Who We Are

Dear APA Members:

As we welcome back our students for the start of the Spring Semester, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy 2020 on behalf of the APA Executive Board.  Hope everyone got a well-deserved break over the holidays.

We thank those of you who set aside some time to complete our Bargaining Survey, and provide some guidance to the Bargaining Team, as we begin the process of negotiating the 2020-2023 successor agreement.  It seems hard to believe we’re ready to undertake that process again!

You may be aware that our contract specifies that we must indicate our intention to bargain before March 31, 2020.  As you read this, we have submitted the request for bargaining dates to the Management Team.  We are also reviewing and prioritizing the input we received from the surveys you filled out throughout the fall and winter.  Check back to this website for updates on the trends we found in the surveys and how we plan to integrate your ideas and suggestions into our Bargaining Proposals. 

We expect to have initial meetings with management to define the bargaining ground rules, set dates to meet and get down to the business at hand.  My hope – now that we have finally gotten on the same schedule as the MSCA Bargaining Team and closer to when the state knows its fiscal situation - is that, early in the process, we will receive the Financial Parameters.  Financial Parameters allow the Bargaining Team to understand the range of increases the state will support for our members’ raises over the course of the contract.  No matter our contractual bargaining schedule – no real negotiations can take place until we understand the finances.  Hopefully that step will happen soon after we get started in March and April.  Our contract language proposals will be presented as we begin the process and throughout the Spring and early Summer.  We’ll keep you updated as we move along through the sessions.

Just two other quick reminders:  April 1 – next round of employee narratives are due to supervisors.  This is the second narrative of this round of evaluations and should cover what employees have accomplished, and what obstacles have been encountered since November 2019.

Finally – it’s 2020!  You have until June 30 to get those accrued vacation hours down to 375 or the excess will roll to sick leave accrual one last time on July 1.

Sincerely,

Sherry Horeanopoulos
Statewide APA President
Fitchburg State Local Chapter President