A History of Staff Council at the University of Iowa
The University of Iowa Staff Council began in 1967 as the result of
efforts by Don Volm, then the Assistant Director of Personnel Services
and Jean Kendall, recently retired Director of IMU. The Council represented
all Professional and Scientific and Merit staff and was mostly concerned
with personnel issues. In 1973, the Council became the primary advocate
for policy changes and charter committee appointments.
In mid-1970, the Iowa Public Employment Relations Act was passed and
subsequently AFSCME gained the exclusive right to represent employees
when voted to bargain collectively. Bargaining was set up on a state wide
basis. The first unit to chose to bargain was the blue collar staff, security
next, then technical, and finally in the early 80s, the clerical staff.
In 1998, Health Care staff elected to have SEIU as their bargaining agent.
As each group began to bargain, those representatives had to leave Staff
Council so as not to interfere with AFSCMEs or SEIUs right to act as their
exclusive representative.
Staff Council has made many accomplishments over the years including
the Grievance Procedure, the Anti-Retaliation policy, review of At-will
status, bringing MSE/C staff under the faculty/staff benefits policy,
making extra-meritorious bonuses available for MSE staff, initiated the
Staff Tuition Grant and Tuition Assistance programs, proposed and developed
fellowship programs to reward and recognize staff, developed the recently
revised classification review policy, initiated the catastrophic illness
policy for staff and faculty, proposed the new staff and faculty orientation,
and strongly advocated for a mandatory, formal offer letter for new staff
appointments.
In Recent Years
In recent years, Council has had significant impact on the overall University
including the following activities: the Executive Committee meets monthly
with the University President; there are also monthly meetings of the
Councils budget and planning committee with Doug True, the University's
chief financial officer; there is strong representation of staff interests
on the Strategic Planning Committee; the Council President regularly makes
presentations to the Board of Regents and there is less formal interaction
of the Council executive committee with the Board; there are joint projects
with the Faculty Senate and Student government; staff council is involved
in the selection process of senior administrators including the President;
Council is active in support of the University United Way campaign; Council
unanimously adopted a resolution in support of the University of Iowa
becoming a top 10 Public Research University; annually hosts a Martin
Luther King Commemorative in January and a Week of the Young Child Reception
in April; and this January, the Council established a Diversity committee
to assist in the recruitment and retention of a diverse staff on campus.
4/28/99 Ken Moore
