February 25,2002

Dear Colleagues:

All reports are that the colleges were able to implement the pay increases and retroactive monies in time to be "adviced" on March 1st. The new HR/CMS software, the installation of which was responsible for some delay in this implementation, is supposed to be able to make appropriate tax withholdings from the retroactive payments. All colleges have promised to provide an individual worksheet for members to use to verify the increases, bonuses and retroactive payments.

Because of the complexity of this task and the tight timeframe, some campuses will make these payments to part-time members and those members who have left state employment, in a later payroll.

The payroll office staff at every campus deserves an expression of thanks for the work that was put into this task. Better yet, every MSCA member should call his/her state rep and senator and urge funding of the AFSCME and APA contracts as soon as possible.

Two important legislative hearings coming up soon are as follows:

1) House Ways & Means, Subcommittee on Education, will hold public hearings on the education budget (higher ed and K-12) for FY 2003, on Thursday, February 28th, at the Rondileau Campus Center at Bridgewater State College. Testimony on the higher education budget will begin at 10:00 am.

2) Joint Committee on Education will hold public hearings on several proposed bills concerning bilingual education on Wednesday, March 13, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at Gardner Auditorium in the basement of the State House in Boston. Those interested in offering testimony should contact Julie Johnson at MTA at 800-392-6175, X8315 or email: jjohnson@massteacher.org.

Both hearings are open to the public and members are strongly urged to attend.

Pat Markunas
MSCA President

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2/25/02