More News
Dear Colleagues,
Your UFF-FSU bargaining team met with the representatives from FSU’s Board of Trustees on Wednesday, August 12 and we had a productive session that moved us closer to agreement, though there are still some considerable gulfs between the two teams’ proposals. This is just a brief summary, but I would encourage you to click on the links and read the article drafts for yourself. As always, we welcome your comments! Indeed, a bit later, we especially would like to hear your views about the latest salary proposals.
Good news! The BOT team began by agreeing to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that ensures faculty promotion raises (12% and 15%) will be applied as scheduled. Newly promoted faculty should expect to see their well-earned raises in the first paychecks of the new academic year. The BOT team did not yet agree to timely raises for faculty who went through Post-Tenure Review (PTR) or who are entitled to a Sustained Performance Increase (SPI), but we proposed another MOA that would quickly enact those raises as well. We hope that they will sign it at our next session.
The BOT team responded to all our open articles:
Article 3 (UFF Rights) and Article 10 (Performance Evaluations), where they reasserted a reading of SB 1296 that devalues UFF service (bargaining and contract enforcement). Our lawyers and six other universities in Florida’s State University System disagree with FSU’s reading. We responded with versions of Article 3 and Article 10 that maintain the status quo on union service, citing the new law to demonstrate the legitimacy of our interpretation. We have provisionally accepted the BOT’s proposal on In-unit Chairs’ administrative evaluations every five years of being the chair role, but have made it clear that final acceptance depends on agreements on Article 10.
Article 17 (Leaves), which offers an improvement to bereavement leave for new faculty and the administration of sick leaves, but which (again) rejects our proposal to transform paid parental leave into a more broadly applicable paid family leave. The BOT team insists that FSU is already generous with sick-leave accrual and the ways in which it can be used. We will continue both to advocate for faculty and their ability to care for family members, both by expanding faculty rights and by clarifying our current leave options.
Article 32 (Artificial Intelligence Use), which moves us a bit closer to a compromise position on what would be a groundbreaking new chapter in our collective bargaining agreement.
Article 23 (Salaries), which—for the first time in our collective memory—offered a two-year deal, with no recurring raise for this year (just a 1% bonus) and with a 1% recurring raise in Departmental Merit (faculty average 1%, but the distribution is based upon each college’s/unit’s ranking system) and another 1% bonus. It also keeps all of our promotion raises, SPI, and PTR at status quo for the next two years. We are grateful for the BOT’s flexibility and their moves toward finding a compromise, but we think that a recurring raise that averages 0.5% per year for two years is awfully low, and we uncomfortable with a raise structure where some faculty will not get any raises for two years. We wonder what you think. Before I ask you to weigh in, I will say that we countered by lowering our request to a 1% recurring raise this year, coupled with a $5,000 bonus (we believe that they have a lot of non-recurring funds that can be used for bonuses but not recurring raises) if we also get 3% across-the-board (“Performance Merit”) and 1% Departmental Merit next year. We also inserted trigger language that includes what is often called a “me too” clause. If the President and/or Vice-Presidents receive a continuing raise that, in aggregate, is higher than the percentage faculty get, we would automatically receive the percentage difference (you can see the exact language by clicking here). We are tired of the BOT claiming poverty when it comes to faculty but then richly rewarding administrators. If there is no money, fine; we should all be in the same boat. Here is a very short poll to let us know your thoughts and, importantly, under what conditions you would vote to ratify such a contract.
In the interest of full disclosure, I will also say that, following bargaining on Wednesday, we had a productive and cordial consultation between the UFF bargaining team and the upper administration, including Pres. Richard McCullough, Provost Jim Clark, and VP for Finance Kyle Clark. They tried to contextualize the lack of raise being offered this year as a product of having too many funds encumbered by the legislature and also by the fact that neither raises nor benefits are funded/budgeted by the state, as they used to be. This means that both the retirement and health care benefits we enjoy—and which once were funded by the state—are now eating into FSU’s budget.
It is an honor to bargain on your behalf, and we welcome not only feedback but your presence at all bargaining sessions. The next one will be on Friday, August 21 from 2:00–5:00 at the Training Center across from the Stadium. Come along and, assuming you’re a UFF member, we’ll buy you a beer (or whatever floats your boat!) and discuss your ideas after the bargaining session. No libations for online attendees, though we will also send along a Zoom link for those who can’t make it in person.
In solidarity,
Michael Buchler, on behalf of your UFF-FSU Bargaining Team
Professor of Music Theory
Florida State University College of Music
Chief Negotiator, United Faculty of Florida–FSU Chapter