by Lauren Handley.
I hope you have all had a restful winter break. I want to begin by letting you know that MPCTA has confirmed mediation on February 6. Because our mediation was pushed back, you will receive another email with a link to the MPCTA survey. If you have not already taken the survey, please do so. This will provide the negotiation team vital information going into mediation with the District.
Also, in preparation for mediation we have made arrangements for our CTA staff member, Christal Watts, to be on campus all day on January 29. We will hold MPCTA membership meetings from 10-11am, 2-3pm, and 5-6pm on that day in HU 105 with Christal. She has far more information about mediation, and the impasse process generally. We will also hold an open negotiating team meeting with Christal from 12-2pm on Friday, location TBD. Please plan to come to one of these meetings. If you want to know more about mediation, these meetings will be the best chance to get that information. If you are interested in the negotiating plan for mediation, this will be an opportunity to learn more. If you haven’t had the chance to attend meetings in the past, hopefully one of these four meetings will work with your schedule. If you don’t generally attend MPCTA meetings, please come and participate to ensure that we can do the best possible job of representing the whole membership.
Finally, we will be holding lunch during flex days. Tomorrow, please come to the Karas room for “Slices and Solidarity”. We will have pizza and hope to see faculty and staff there. In past semesters, this has been a nice chance to catch up with fellow faculty after the break. We hope to see you all there. The following day, we will hold a brown bag membership meeting. Please come by to discuss mediation, but also our bylaws (which need to be rewritten) and MPCTA activity over the winter break.
