it would veto the Act.

It is up to us to push our representatives to pass this critical legislation. 

Tell your senator to pass the #HEROESAct at http://go.aft.org/HEROESActLetter.  And let us know if you’d like to attend the report card delivery to Sen. Toomey in Old City!

On Requests for Accommodation From Temple University  

This is a reminder to all members that the preliminary deadline for applying for an accommodation is June 30th, as per an email sent by the Deans to full-time employees.

Many of us are understandably leery of disclosing sensitive health information to an employer.  This is, however, a necessary process under the Americans with Disabilities Act for those with qualifying ADA conditions. Temple has also indicated that they plan to accommodate as many health, safety and other potential concerns that extend beyond the ADA’s technical parameters as they can.  But they have also stated that they may not be able to accommodate all requests.

Adjuncts and other faculty, librarians, and academic professionals have rightly objected to adjuncts not being included in this process thus far.  HR has been contacted and urged to include adjuncts immediately.  Everyone must be treated equitably, including acknowledging the fact that health insurance or having a regular medical provider are not things that many low-wage workers have access to.  Since many adjuncts are hired close to the start of the term, and there may not be sufficient time to process an accommodation, it is important that we are all pushing for sections which are added within the few weeks before the semester to be online by default.

It is troubling that the administration did not choose an approach where an individual could opt-in for working on campus.  That way, anyone who wished to work off-campus could be accommodated, and the focus could have rightly centered more on the safety of those who will be working in a riskier environment.  But since there is another process currently in place, there are issues to consider.

If you are going to apply for an accommodation, it is best to apply directly to Human Resources (HR), either through ada-hr@temple.edu or through the form available through TU Portal.  HR is not supposed to share sensitive health information with any supervisor in your college/school or department.  Rather, as part of the ADA process, HR should convey only the requested accommodation.  To facilitate planning, many Chairs’ and Deans’ offices have asked members to disclose whether they want an accommodation. It’s important to remember: you are under no obligation in this process to share any health information with anyone outside of HR.

The internal appeal process for an accommodation that is initially denied is not clear yet and it’s important that the administration provides clarification on this matter so that people know what to do if they feel their request has been unreasonably denied.  Given that Temple has set a preliminary deadline for requests, if you intend to seek an accommodation,  you should strongly consider making your request  within that time frame if possible. If you are not able to apply by the 30th but intend to do so, notify the University of your intent before the deadline passes.

Some of the reasons you may want to cite as potential justifications for an accommodation may not necessarily qualify as disabilities. If you are interested in requesting an accommodation but are unsure whether it qualifies under the ADA, you should still not hesitate in submitting a request.

If you believe that the response to your accommodation request is unreasonable, you should discuss it with HR to make sure that your concerns were understood and to gain an understanding of the decision that was made.  If things have not been worked out through this  follow-up, please contact the TAUP office.

Many of us would not have chosen this process, and it is difficult to decide whether to apply when so much remains unknown about the plans, campus conditions and what will happen once the semester actually begins.  These are intensely personal decisions that we each have to make for ourselves. As decisions about whether or not to apply for an accommodation, we all must remain committed to ensuring the health and safety of each other and of the entire Temple community.