UFF-USF

UFF-USF and USF BOT bargaining session

Friday, March 7, 2008, 2-4 pm

SVC 2070

The GAU chapter and the USF Board of Trustees began bargaining this afternoon, and several dozen graduate assistants crowded into the room to observe. GAU Co-President Jason Simms made an opening statement, as did Graduate Dean Delcie Durham and Gerard Solis of the USF General Counsel’s office. The GAU bargaining team distributed proposals on several articles, explained the rationale, and there was a discussion about the proposal to put more solidity into offers. The GAU team’s preference is to preserve as many 0.25 and 0.50 FTE appointments as possible rather than give USF discretion to carve out small portions of GA time. The bargaining session recessed while the two teams caucused. The faculty observer (Sherman Dorn) left before the session resumed.

The USF Oracle (the student newspaper) published an article on the opening of bargaining in the January 31 edition.

The next collective bargaining session is October 12, 3-5 pm, in SVC 2070. This is for the purposes of impact bargaining in response to the university’s raising class sizes. (Impact bargaining is when a union and management bargain over the impact of a managerial decision that is within managerial rights.)

The USF and UFF bargaining teams signed an agreement on the 2006-07 reopener Friday, April 13, 2007, as well as a brief memorandum of agreement on a study of parental leave. The reopener text is available online.

As I told the faculty union team in the past few days, I admire their fortitude through the year, and I consider this agreement an intermediary step towards addressing many of the issues raised in bargaining. The team during 2006-07 has included the following members:

• Robert F. Welker, chief negotiator (COBA)
• Mark Klisch (Counseling Center for Human Development)
• Jana Martin (Library)
• Kathleen de la Peña McCook (Arts and Sciences)
  
• Steve Permuth (Education)
  
• Arthur Shapiro (Education)
  
• Sonia Wohlmuth (Arts and Sciences)
  

UFF-USF – USF Board of Trustees Collective Bargaining Agreement 2006-2007

Vote on Your 2006-2007 Collective Bargaining Agreement at the union meeting on Friday, April 20, 2007, between noon and 1 pm, at Tampa campus in EDU 258 during the regular chapter meeting.

The United Faculty of Florida at USF and the USF Board of Trustees negotiators reached “tentative agreement” on the Salary Article and the Benefits Article of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Friday, April 13, 2007. Additionally, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed that establishes a process to explore the development of a Paid Parental Leave program. See the text online at http://uff.ourusf.org/connections/REOPENER.doc.

All faculty and professional employees in the bargaining unit are eligible to vote to accept or reject the new CBA. If you vote “yes” to ratify, the new Agreement provisions will take effect immediately. Promotion Increases will be retroactive to 8/7/06, Merit Increases will be retroactive to 10/1/06, and Market Adjustment Increases will be retroactive to 1/2/07. Competitive Pay Increases have already been distributed.

If the unit votes “no” to ratify, negotiators must return to the bargaining table to renegotiate an agreement which is satisfactory to you. The UFF bargaining team and executive officers urge you to vote “yes” on this new CBA. A large faculty vote will convey to the Board of Trustees that we, the faculty, are seriously interested in our professional futures.

Due to the protracted process of bargaining this contract, timeliness in ratification is important if employees are to receive the salary increases before the end of this spring 2007 semester. For this reason, all voting will take place at the next meeting of the UFF-USF Chapter, from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, April 20, 2007 at Tampa campus EDU 258.

Much of our past Agreement has remained in place, and the complete text of the proposed changes to the Agreement is available online.

The proposed Agreement affects the terms and conditions of employment for Faculty, Librarians, and Other Bargaining Unit Members, and the Highlights are as follows:

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