The first order of business at the October Statewide Administration Assembly was an update on the Presidential Search. Maria Russel, the Staff Alliance chair, is representing staff on the advisory committee to the board. Other news from the Staff Alliance included a discussion on staff compensation. A guest at their meeting suggested that it is not getting the attention from staff that it should. Layoffs are increasing, the workload is being put on those who remain and compensation adjustments are reducing. The speaker thought that as staff we need to step up to the Regents and say "we are valuable." Another issue discussed is the university's non-retention policy and concern over whether or not people are being let go fairly.

The Joint Health Care Committee will make reccommendations to HR on the health care plan for the updated plan design, due in December. Now is a great time to contact SAA with any health plan recommendations. The suggestions will get passed on to the JHCC.

Holiday leave is still a topic of concern. SAA will ask HR for an official statement regarding the optional extra days of leave. At stake is the policy that, unless elsewise declared, a person taking LWOP before a holiday cannot receive holiday pay. An official statement allowing an exception will fix that issue.

The transition to Google, especially the recent announcement that MeetingMaker needs to be phased out and all SW and UAF users switched to Google Calendar by Nov. 1, was a concern to many members. It was decided to gather those and other concerns, questions or comments about the transition and present them to OIT executives.

Additional coverage of the meeting will be included in the November SAA Highlights.