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Wednesday, 30 November 2005 01:39 |
Members of UNC Asheville??s Chancellor??s Staff Advisory Committee decided last Monday to voice their concerns about lagging staff salaries and the need for an ombudsman to address management issues to UNC system President-elect Erskine Bowles during a planned Dec. 9 video conference.
CSAC Chair Connie Schaller noted that a representative of staff from each of the 16 member institutions in the
UNC system would have about one and a half minutes each to introduce their concerns and, therefore, will not have time to focus on more than one or two areas of concern.
?®We also need to remember to focus on matters that he has some control over,?∆ Schaller said. ?®There are some issues that he??ll just tell us the legislature has control over.?∆
Vice Chair Leanne Preston quickly added that staff can still make it clear to Bowles that salaries are a growing concern, even if those salaries are controlled by the legislature.
?®We can still raise that as a concern, we have to,?∆ Preston said. ?®But we have to keep it clear, because if we don??t, all we??ll get is a lot of babble and he won??t hear us.?∆
Meanwhile, CSAC member Ann Bass noted that many of the UNCA staff??s
concerns are common to employees throughout the system, especially with
regard to salary and an ombudsman.
?®I??ve heard calls for a staff ombudsman to be established on every
campus,?∆ Bass said. ?®They were all pretty clear about that. I think we
ought to go with that.?∆
In reply, Schaller noted that some of these concerns, such as a staff
ombudsman, also could be addressed by raising the matter with UNCA
Chancellor Anne Ponder.
?®This is the type of thing which we bring up to the chancellor,?∆
Schaller said. ?®The president of the system isn??t necessarily the best
choice.?∆
Earlier this year, UNCA??s Faculty Senate and the CSAC each unanimously
passed resolutions calling for Ponder to establish staff and faculty
ombudsmen, who will try to address individual concerns and improve
communication in what the resolutions termed ?®a climate of fear?∆ among
faculty and some staff. The chancellor has not yet voiced an opinion on
the resolutions.
In addition, Bass said that problems with management, especially a lack
of performance evaluations, are also concerns among many staff.
?®I think people are finally recognizing that a big issue is managerial
development,?∆ she said. ?®People have come to me with concerns related
to salary, but they??ve also found that people were not really taking
the evaluation process to heart and they just weren??t doing the
evaluations of staff. One of the benefits of the evaluations is that
even if you don??t have the money for salary increases, you??re creating
a personal work history that you can go back and look at over time.
That??s just one of the examples.?∆
However, she added that such matters may be concerns to handle at the
level of the individual university, instead of bringing the matter up
to Bowles.
?®Also, a staff ombudsman would be able to help with a lot of this,?∆
Bass asserted. ?®They could make sure that steps like that are being
followed.?∆
In reply to Bass?? remarks, CSAC members Mary Carol Morrison and Debbie Race also added that they have not had evaluations.
?®I kept my job, so I guess I??m doing it well,?∆ Morrison said with a
chuckle. ?®But I??d still like to have an evaluation. There??s a number of
people in that situation.?∆
UNCA??s CSAC will have to be careful, Bass said, because Bowles could
simply ?®flush?∆ concerns that reflect too negatively upon the UNC system.
In response, Schaller said, ?®That??s why we have to be very careful with
the things we are going to present to him. We need to make sure he??s
not going to ?¥flush?? it if he doesn??t want to look bad and that it??s
also something he can control.?∆
Preston added that staff would have additional credibility if
representatives from all the campuses ?®sang the same note,?∆ and implore
Bowles to address their common concerns.
Moreover, Schaller noted that if there is time to raise additional
issues with Bowles, she would bring up such concerns about management
and the cost of health insurance for staff.
?®That was one thing he said on his own ?? that insurance is lagging,?∆ Schaller noted. ?®But we can certainly bring that up.?∆
While Preston asserted that there needs to be one speaker delivering
the staff??s concerns, she encouraged other members of the CSAC to
attend the conference.?®The camera will pan out,?∆ Preston said. ?®It will
add a lot of credibility if we??re all there, even if it??s just one
person speaking.?∆
In other action, the CSAC unanimously approved the appointment of Mike
Mitchell, assistant director of corporate sales for athletics, to the
panel. Mitchell was appointed to a second seat representing the
Chancellor??s Area designation of the staff, which includes all areas
not under a vice chancellor.
?®Considering how much of the university falls under that designation, I believe another seat is appropriate,?∆ Schaller said.
- By David Forbes
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