City University of Hong Kong Staff Association

Transcription

1 City University of Hong Kong Staff Association Minutes of 6th Executive Committee Meeting held 30 October 2009 Present: Tse (Chairperson), Bradbeer (Deputy Chair), L F Yeung (Treasurer), W W Fung (Officer w/o Portfolio), K W Shea (Vice Chair B), Eddie Yu(Vice Chair A), Yu (Vice Chair B), Derek Cheung (Section C Rep.), In attendance: Tan Shih Ying (CPRO), Karen Cheng (CPRO), Susan Lui (HRO), Angela Wong (HRO), Brian Siu (SCOPE), Angel Garralda (EN), The meeting was quorate at 12.50pm. 1. Apologies for absence: Apologies were received from Jade Wong (Section A Rep.), Titania Li (Secretary) 2. Minutes of the previous meeting held 18 September Action It was noted that some changes would be needed before these are circulated as a correct record. 3. Matters arising from the previous minutes: a) 7. Planned Book Sale: there was no space according to FMO. It was decided to hold the Book Sale outside the Library in mid-november, from Tuesday-Thursday. Books would be collected the week before. b) 14i. The Students' Union is carrying out a 3rd survey of students. Results from the 2nd survey seem to indicate that things are improving in the Student Canteen. c) 14ii. The new Vision Statement is now on the CityU web site. d) 14iv. Could any EC members who have been notified of available discounts to SA members please let know so she can update the SA web site. All 4. Chairperson's report and Lam attended a meeting of the Trustees of the Superannuation Scheme on 27 October. The fund had done well in Q but was still well below its peak year-on-year. The Trustees decided to select more fund managers. It was agreed that a meeting of the Consultative Committee should be called to discuss the matter by the end of November. Mak Hoi Wah, as Secretary, would be contacted. Members and the Staff Trustees would submit items for the agenda. At the Trustees' meeting it was commented that for those long serving staff whose benefits exceed their health/life compensation, there is effectively no life insurance cover provided by the university. It was agreed that this problem, and the possibility of having a group life/health insurance scheme for all CityU staff be followed up as a matter of urgency. Mak Hoi Wah Lam 5. Deputy/Vice Chairs' reports: none as included in agenda

2 6. Report from SCC meeting held 20 October 2009 a) Outside Practice : and explained the proposal from Secretary to Council, Dockerill. This would effectively replace the current scheme. There would be outside work, and outside practice. The former would be that carried out outside university hours and the latter that carried out inside university hours. The EC had many questions which could not be answered. We agreed to ask for a Working Group to be setup as soon as possible, consisting of SA EC members and other staff to look at any proposals in detail. b) Report on Task Force on Personnel Procedures for Teaching and Academic Staff: Prof Kingsley Bolton presented the report of the Task Force. Members of the SCC made many comments on the document, mainly to do with staff representation on committees, as well as the problems raised in the previous exercise which still have not been sorted out - after 6 months! The new appeals mechanism and how it relates to HRO's performance over the previous years, was one of the concerns. Mak How Wah The EC agreed that more discussion was necessary with all staff and that it was not correct to present anything for decision to Council before more consultations had been held. Staff Council representatives were asked to monitor what was being sent to Council and report to the EC. c) Other points were those covered in the meeting with the President (see below). 7. Report on meeting with the President held 14 October 2009: The report is attached. 8. Social activities : a) Snake Dinner 25 December 2009: tickets would go on sale within the next 2 weeks and be limited to two per member b) Wine Tasting : it was agreed that a wine tasting would be held on 27 November 2009, venue to be decided. It was agreed that Sandwich Club be asked to cater. and KW to organise. c) Dragon Boat : The ladies' team was currently holding a weekly practice session. SA would apply for funding again for the event next year. d) Used Items collection: a Used Items collection point would be set up in late November to collect items for distribution amongst the disadvantaged in Hong Kong. e) Mainland trip : it was agreed that a trip to the mainland would be organised for the beginning of next year. This would be to Fujian and last for 3 days, at a cost of $1000. It would be advertised by the end of the month. f) Annual Dinner : It was agreed that the SA would organise an Annual Dinner just before Lunar New Year. This would be open to all members. KW Lam Julyanna

3 9. Search Committee for Provost : updated the EC on the current status of the search for the new provost. 10. Any other business : a) Membership cards : 2010 membership cards would be distributed to members today. The SA membership is currently just over b) Lifelong membership : It was agreed that the constitutionality of lifelong membership of the SA be investigated. c) Membership development : It was agreed that we would have a membership drive in the coming weeks. Student helpers would be used to address letters to individual staff who were not yet members. d) Social activities in 9th floor Staff Lounge : It was noted that there was total lack of social activities in the Staff Lounge. FO would be approached again to determine why. e) It was reiterated that all members of the SA could attend the EC meetings. There being no other business the meeting finished at

4 Notes of meeting with Prof. Way Kuo and Prof. Julia Tao on the 14 th Oct 2009 at 11:20 a.m in the board room, 6/F Cheng Yick Chi Building. Attendees: Prof. Way Kuo Dr. Tse, Dr. L.F Yeung, Mr. Liu chiu Kui Miss Yu, Prof. Julia Tao Dr. Bradbeer, Dr. W W Fung, Miss Jade Wong Miss Titania LI 1. Introduction : Prof. Kuo welcomed members of Staff Association Executive Committee (SAEC) to the meeting. Tse introduced members and stated the purpose of this meeting. 2. Policy of job rotation : There should be a university policy on job rotation for both executive officer and clerical staff who have been working with City University of Hong Kong for years. It would be good for staff morale and development purposes. 3. Exit interview : There should be an exit interview to collect reason(s) for leaving. Both the management and colleagues might gain insight from their departure and make changes accordingly. 4. Replacement of SCC chairperson : Members of the SCC were not pleased with the performance discharged by the current chairperson. There was lack of any concrete action, no follow up and last minute agendas in the meetings. This unproductive manner would jeopardize the working relationship between management and staff members. 5. Revisit PBPR and cost of living adjustment : A total of 4 forums were organized by HRO in the past month but the PBPR was not positively welcomed by any member of staff. The SAEC expressed their view that the whole matter be revisited, especially if any changes to established procedures were forthcoming from the current Task Force. SAEC were informed by the President that City University of Hong Kong was underfunded compared to other universities. However, he assured that whatever supplementary grant allotted would be allocated according to the rules stated by the HKSAR government and whatever belonged to staff members would be passed on to them accordingly in terms of cost of living and performance base. However this would not mean that the full amount of any adjustment would be universally applied. 6. Staff complaints : It has come to SA attention that harassment of staff was taking place in one department (MS) and that assessment procedures were mishandled in another (EE). Details of these complaints were given to Prof Julia Tao. 7. Appeal matters Hans Mahncke, James Parker, Jade Wong and others. A review committee was set up to look into appeal cases arsing from the previous appointment/re-appointment exercise earlier this year, but only procedural irregularities were considered rather than the details of the appeal or any errors made in the assessment itself. The President stated that he had personally ensured that there would be a more comprehensive appeals mechanism in any future staffing procedures evolving from the current Task Force on the matter.

5 8. Cutting of self-financing degree places : There were no justifications on cutting self financing degree programmes while at the same time expanding the offering of post-graduate self financing degree programmes. There was a need to revisit the whole objective of these cuts. 9. Restoring pay to normal MPS for staff transferred to SCOPE: A fact sheet on the request for reverting to MPS salary scales of staff transferred from CCCU to SCOPE to was handed to Prof. Kuo and Prof. Tao. The President advised that legal opinion might be the only way to resolve this issue and the SAEC was advised to go for legal procedure for this matter. 10..CCCU and Private University : Concerns on the development of CCCU and private U as well as the best interest of CityU were presented to the President for his consideration and further action. It was stated that the CCU and any move to Private University status was outside the remit of the President or any CityU staff, as it came directly under Council. Post meeting note: The recommendation to take legal action (see 9 above) was withdrawn