Committee Chairpersons

Area Executive Committeeperson	John Lohr, PA
Alt. Area Executive Committeeperson	Patsy Wiles, MD
AWARDS	Patti McDowell, WV
BENEFITS	Dawn Latham, NY
EMBLEMS	Patti McDowell, WV
LEGISLATIVE	Terry Stehr, PA
MEMBERSHIP	Dave Stratton, PA
NEGOTIATIONS	Sandy Ford, RI
PUBLICITY	Melodie Bailey, WV
PROGRAMS	Howard Rood, CT
SCHOLARSHIP	Patti McDowell, WV
WEBMASTER	Diane Holowaty, CT

Northeast Area NASCOE Report
After the 2008 Pre-Negotiation Meeting

 Prepared by
John R. Lohr, NEA Executive Committeeperson

January 26, 2008

We just completed the annual pre-negotiation meeting earlier this week in Orlando. Florida was fairly typical with temperatures in the 70’s and long lines everywhere. Waiting for an hour in line began when I landed at the airport and is the norm for almost everything in this tourist area. Being in meetings all day didn’t give us much opportunity to see the famous Florida sun. Just felt enough of the warm stuff to make me hope spring would soon be coming after I get back home to Pennsylvania.

In Orlando we went through about 75 negotiation items that had been submitted by members and began the process of preparing the items for this spring’s negotiation meeting with FSA management. This annual negotiation process remains one of NASCOE’s most important member benefits. All persons who submitted items will soon be notified of their issue’s disposition by one of the two NASCOE negotiators assigned to the item.

Some other information we discussed during our two-day meeting in Orlando:

• State bids for the 2010 NASCOE Convention are due by April 1. Interested states should notify the NASCOE secretary.
• The NASCOE Membership Committee has a newly revised brochure. NEA states can request the new brochure, “A Special Invitation to You,” from NEA Membership Chairperson, Dave Stratton.
• The new farm bill will soon be finalized by a Congressional conference committee. The make up of the bill’s farm programs will go a long way in determining the future of FSA employees. Please be prepared to help our Legislative Committee when prompted. Legislative details can be found on the NASCOE website at www.nascoe.org.
• NASCOE is researching the creation of a national membership database that would include both a member’s home mailing and non-government email addresses. This information is especially important when we are dealing with legislative issues. Please be prepared to provide your database information when it is requested.
• While on the NASCOE website, please register yourself for the automatic notification of website updates. All of NASCOE’s activity is now being regularly posted to our site. Thanks to webmaster Diane Holowaty for the good work in keeping the site current.
• Consider booking your next trip on the NASCOE travel site at www.nascoetravel.com . At no additional cost, this new site works just like all the other online travel sites except that NASCOE receives a royalty for each use.
• The NEA Rally is set for April 11 and 12, 2008, in Geneva, New York. Registration information can be found on the NASCOE website. Please plan to make your room reservation by March 11 to get a reduced rate for lakeside rooms. Administrator Teresa Lasseter, DAFO Steve Connelly, and NASCOE Vice President Myron Stroup have been invited.
• Congratulations to Connecticut/Rhode Island for being the first association in the nation to reach 100% membership.
• Early this year FSA management expects to announce and implement new CED classification standards that will not use the old workload parameters. NASCOE has two former Presidents, Randy Cook and David Vidrine, serving on this task force and working hard for a system that will be in the best interest of our members. Please remember that this CED classification effort was not initiated by NASCOE.
• The next step in the PT classification process is expected to be management’s response to NASCOE’s new position descriptions that were submitted last fall. The current indication is that FSA management wants to get the new CED system in place before they begin work on our PT proposals.
• Thanks to Sandra Ford from Rhode Island for again volunteering to serve with me as our NEA Program Technician representative on this year’s NASCOE negotiating team.