UFF-USF

After the bargaining session this afternoon and a few minutes before I sent out a bargaining update, the Trustees’ Chief Negotiator sent the following out to in-unit faculty:

On behalf of the USF Board of Trustees’ bargaining team, I am pleased to share the following update on the collective bargaining efforts between the University and the faculty union.

USF’s Board of Trustees remains steadfast in its commitment to raising faculty base salaries even in these increasingly difficult economic times. On August 22, 2008, the USF Board of Trustees first proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would have immediately awarded faculty salary increases. Unfortunately, this proposal was rejected at that time by the faculty union. Earlier today the faculty union presented the USF Board of Trustees’ bargaining team with such a MOU for in-unit faculty. We expect to provide a response very soon.

That’s not quite my memory of the Trustees’ proposed MOU. But if the Trustees decide that the MOU put on the table today serves their interests, I will be satisfied and won’t particularly worry about the spin they put on it beforehand. An agreement is an agreement by both parties.

The UFF-USF Bargaining Team sent the following to the bargaining unit as USF on Wednesday, September 10:

A message from the UFF-USF Bargaining Team

Last Thursday, the Trustees’ bargaining team made what appeared to us from the remarks of the Trustees’ representatives as its best salary offer. Since we represent you at the bargaining table, we think you should know about this offer.
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The next collective bargaining session between UFF-USF and the USF Board of Trustees will be July 11, 3-5 pm, in SVC 2080.

The bargaining teams for UFF-USF and the Board of Trustees met this afternoon. Before the meeting, the chief negotiator for the BOT team let UFF-USF know that they were waiting until the BOT approved the 2008-09 budget before presenting proposals on the salaries and benefits articles. The UFF-USF chief negotiator presented the chapter’s third proposal on salaries. (Since June 2007, the BOT team has not presented any counter-proposal on salary.) UFF-USF also presented a proposal on one of the technical articles (on amendment and duration).

There was discussion but no concrete language proposed on several other topics.

At the end of the fall, the joint USF-UFF committee to look at domestic partner health insurance benefits submitted its recommendations to both sides. At the March 7, 2008, collective bargaining session, the UFF team put language almost identical to the committee report on the table.

As Chief Negotiator Bob Welker noted, the committee’s recommendations represented the work of both sides, and while those recommendations are not binding on the parties, UFF does not want the work to be wasted; regardless of financial circumstances at the moment, the two sides should be able to negotiate eligibility conditions and the general shape of benefits for when the financial circumstances allow the creation of the program.

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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