Happy New Year! (Updates, Revised)

Some brief updates that may be of interest:

1.  Implementation of ratified changes to our UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is proceeding.  At least some promotion raises, now at 12% and 15%, with back-pay to early August, were implemented in December, and at least some merit raises are slated for implementation by January 25^th.  Implementation is also proceeding for other raises called for in the revised Article 23, but no information on dates has yet come to our attention (sorry).  Vice President McRorie sent a memo summarizing bylaw changes that will be needed in view of the new contract provisions on evaluation (Article 10) and for other reasons.

VP McRorie’s memo can be found at:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/McRorieBylawsMemo20121218.pdf

The ratified 2012 changes to our CBA can be found via the summary of changes at:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/BargainingUpdateNov2012.pdf

2.  Reports continue to indicate that higher education will be a key focus in the coming legislative session.  This is to some extent part of a national discussion.  The Wall Street Journal has run stories recently on higher ed costs.  Some examples:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/wsj20121229.pdf

https://uff-fsu.org/art/wsj20121226.pdf

And of course we have all heard of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force, but maybe you missed this item from cartoonist Andy Marlette:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/MarletteAffordableHE2.pdf

3.  Just in case you are asking yourself “What can I do to build a stronger voice for faculty?” the following link is strongly recommended:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/memform.pdf

Hope your semester gets off to a great start!