What the Senior Staff knows about negotiations is what Joe Rossi tells them. And up until now, Senior Staff thought things where going well. Obviously they are not going well. And obviously Senior Staff was not reading our web site. The bargaining unit members want a fair contract now; they don’t want to wait until January to ratify.

One senior staff person suggested to me that we had not met enough times. He said if we had met and talked more, things would have been settled by now. A negotiation involves both sides meeting and talking. It does not mean agreeing on anything. I remember during the Korean War, both sides met regularly in the Demilitarized Zone. I think they negotiated for two years about what shape the negotiations table would be. I just went through my postings to see how many times we have met and for how long. We have met at the table fifteen times for a total of fifty-three hours. We do not need more hours and hours of sitting and talking. Our problems are not that big. If management wanted, we could settle all four contracts in one long session. Will Parsons, Unity negotiations Team Coordinator

I asked Joe D’Agostino, who set up our web site, how many hits the site is getting. He said that the week of August 27 was the busiest week the web site has ever seen by a great margin – 981 pages viewed. The previous week there were 153 pages viewed. Members who check the site, now know who is at the table, where they met, how long they met, and some general areas of discussion. We do not usually include details about the discussion at the table so that the members do not argue among themselves and split the group. I think that the web site is doing what we had hoped – it is keeping the members informed.

The ACCC Education Association is the only association in New Jersey where all four independent bargaining units coordinate the negotiations, grievances, and social events. In addition, it is the only college association that has a web site. One problem with the web site is that we are learning by doing and making mistakes. A couple of people on the Unity Negotiating Team have criticized a couple of pieces that I wrote. They felt that those articles were personal and unprofessional. So in the future, I will attempt to strengthen my internal censor. Most of us work hard, like what we do, and perform well. Some of us, however, get worked up when we feel we are being “dissed” by the Board’s offer. Will Parsons, Unity Negotiating Team Coordinator.