An update on "limited term" employee reform

In an earlier post I wrote about my involvement in LTE reform issues for the approximately 200 "limited term" positions here on campus in which people work long term for low wages and minimal benefits. The latest development was a May article in the campus newspaper highlighting our work in this area.

After that article was published I was contacted by some folks at UW-Madison, where they have a comprehensive LTE reform plan, about coming to our campus for discussions on how we might achieve what they have. And now it's a reality! The following link to a press release describes the meeting that will take place on our campus next week. I view this as a true milestone as we've never gotten this far in our discussions of this very sensitive topic on our campus. I'll keep you updated. Regardless of what happens, I feel lucky to be part of something so important, as it has the potential to improve working conditions for so many people.

http://www.uwec.edu/newsreleases/10/july/0707LTEAdvisoryCommittee.htm

Homemade Pizza, Wheatberry Salad, and Jam

One reason I love summer so much is the abundance of fresh, home-grown ingredients available for cooking. Here are a few recipes for things I've made recently.

Bread maker Pizza Crust

I got this recipe from my sister when we visited her in Rochester, and she got it from a co-worker. It's funny how good recipes make their way around...

¾ C warm water from faucet
1 T oil
1T sugar
1 T dried milk
½ t salt
2 ¼ C bread flour
1 t dried yeast

Use the dough cycle in your bread maker (mine took about an hour and 24 minutes).

I added fresh pesto, spinach, mozzarella, parmesan, cherry tomatoes, and sweet pepper.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes, or until crust is brown.

Wheat Berry-Black Bean-Edamame Salad

My mom found this recipe in a magazine and she thought it was delicious.

Serves 6 (3/4 cup servings)

4 C water
½ C dry wheat berries
½ of a 15-ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 C frozen, shelled edamame, thawed
1 C chopped tomato
½ C chopped red onion
3 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine water and wheat berries in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 55 minutes or until wheat berries are tender. Place in a fine mesh strainer, run under cold water to cool quickly, drain. Combine the wheat berries with the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 8 hours in advance.




Jam

The harvest season has begun! I used the following recipes to make about 20 jars of jam. These recipes are from Aunt Dee's Caldwell Family Cookbook, which was given to us when we visited Colorado for a family reunion.

Rhubarb Jam

4 cups finely cut rhubarb 4 cups sugar
1 package Strawberry-flavored Jello

Mix sugar with washed rhubarb in a bowl and let stand overnight. Put in a heavy kettle and cook until rhubarb is tender (about 10 minutes). At this point I like to add about 2 cups of fresh berries. I’ve even substituted raspberries for the strawberries and used Raspberry-flavored Jello in place of the Strawberry Jello. Add flavored Jello; stir until mixed and Jello is dissolved. Pour into hot sterilized jelly glasses or jars. Seal with covers or pour hot paraffin over top of hot jam.

AMISH RHUBARB JELLY
5 cups cut-up rhubarb 1 cup crushed pineapple (canned)
4 cups sugar 3 oz pkg Jello (Raspberry, Strawberry or Orange)
Stir together first three ingredients. Put on heat and stir till all juicy. Boil 15 minutes. Add Jello and mix in. Seal in jelly jars with paraffin. Refrigerate if desired.

A Little Patio Project

Busy. Why is the summer so busy? It seems like the winter takes so long, and I wait so patiently for summer, and then the summer just flies by. No time to write!

Last week we completed a project for my 85-year-old grandparents, who live in a condo where they have a 10' x10' patio area to customize however they'd like. The "before" picture below shows that the weeds were getting to be too much to maintain. We filled in the space with patio block. It took a half day to load and then unload about 500 pounds of brick and sand, and a twelve hour day to remove the plants, rocks, extra soil, level and fill in with sand, and lay the bricks.

Who would have thought that revamping such a small space could require so much time and money?! The final cost for supplies was around $450. But they are happy with it, and that is all that matters.

While we were there we got to experience the uniqueness of condo life, as various neighbors visited throughout the process, observing and offering insights (mostly positive, fortunately!). Grandma made a pork roast, cookies, jello, and strawberry shortcake...the weather was beautiful...Although those long hours were very tiring, I think there is something very satisfying about doing challenging, physical work, especially when you know how much it is appreciated.

Before: Too many weeds and too much maintenance required!


In progress: Extra plants removed, filled in with sand and leveled:

Final product: Bricks in, azalea bush boxed in, locking sand applied to the bricks:

Another view of the final product:

The Real Cost of Living

Would you be scared if you read this about a medication you were taking???

As with any medication, Armour Thyroid can also cause allergic reactions. In fact, it may have a higher risk for allergic reactions, since it contains ground-up pig thyroid glands. Seek medical attention immediately if you develop signs of an allergic reaction, including:

•An unexplained rash
•Hives
•Itching
•Wheezing or difficulty breathing
•Unexplained swelling (especially of the lips, mouth, or throat).

It is the comment about the pig thyroids that REALLY freaks me out. Poor pigs. Wtf? I have been taking this medication for about two months and the last few days I have been feeling so itchy and my skin feels abnormally dry and tight. I looked up "Armour Thyroid" side effects on the web and saw the above statement. (Side note: I tried taking synthetic thyroid, Synthroid, last summer and had a bad reaction to it...)

I have an appointment with a nurse practitioner next week, who was recommended to me as being open to holistic medicine, among other things, by an ayurvedic practitioner I recently saw. So I’m going to get someone else’s opinion on this whole hypothyroidism thing. In the meantime, I will try and keep taking the medication since pigs were slaughtered and their thyroids were ground up for it. I’d hate to have had them die in vain. How horrifying.

It just reminds me that we always need to ask questions about where our every day products come from and what is the social and environmental cost of producing them? Who and what had to suffer and what are the alternatives? That’s why I really enjoyed EcoTrip, produced by the Sundance Channel and available via DVD or streaming on Netflix. It is truly shocking to discover the true environmental impact of every day products like cell phones, bottled water, salmon, gold, light bulbs, and more…

Crepes Class

I enjoyed the mediterranean cooking class I talked about in a previous post so much that we attended another class that focused on dessert and dinner crepes. It was fabulous!

Biloxi, Mississippi and Orange Beach, Alabama

Here are the pictures from our April trip to Biloxi and Orange Beach. Orange Beach was so beautiful, it breaks my heart to think of all that oil destroying such a beautiful coast. I think we all agreed that the Crawdad Festival in Biloxi was alot of fun. It was so strange for us Wisconsinites to see people of all ages devouring massive piles of those very unappealling looking crawfish. I guess we prefer cheesecurds, although we did try the crawdads, as you'll see in the photos. We were surprised to learn that Biloxi is still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina, and that many southern cities besides New Orleans were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Always More Work to Be Done...

Since last week’s article in the Spectator about equal rights for limited term employees, I’ve received an inquiry from someone at UW-Madison who is the “convener for the UW-Madison LTE Advisory Committee” and the “chair of Wisconsin State Employees Union (WSEU) LTE Committee.” She said the article was forwarded to her by the President of AFSCME, WSEU Local 1914. She shared some information about the process and steps taken at UW-Madison to address the concerns of LTEs and their working conditions.

She has also offered to come to our campus in June to talk with us about how they got where they are with their landmark LTE Reform Plan! Madison, as far as I know, is the only UW-System school to take a stand on LTE positions, and to recognize the work of their long term LTEs by setting up a system for converting their positions to permanent status and organizing a committee to oversee LTE grievances, among other things.

I am tremendously excited about this opportunity and all that will result from our information sharing with those who have been through this process. This is all great news but an event this week reminded me that just when you think you’re making progress there’s more to be done!

There is an LTE on campus whose position was converted to permanent status, so this person took the Civil Service exam, scored high enough to get an interview for the permanent position, interviewed twice for the permanent position, and yet a “failed search” was declared by the hiring supervisor and no one was hired. This LTE had worked in the position for several months, so she knew the job and the responsibilities involved. This is an example of the discrimination LTEs face, and the true difficulty of advancing into permanent positions. This person did all the right things, as dictated by the system, and yet a failed search was declared for her position. This also shows the lack of support for advancing LTEs into permanent, equitable positions. The education and awareness needs to start, first and foremost, with hiring managers and supervisors who--whether they realize it or not--take advantage of the fact that people who work long term in "limited term" positions have no rights or protections.