UFF-USF

When we came to USF, most of us had to choose between the state’s standard pension plan and sticking the equivalent USF contributions into one or more mutual funds (e.g., TIAA-CREF). (Not everyone had a choice: many of those in USF Health have to join the mutual-fund system and cannot join the Florida Retirement System, or pension plan.) Many tenure-track faculty members and instructors have chosen the mutual-fund route because we weren’t sure how long we’d be at USF or because mutual funds seemed a better financial option than a state pension. When you’re 30 or so, the possibilities for job switches loom big, and retirement is far in the distance. Normally, the two plans are entirely separate, but the legislature is allowing university employees to make a one-time switch during 2008 from the mutual-fund accounts into the state’s standard pension plan by buying credit for years of service. (There is another option—moving from mutual funds where you control the mix of assets to a mutual fund where the state of Florida controls the mix of assets—but I assume most people will only be considering the shift into the pension plan.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Colleagues:

In the past few days we have learned that the state Local Investment Fund that school districts and local governments use like a money-market account (to invest their money until they are ready to spend money on salaries and expenses) has been frozen. the problem was that the fund had bought worthless sub-prime paper associated with the failing real estate loan market. This led to a run on the fund when localities learned of the news. They rapidly withdrew money from the fund (7-8 billion in a matter of days)– until the state placed a freeze on withdrawals. For some of the smaller school boards and localities the freeze means they cannot meet payroll this week.

It gets worse. The political appointees (left from the Bush era) who manage state funds want to use the state pension fund (your retirement money) to secure the bad debt in the Local Investment Fund. In other words, the state pension fund (Florida Retirement System) is targeted by the Bush appointees as a means to secure up to two billion dollars worth of bad debt. Although the retirement fund has nothing to do with the irresponsible Bush-era decisions undermining the Local Investment Fund, it is now slated by the Bush appointees as a means to bankroll a rescue of the Local Investment Fund and save the politicians who got us into this. Faculty retirement benefits are jeopardized by this scam. (Note: Questions were raised about Jeb Bush’s involvement in this when he was reported to be hired as a consultant — after he left office — by a firm whose debt was underwritten by the State. http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/11/30/florida-bush-lehman-biz-beltway-cx_mb_1130florida.html )

The three member board that runs the fund will meet on Tuesday, December 4th, to plan the next steps. So far only Alex Sink, the state comptroller, is publicly criticizing the raid on the retirement funds of faculty and other state employees. She deserves your support and encouragement in her courageous fight against this unparalleled proposal (email: cfo@fldfs.com). The other two members, Governor Charlie Crist (email charlie.crist@myflorida.com) and Attorney General Bill McCollum (ag.mccollum@myfloridalegal.com), are still not saying how they will vote on your future.

I have asked the Florida Education Association to use all political and legal services resources available to support Alex Sink, to expose this scam, to mobilize educators, and to hold the state government accountable for the future of faculty and other state employees who for a lifetime invested their earnings and savings in this retirement fund — with the expectation that Florida would honor its commitment to their retirement, without subtraction for unrelated and unethical purposes. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Tom Auxter
President
United Faculty of Florida

Tentative agenda for Friday’s meeting, 12 pm, CDB’s (Fowler Ave., just east of 51st, Tampa):

1. Agenda amendments/approval
2. Introductions
3. Travel reimbursements
   1. Clarification on timing of mileage reimbursement
   2. NEA/AFT Higher Ed Conference priorities
4. Specific concerns
   1. Nursing
   2. Regional campus issues
5. Consultation (Dec 14, 10 am)
6. Bargaining
7. Reports (grievances, treasury, communications, political action, membership)
8. Other business
9. For the good of the order

UFF President Tom Auxter sent the following to members earlier this week:

Colleagues:
We have an historic opportunity to change the tax structure in Florida. Faculty are specifically invited by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to submit comments on the effects of under funding. Commissioners want to know how under funding has affected the quality and the delivery of what students receive in higher education.

The Commission has the power (from the Legislature) to write language proposing a change in the tax structure that will appear on the November 2008 ballot. The results of our efforts (contacting Commissioners now) could change our economic picture for two decades (until the next Commission begins work). This is our chance to make the case for more adequate and stable funding. We are urging the Commission to adopt a proposal that allows Florida to harvest the benefits that come with investing in a developed and well-functioning higher education system.

Contact the Florida Taxation and Budget Commission now, from your computer off campus, with comments on the problems faculty and students face with inadequate funding. Give examples from your campus. See Talking Points below.

Tom Auxter
President, United Faculty of Florida

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve given variants of the following to higher-education reporters in the area:

The USF chapter of the United Faculty of Florida looks forward to working with Ralph Wilcox to improve faculty pay and the quality of education and research at USF. The fundamental issues we have to address don’t change with the name of the person sitting in an office, and from his administrative positions Dr. Wilcox is familiar with the long-term challenges that USF faces. I wish Dr. Khator well in her new post at the University of Houston, and I wish Dr. Wilcox well as USF’s provost beginning in January.

This spring, the Florida legislature required that businesses of a certain size (including USF) accommodate short leave requests of employees who have been the victims of domestic violence.  Here is the information from USF:

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve begun holding “union office hours” over the past few weeks. The following is the tentative schedule for the rest of the semester.

• Tuesday, November 6 — Sarasota, 1-2:30 pm, Einstein’s.
• Tuesday, November 13 — Tampa bookstore cafe, 10-11:30 am.
• Tuesday, November 27 — date held open (for St Pete if a conflict does not arise).
• Tuesday, December 4 — Tampa bookstore cafe, 10-11:30 am

Tentative agenda for Friday’s meeting, 12 pm, EDU 413, Tampa campus:

1. Agenda amendments/approval
2. Introductions
3. Specific concerns
   1. Nursing
   2. Lakeland
4. Taxation and Budget Reform Commission
5. Bargaining
6. Reports (grievances, treasury, communications, political action, membership)
7. Other business
8. For the good of the order

At yesterday’s collective-bargaining session between USF’s administration and the Police Benevolent Association, the administration proposed one-time cash bonuses this year (beyond the legislative mandate) that would be tied to disciplinary records. This isn’t a bonus on top of some base increase but the vast majority of whatever university police could receive.

I’m sure that the administration wants to impose this condition to rationalize, incentivize, or at least jargonize supervision of university police. But the no-reprimand condition on the main chunk of money in the first year of the contract would have unintended consequences. My understanding is that a significant proportion of mild reprimands come when members of a police force exercise their discretion in a situation where their supervisor disagrees with the judgment of the officer on the ground. If the person has met the standards for the department with mild reprimands, then there are two fundamental problems:

• If the person is on the force with reprimands that prevent a raise — and denying a raise is a significant punishment for behavior — then the university is saying that they’re keeping substandard people on the force merely because they can fog a mirror.
• If a police officer knows that using her or his discretion is the greatest risk to a raise, then there will be no discretion used. If you’re going 3 mph over the campus speed limit, you get a ticket. If there’s any doubt about what happened in a dormitory argument, the police officer will have a significant incentive to intervene instead of trying education and conflict management.

UFF doesn’t represent police; PBA is a separate union, but we have to watch what happens with our fellow unions, and sometimes attempts to “rationalize” are simply irrational.

While the legislature agreed on a second property-tax-cut deal, the signals (see the article) are that the Florida Education Association will oppose the proposal. Though it will not directly affect education, the rhetoric around property taxes assumes that we can have a free lunch in Florida. If we want a state economy that relies on more than tourism and agriculture and that provides equal opportunities for all, we have to spend money. The state cannot go into a deficit, and in the past decade the state has put a greater burden for education funding onto local property taxes. So the money has to come from somewhere. While I’d love to see the distribution of funding shift back towards the state, I fear that slashing local tax revenues will put a greater burden on the state at a time of significant economic weaknesses.

And there is already the need at the state level to invest more in education… or, as the St. Pete Times editorial put it today, we have tough choices for higher education (and all education).

Governments need to be frugal, and I am not going to defend irresponsible spending. Personally, I agree with those who think higher education is a cheap date. But other services cost money, and the reason why spending has risen at the local level in recent years is partly because spending in Florida was depressed for so long. We don’t know what the effects of the proposed tax cuts will be, and I am skeptical that it is wise policy. To pretend that eviscerating the tax base is good governance is not fiscal responsibility.

Update:  According to analysts at the Florida Education Association, the proposal that will be on the ballot in late January will take almost $3 billion from K-12 school funding over 5 years.