UFF-USF

On November 26, 2008, the USF BOT and the United Faculty of Florida tentatively agreed to a one-year collective-bargaining agreement. If ratified, it would extend through August 6, 2009. If you like seeing how sausage is made, you can read the tentative agreement for 2008-09 CBA (all 7MB of the PDF). The short version: the new CBA includes the following key provisions or changes to the 2004-07 collective bargaining agreement:

• A 2.0% competitive pay increase for all current USF employees who have been at USF since May 1, 2008, and who have had a satisfactory or better evaluation in the last anual review. (Article 23 in the CBA)
• 0.4% of the unit’s salary base is reserved for merit raises according to the formula used in 2006-07, using the most recent evaluations. (Article 23 in the CBA)
• 9.0% raise upon promotion, plus $1500 for promotion to assistant professor/librarian, $2500 for promotion to associate professor/library, and $3500 for promotion to full professor/librarian. (This is a continuation of past promotion provisions.) (Article 23 in the CBA)
• Authority to the university to give up to 1.0% of the unit’s salary base in discretionary raises and bonuses from July 1, 2008 until August 6, 2009. (Article 23 in the CBA)
• Paid parental leave program. (Article 17 in the CBA)
• 33% increase in the full-pay, one-semester sabbatical slots available to tenured faculty. (Article 22 in the CBA)
• The UFF is recognized as a grievant and thus may file a grievance for ANY and ALL alleged violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. (Article 20 in the CBA)
• The BOT agreed in principle to a domestic-partner health insurance program, without specifics. (Article 24 in the CBA)
• One-year pilot cap on summer-course teaching pay, $12,000 for a three-credit course. (Article 8 in the CBA)
• “Military status” added to nondiscrimination clause (Article 6 in the CBA)
• Greater procedural rights for faculty to respond to peer evaluatory comments. (Article 11 in the CBA)
• Elimination of annual individual contracts, to be replaced by one-time appointment letters/contracts. (Article 8 in the CBA)

In this one-year collective bargaining agreement, there are provisions that the chapter officers and bargaining team wish were different, in an ideal world: the changes to the sabbatical program are incremental, there is nothing concrete on domestic partner health insurance, there is a cap on summer pay, and there was no pool for compression/inversion salary increases. But this is a reasonable agreement, and it is for one year. The chapter officers and bargaining team recommend that you vote to ratify this agreement.

Voting stations will exist on all four campuses of the University of South Florida, as follows:

• Tampa, Thursday, December 4, 12 noon - 3; and Friday, December 5, 12 noon - 2 pm, in the main library or in front of it (weather permitting)
• St Pete, Thursday and Friday, December 4-5, 12 noon - 2 pm, in Poynter library or in front if it (weather permitting)
• Sarasota-Manatee, Thursday, December 4, 10:30 am - 12 noon, in Einstein’s
• Lakeland/Polytechnic, Thursday, December 4, 12 noon - 2 pm, LTB 2148
• Thursday, December 4, 1-3 pm, MDN (Nursing) first-floor Gathering Area
• Tampa, Wednesday, December 10, 9:30-10:00 a.m., EDU 105 (Education dean’s conference room), after which all the ballots will be counted

ANY EMPLOYEE IN THE BARGAINING UNIT REPRESENTED BY UFF-USF IS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE ON RATIFICATION. You must show up in person during one of the dates and times specified. You may be asked to provide a USF ID or driver’s license, if the UFF members staffing the voting station do not know you personally.

If you have questions about the tentative agreement, you can e-mail them to sherman.dorn@gmail.com or call 813-313-7826. Questions and answers of general interest may be published on the UFF-USF blog or sent to the unit in a general e-mail Wednesday morning, December 3.

All votes will be counted Wednesday, December 10, starting at 10:00 a.m. in EDU 105 (Education dean’s conference room)