HOME >> Salary Agreement Reached (October 27, 2006)

Salary Agreement Reached (October 27, 2006)

The UFF and the BOT have completed an agreement on this year's raises (2006-07), which contains some significant improvements over the original package the BOT announced this summer. Moreover, for the first time, faculty will be able to enforce all elements of the salary package, including correcting any misapplication of it, through the grievance procedure and binding arbitration.

The across-the-board and promotion raises in the package have already been distributed through an earlier interim agreement. The remainder of this year's raises will be distributed as soon as departments can implement the enhanced raise provisions, and all merit raises will be paid retroactive to October 1, including any increases that could not be distributed in October. Some highlights of the salary package:

MERIT PAY: The total allocation for merit pay includes the cost of all promotions and SPPP awards, which this year was approximately .6% of the overall bargaining-unit salary base.

  • · Every department will be guaranteed no less than .9% of its faculty salary base for merit raises, so that departments are no longer penalized for having their faculty promoted. The BOT insisted that the total allocation for merit and promotions/SPPP could not be more than 1.5%. However, the parties agree that the cost for promotions/SPPP will be subtracted off the top before the allocation to departments, instead of from each department's merit funds.
  • · Merit raises must be made using faculty-approved departmental criteria and distribution systems and the faculty member's annual evaluation. If a department does not currently have a written, faculty-approved distribution system, it may distribute merit money according to past practice for this year only. The BOT and UFF have agreed that in the future, merit raises will be permitted only if they are distributed in accordance with written criteria and a written distribution system that have been approved by a majority of the department's faculty.
  • · Individual faculty have the right to see the department's complete distribution system, along with the full results of the distribution for this year.

ADDITIONAL, DISCRETIONARY RAISES: In addition to the 4.5% it originally offered, the BOT has guaranteed an additional .25% of the bargaining-unit salary base (which could become, at the BOT's option, .75% of that overall salary base) for other types of raises, including counteroffers, market equity adjustments, and a new mandatory raise (or appropriate other accommodation) for increased duties.

MARKET EQUITY ADJUSTMENTS: There will now be a formal procedure for establishing the fair market salary of individual faculty in relation to appropriate objective national averages for their rank and discipline.

  • · The annual Oklahoma State University and Association of Research Libraries salary surveys will be the databases used in deciding market equity raises.
  • · Each department may establish a method, in relation to the OSU/ARL surveys, for determining a faculty member's appropriate national market salary. The method must include baseline market salary levels for each rank (and SPPP awards in the case of full professors) and a means of measuring relative merit.
  • · Faculty who believe their salary is below the appropriate market salary for their rank and discipline have the right to apply for an additional market equity raise.
  • · The department chair and the department's merit pay committee must examine the current salary, curriculum vitae, and any other documentation that the applying faculty member supplies in order to determine the faculty member's national market salary and recommend an appropriate salary adjustment to the dean, who will in turn make a recommendation to the Provost.
  • · Each applying faculty member, if unsatisfied, has the further right to appeal any recommendation to the dean and to the Provost, and must receive a decision on any adjustment request.

NEW SPECIAL SALARY INCREASES FOR FACULTY WITH INCREASED ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES:

  • · Bargaining-unit faculty who are assigned increased administrative duties for a period of two years or more (e.g., chairs, center directors, associate chairs, graduate or undergraduate coordinators, program directors, etc.) will be guaranteed an additional increase in their base salary or other appropriate accommodations in recognition of their increased duties and responsibilities.
  • · The salary increase or other accommodations must be identified prior to the faculty member's accepting and assuming the increased duties.

3% ACROSS-THE BOARD RAISES.

9% PROMOTION AND SPPP RAISES. Unfortunately, the BOT refused this year to agree to increase the size of promotion-like raises or to implement them at the beginning of the academic year, as is the case at every other SUS university. UFF recognizes that an overwhelming majority of the faculty wants these changes, and the union will continue to push hard for them at every opportunity.

MANDATORY REPORTING: A report of all annual salary increases will be made available to all faculty. A copy of each department/unit's portion of the report will be placed on file in the department and available to the department's faculty no later than 6 weeks after the implementation of the increases.

In summary, the total pay package that the BOT and UFF have negotiated is at least 4.75% of the bargaining-unit base, and if the BOT elects to spend the entire fund that's available for discretionary increases, the raise package will total 5.25%.

Sincerely,

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