Grievance filed regarding SJSU Next Gen Technology Project

To SJSU Support Staff

Colleagues:

As many of you know, our university is rolling out a whole series of new technologies and is putting some of them into a production mode without training support staff on the proper use and support of these technologies. Many of these are under the name of “Next Gen Technology Project” and include WebEx Collaboration, Next Generation Learning Spaces, Unified Communication System, Wireless Network Expansion and Campus Next Generation Network.

Yesterday our union, the California State University Employees Union (CSUEU) Chapter 307, filed a grievance on this. We feel this is a violation of our collective bargaining agreement, specifically article 22.2 which says, "Employees shall be provided necessary training appropriate to any newly assigned job duties or equipment as determined by the appropriate administrator."

A copy of the grievance is on the Internet here:
http://www.ssloan.net/csueu/grievances/tech_training/level_1_filing.jpg

The remedy our union is proposing is, "SJSU will take any and all actions required to be sure these technologies are not put into a production mode until all support protocols are established, support staff are given appropriate training and all CSUEU represented users are given appropriate training on using and supporting these technologies. Technologies that have been inappropriately rolled out will be rolled back until this is accomplished."

Since this is a group grievance I am very interested in feedback from CSUEU represented employees on this topic.

Please use my non-SJSU e-mail for correspondence:

steve@ssloan.net

It's my hope this grievance lead to a rethink of how these new technologies are being deployed at SJSU. In my opinion, in the long run, this will be better for everybody and will lead to improved outcomes for the entire campus community. We need to have these issues addressed to be able do our jobs: to use these technologies efficiently and to support our customers effectively.

I invite your input.

Sincerely:

~Steve Sloan
Vice-President and Shop Steward
CSUEU Chapter 307