The 2007 SSAACCC election will be held over the course of three days: Wednesday, April 11th – Friday, April 13th. SSAACCC members should have received an email from Danays Alvarado containing the ballot for the election as well as the instructions. If you did not receive a ballot please see your area representative and he/she will be able to provide you with one.

Nominees for the 2007 SSAACCC election are as follows:

SSAACCC President: Renee DeAngelo & Ed Perkins

SSAACCC Vice President: Michelle Bevan

SSAACCC Secretary: Angela Stewart & Rhonda Petruzzi

PROCEDURE:
SSAACCC members will anonymously fill out their ballot and cast their vote on their home campus only. Each representative from the Election Committee in charge of collecting the ballots will have a list consisting of members from that campus only. Everyone voting will be asked to sign in before casting their vote.

Members that know they will be unable to cast their votes in person can do so by proxy. If you need to cast your vote by proxy please contact Danays Alvarado, ext. 5623, with the name of the person that will deliver the ballot and sign for you. Proper planning will ensure that your vote will be counted.

Representatives of the Election Committee responsible for collecting the ballots will secure the box overnight. At the close of elections on Friday, the responsible party will open the box and count all votes in the presence of at least one non-partial SSAACCC member. A tally sheet willl be compiled and both parties will sign at the bottom that they agree with the count submitted. Final counts will be submitted to Danays Alvarado, who will make the announcement to the entire SSAACCC unit. The entire packet will be sealed and mailed to the attention of Danays Alvarado, ACA.

TIMELINE:
3/26/07 – Nomination notification, and sample ballot email will go out to SSAACCC members

3/30/07 – Information will be posted on our Website; www.acccea.org

4/11-4/13 – Voting will take place at all three campuses from 9 – 4:30pm

4/13/07 – Announcement of winners will be emailed & posted on the ACCCEA Web site

LOCATIONS:
Atlantic City – Carmen Cabrera
Cape May – Chris Vallese
Mays Landing – Taffy Peterson, A-128

Your vote must be cast in person at the specified location on your home campus. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. If you have any questions regarding the election please call Danays Alvarado at ext. 5623. We ask you to please take the time to vote as these people will represent SSAACCC for the life of our new contract.

Michelle Bevan
Acting SSAACCC President

Will,

Thanks for the update. I’m so glad the ratifications went as well as they did. As always, it’s been great working with you and this time was even better with the support and unity all members of the negotiations team showed for each other. I hope we can continue to build on our success over the next few years before negotiations starts again. Let me know what help I can provide as we go forward.

Dominick (Don) Nigro

PS. If there’s going to be a celebration dinner for the team let me know so I can attend.

Support Staff met today in H116 on the Mays Landing campus. Video-conferencing was setup for the Atlantic City and Cape May Campuses. H116 is the largest lecture room on the Mays Landing campus. The room was full. Members of the Support Staff Bargaining Team present were Michelle Bevan, Renee DeAngelo, Ed Perkins, and Rhonda Petruzzi. In addition, other members of the Unity Negotiations Team present were Nick Ganaway, President ACCCOSAP; John Stratton, President of the Faculty Unit; and Will Parsons, President of the ACCC Education Association.

Michelle Bevan, Vice President of Support Staff made a PowerPoint presentation to go over some of management’s demands for “increased flexibility” that involved having workers at any location at any time with no extra compensation. They also demanded “cost containment” that involved health care cuts and less money for more work. After showing what the team had to struggle with for a year, Michelle when over the tentative contract noting the changes. A question-and answer period followed. A couple of security people expressed disappointment that the security scheduling had not changed and a physical plant employee said he was unhappy with the reduction in the sick-leave payout upon retirement. A couple of people asked for clarification about two of the contract changes. When there were no further questions, Michelle asked if anyone wanted a written ballot. No one did; so a show of hands overwhelmingly approved the tentative new contract.

Now all four bargaining units have approved the contracts. The next step is for the ACCC Board of Trustees to ratify the contracts. That will most likely happen at the next Board on Tuesday March 27. Then it will take a few weeks for the Business Area to make changes in your paycheck.

Following the ratification meeting Michelle asked for nominations for officers for the Support Staff Bargaining unit. The following people were nominated, seconded, and agreed to run for office. Rhonda Petruzzi for secretary; Michelle Bevan for vice pesident; Renee DeAngelo for president; Ed Perkins for president. Nominations for these offices may still be made. Make sure the candidate will agree to run and find someone who is willing to second the candidate. Put your nomination in writing and send it to the support staff secretary, Gail Mischlich.

Will Parsons, Coordinator for the Unity Negotiations Team