Proposals on the table May 29, 2009
At the May 29, 2009, collective bargaining session between UFF and USF, the union put five proposals on the table:
- Â A proposed Memorandum of Understanding that would phase in eligibility for the instructor promotion track. This came from consultation discussions earlier in the spring when the administration asked about a phase-in. Essentially, the university is reluctant to open promotion to 150 instructors in a single year. The UFF’s position is that if the university was going to deny promotion opportunities on the basis of seniority, that was a change in the terms and conditions of employment, and we wanted to make sure that a reasonable number of instructors were eligible in the first year. The proposed Memorandum of Understanding would finish the phase in after 3 years (after which instructors with at least 5 years of service in a specific rank would be eligible to apply for promotion).
- Expanded sabbatical opportunities at partial pay. Based on bargaining-survey results and other input from the unit, the UFF proposed several short-term (4- or 8-week) professional-development leaves for non-tenure-track employees in the bargaining unit, one-semester partial-pay sabbaticals for tenured faculty, and one-semester partial-pay sabbaticals for tenure-track faculty after mid-tenure reviews. The intent would be to create sabbatical and professional-development opportunities that would not cost the university a cent.
- Workplace safety. Based on bargaining-survey results and other input from the unit, the UFF proposed specific procedures to allow faculty and other in-unit employees to request moving upon documented impacts on health from environmental office conditions.
- Shared governance. Based on bargaining-survey results and other input from the unit, the UFF proposed an additional section in the academic-freedom article that would put in place several procedural guarantees for shared governance.
- Contract waivers. Based on staff and legal information from Tallahassee, the UFF proposed some technical language affecting the timing and expiration of contract waivers.
There was no discussion of other articles in the CBA and no agreement on any article or Memorandum of Understanding. As of today, the next collective-bargaining session is not yet scheduled.
