Bargaining Update: Tentative Agreements Reached

To bring you up to date on the status of collective bargaining negotiations so far, our faculty Bargaining Team reports that some encouraging progress has been made. Tentative agreements have been signed on eleven out of roughly fifty articles projected to comprise the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (i.e., "the Contract"). These completed articles can be viewed at the UFF/UF website, www.uff-uf.org Most of these articles involve technical issues such as "Access to Documents" and "Maintenance of Benefits," which are necessary to any collective bargaining agreement but in this case have established important advances in rights and procedures that enable effective enforcement of the Contract. Perhaps most importantly, these articles expressly confirm that "established terms and conditions of employment for bargaining-unit faculty shall not be changed without collective bargaining." The faculty union and the administration were also able to reach agreement on a Nondiscrimination article that is arguably among the best in the nation. This article provides significantly more protections against both discrimination and harassment. It also greatly improves the investigation and due-process procedures, which are designed to protect the rights of all involved. These new protections and procedures are better than anything currently in place at UF or any other university in the state. Not least, the new Nondiscrimination article prohibits retaliation against anyone participating in the filing or investigation of a complaint of discrimination or harassment. Negotiations on the critical Academic Freedom article have been going on for some time, and getting agreement on that article is proving to be more difficult than expected. Your UFF/UF bargaining team has pushed to make salaries next on the agenda and will be presenting proposals for a rational raise structure to redress UF¹s longstanding problem of unrewarded merit. The Faculty Task Force on Salaries has mandated a two-fold approach, requiring both baselines indexed to national averages and the creation of a stable and predictable merit system. Beginning discussions on a comprehensive rational salary policy NOW, well before legislative appropriations have been made, is necessary to provide ample time to establish a long overdue rational salary structure and take away any excuse for the administration to hold up raises. More information on the Faculty Task Force positions informing our salary plan, on the language of TA-ed articles, and on how to join your colleagues in UFF/UF is available at www.uff-uf.org.

Sincerely,

Connie Shehan, President
United Faculty of Florida
238 Norman Hall, PO Box 117055
Phone: 392-0274
Email: president@uff-uf.org