Staff Council Corner

by Gordon Thyberg-Staff Council Chair

“Making a Difference for Staff!” That’s our vision and watchword. And how has Staff Council made a difference for the staff employees at SWT?

We were instrumental in returning SWT to using the 10 largest universities for surveying the market minimums and targets for titles in the university-specific market after 8 years of using the comprehensive school market featuring smaller universities. And in 2002 we were instrumental in getting the salaries of employees in the university market up to 100% of the average base salaries, resulting in raises for 140 staff employees.

Staff Council was also instrumental in providing safe parking for our custodians working special events after hours. The solution is not yet final, but progress is being made.

President Trauth to Visit Staff Council on October 8th

President Denise M. Trauth will visit Staff Council at our next meeting at 10:30 on October 8th. If you want to ask Dr. Trauth a question, e-mail your question to staff-council@swt.edu .

Staff Council (usually) meets the second Tuesday of each month in JCK 460 from 10:00-12:00. Check our web site at http://www.swt.edu/StaffCouncil/ .

Cashing Personal Checks

The Cashier’s Office in JC Kellam building has discontinued cashing employees’ personal checks, a service for which they charged $0.25. The SWT bookstore is considering doing the same.

The Associate Vice President for Financial Services/Treasurer has stated her business reasons for this decision. http://www.swt.edu/StaffCouncil/check-cashing.pdf

We don’t know how many employees cashed how many checks but we do know how many employees had their ID cards scanned. There were 3,519 scannings of employee ID’s at the cashiers’ windows for 309 employees, broken down as follows:

There were 774 scannings of employee ID’s for 162 employees at the bookstore.

What we don’t know is how many employees are truly concerned about this inconvenience (or other issues). So far 43 employees have reported their concerns about discontinuing check cashing to Staff Council - 30 at JCK and 13 at the bookstore. If you want your voice heard, contact a Staff Council member or send a message to staff-council@swt.edu . Your names will be confidential. Let us know which building you work in and which building you cash your checks in.

How Can You Contact Staff Council?

If you have a concern or issue to bring to Staff Council’s attention, send a message to staff-council@swt.edu or contact a Council member. My phone number is 245-2376.

Our web site http://www.swt.edu/StaffCouncil/ is one of our primary ways of communicating with staff. You can find our membership directory there as well as information about Staff Council, our meetings, and issues we are considering.