Thank you. I am honored to address this gathering. President Mitchell and members of CSUB’s administration, we appreciate your attention on our issues in this year of focus on staff. However, we have some continuing concerns that I’d like to point out.

CSUEU is negotiating a three-year contract with representatives of the chancellor and trustees. Recently, the State University Police Association settled for an across-the-board salary increase of 18.5 percent. The Union of American Physicians and Dentists settled for 20 percent. The compensation pool that funds executive salaries was recently increased by 13 percent. I assume the primary reason for these increases was to attract and retain talented individuals. We’ve been offered six percent over the next three years, and as might be suspected, we have profound questions and concerns about that offer.

During these negotiations, the impression among the rank and file is that the chancellor and trustees don’t respect what we do for these campuses. Imagine what would happen if Health Center support staff weren’t here to collect and analyze biological samples, administer medication, and maintain files; if custodial staff weren’t here to keep restrooms clean and safe; if grounds staff weren’t here to maintain the plant life and remove tumbleweeds; if administrative support personnel weren’t here to schedule meetings, track budgets, and solve many operational problems in departments and offices; and if technical support staff weren’t here to set up and maintain computers and networks, to set up science labs, and to operate facilities such as this theater. Many of us have advanced degrees, years of experience, unique knowledge of our positions here, and proven dedication to our tasks. Two percent per year is too little, too late.

Also, we and the state’s taxpayers need answers and accountability for the annual allocation of more than $200,000 for the executive consultant position delegated to the former president of this campus, the funding for which could have been used to create at least five average CSUEU positions and to help ease the staff shortages that you, President Mitchell, and other administrators have acknowledged.

Our next concern: at CSU Stanislaus, 53 percent of CSUEU employees have received In-Range-Progressions in the last 12 months. Here, the portion was less than 10 percent. Why aren’t more campus funds earmarked for this purpose?

And finally, an employee I represent recently said to me that many departments don’t truly value or encourage achievement beyond "good enough." Employee satisfaction isn’t just about money, benefits, or vacation accrual. It’s about being motivated to achieve more than average, more that just what’s required to get by. It’s about working with superior supervisors, managers, and administrators who have proven and effective people skills, who evaluate objectively, who make sensible decisions, and whose primary motivations are: 1) providing support for quality higher education, and 2) treating employees fairly.

President Mitchell, you are the most respected representative of CSUB to the chancellor and trustees. We ask you to impress upon them our need for substantive and good-faith bargaining offers that reflect the value we create in the system. We ask you to question the expenditure of millions on former executives for unsubstantiated services. And locally, we count on you to examine the annual budget and to create a campus-based compensation pool to reward deserving staff members. We emphatically request that you investigate thoroughly and objectively the management styles which impede the drive to the top of the university system; our opinion is that this year of focus on staff should include a focus on management problems as well. If those problems are solved, many staff problems will be solved also. We need your assistance in creating a better Partnership in Excellence.

We look forward to working with students, faculty, administrators, and the public. Let’s make this year better than last. Thank you for your consideration.

Note: The reference to tumbleweeds is a carryover from an e-mail exchange on our "Suggestions" e-bulletin board, in which someone from the campus complained about the proliferation of them along a campus perimeter road and suggested getting prison labor to remove them. I replied that the campus is understaffed and such action would let administration off the hook. Three days later, the weeds were removed, and the original complainer posted a "Yippee!" e-mail in thanks for removing them. Kathryn and I followed up by writing that the timing was "convenient," that many other tasks need completion and the staffing level doesn't allow it, that the work was done at the delay of other tasks, and that the action was a PR stunt/smokescreen. During my speech, the majority of the audience responded in a manner that indicated we had won that argument and that the administration’s actions were transparent and they failed to fool anyone.