UFF-USF

As approved by the membership in spring 2008, the UFF-USF chapter will hold drawings for gift cards to Powell’s Books (a unionized online bookstore) for faculty and professional employees in the UFF-USF bargaining unit who effectively communicate with legislators or the public in the Spring 2008 legislative session:

• Employees in the UFF-USF bargaining unit who place letters to the editor or op-eds in West Central Florida daily newspapers during the session, speaking about the state’s higher education budget or higher-education governance; and
• Employees in the UFF-USF bargaining unit who write to their legislators during the session and receive a personal e-mail response or a written letter.

The basics: send the documentation to Sherman Dorn (EDU162) by the end of session to be eligible. You do not need to be a UFF member to be eligible, though it would be great if you join UFF now. Note the guidelines below for each set of drawings.

Chapter President Sherman Dorn is not eligible for either set of drawings. All drawings shall be held no later than the first chapter meeting after the end of the legislative session. The guidelines are below:

Letters to the editor

A set of drawings will be held for a series of $50 gift cards, one corresponding to each two- or three-week period (defined below) of the legislative session, with in-unit employees eligible if they place a letter to the editor about the budget situation in a daily metropolitan newspaper in the USF service area during the sessions. The periods for each drawing: February 25-March 14; March 15-March 28; March 29-April 11; and every two weeks afterwards until the end of session (or a part of a two-week period if the session ends in the middle). For the purposes of these drawings, an extended session or special session called immediately after the end of the regular session will be included as part of the Spring session.

Letters to the editor must address either higher-education funding in the state budget or public higher-education governance in Florida. Apart from those general topics, any letter to the editor counts.

Please send a copy of the letter in campus mail to Sherman Dorn, EDU162. No e-mail entries, please. Remember that letters to the editor are more likely to be published in full if they are short (< 150 words).

Letters to and from your legislators

One drawing will be held after the end of the session for two $50 gift cards, drawn from the pool of in-unit employees who write to their legislators about the effects of higher education budget cuts or higher-education governance and receive a personalized e-mail response or a written (mailed) letter on the topic from a legislator by April 30. (Automatic e-mail responses from a legislator’s mailbox do not count.)

Please send a copy of both your e-mail or letter and your legislator’s response in campus mail to Sherman Dorn, EDU162. No e-mail entries, please. When communicating with your legislator about issues tied to your job, use your own resources, and make sure to include your home address so the legislator knows you’re a constituent! (E-mails from USF campus e-mail addresses or letters on USF letterhead will not be eligible for this drawing.) If you e-mail a legislator from home, make the subject line specific and directive (e.g., “keep the BOG as is”), not vague (”important message from constituent”).

To find your state legislators, use your nine-digit zip code in the find-your-legislators form at the Florida Senate website.