UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Organization

The FSU chapter of the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) encourages all faculty members to become involved in the process of bargaining our contract, including:

• researching faculty views and priorities, through surveys, polls, and one-on-one opinion gathering
• drafting proposals for new contract language
• reviewing contract proposals

The UFF has organized a hierarchy of committees, to support the collective bargaining process:

1. Bargaining Unit Members
2. UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Advisory Council (CBAC)
3. UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Committee (CBC)
4. Bargaining/Negotiating Team

To participate at one or more of these levels, come to one of the public meetings (see announcements in e-mail and on the CBAC home page, or contact Ted Baker () or Jack Fiorito).

The members of the FSU faculty bargaining unit, whom the UFF represents, include all the teaching and research faculty, librarians, and a number of other professional employees, whom we all consider to be the faculty of FSU. We rely on all of the faculty to participate by informing the UFF of their views, priorities, and interests, and to eventually support the contract we negotiate by voting for ratification.

We hope that many faculty members will go the next step, to participate in the Collective Bargaining Advisory Council.

UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Advisory Council (CBAC)

The Collective Bargaining Advisory Council is the channel for all FSU faculty, members of the UFF or not, to express their views on what they think should be in our next faculty employment contract. It provides input to the UFF on faculty views, and serves as a conduit for information from the UFF back to the faculty. CBAC activities include:

• gather input from unit members, inform unit members of process
• provide advice to CBC (see below)
• propose issues, positions
• marshall public support for positions
• provide intellectual support (research, ideas, data)
• support contract ratification vote, after bargaining
• tally and review results of Contract Issues survey
• review old BOR-UFF contract
• study other higher education contracts for ideas
• do research on faculty salaries: look at FSU data and data from comparable institutions; look at FSU budget
• identify potential bargaining issues
• design and administer a new bargaining issues survey, aimed to find out degree of faculty support for issues identified above
• review survey results and recommend UFF-FSU positions
• draft detailed proposals: contract language, supporting data and arguments
• use public and private channels to get UFF message across to the public and the BOT

The CBAC has had several ad hoc subcommittees, working on specific tasks.

UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Committee

The UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Committee is a subset of the CBAC, who are members of the UFF, appointed by the UFF President with advise of the UFF Executive Council, to provide direction to the Collective Bargaining Team. The CBC decides on UFF-FSU bargaining positions, priorities, and strategies.

UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Team

The Collective Bargaining Team is a small group of volunteers who directly negotiate the contract with a corresponding team representing the FSU Board of Trustees (BOT). They meet with the BOT team to exchange and discuss proposals. The team is appointed by the UFF President, advised by the UFF Executive Council.

The UFF team includes the following faculty members:

• Ted Baker, Professor of Computer Science, FSU (chair)
• Beverly Bower, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, FSU
• Jim Bowman, Professor Public Administration and Policy, FSU
• Chris Snodgrass, Professor of English, University of Florida (UFF State Office representative, and collective bargaining consultant)
• Steve Weinberger, Executive Director, United Faculty of Florida (state office)

FSU-BOT Bargaining Team

The Board of Trustees team (on the other side of the bargaining table) includes the following individuals:

• Mike Mattimore, Attorney (chief negotiator)
• Anne Rowe, Dean of the Faculties and Deputy Provost, Professor of English
• Joe McElrath, Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences, Professor of English
• Joyce Igram, Assistant V.P. Human Resources
• Ralph Alvarez, Assoc. V.P. Adminisrative Affairs
• Susannah Miller, Assistant Director of Human Resources / Personnel Administraion