United Faculty of Florida, Spring 2010

At the beginning of the spring semester, 2010, the UFF-USF Bargaining Team began posting proposals presented by the UFF and BOT bargaining teams in negotiating a successor to the 2008 - 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which determines the (legal) terms and conditions of employment of employees within the UFF Bargaining Unit at the University of South Florida.

This new policy was precipitated in part by the strong reaction to a proposal of November 20 by the BOT Bargaining Team for new language on Article 13 on layoffs. It was the view of the UFF Bargaining Team and the UFF Leadership that the proposal entailed a sweeping curtailment of tenure. In particular, the proposed text for 13.2(a) would permit the USF Administration to define a layoff unit consisting of one person, and thus allow an astonishing discretion in laying off faculty -- including tenured faculty.

The immediate response of the UFF Bargaining Team was to reject the proposal. Subsequently, on January 8, the UFF-USF Chapter resolved that the proposal be posted, and here is the November 20, 2009 BOT proposal on Article 13. And henceforth, all proposals on both sides are to be posted here during bargaining.

One important factor: these documents are not in any way confidential. Under Florida law, bargaining between a public entity like USF and a recognized union like UFF must be open to the public, and proposals are public documents. Any member of the public has the right to request copies of such documents from the USF General Counsel; that goes for bargaining proposals presented at bargaining between the USF Board of Trustees and any of the unions at USF.

About these pages. All postings are of PDF documents; those of UFF-USF proposals are converted from electronic files, while those of BOT-USF proposals are scanned. Changes from language of the current contract are indicated by underlining proposed new language and lines through proposed deletions. Typically, bargaining goes article by article, and both sides must approve an article before both chief negotiators sign -- i.e., tentatively agree to -- the article. Once an entire contract is thus "TA'd", the proposed contract must then be ratified by both the employees of the UFF-UFF Bargaining Unit and by the Board of Trustees in order to come into force.

Actions at the February 19, 2010 Bargaining Session

The UFF and BOT bargaining teams met on Friday, February 19.

The BOT Bargaining Team rejected UFF proposals for Articles 8, 9, 12, 14, 18, 20 (including Appendix F), 22, 23, and 24 presented on January 15 (below); they also withdrew their own salary offer, pleading poverty.
The BOT Bargaining Team presented a proposal for Article 14 on Promotion Procedure. The two teams also agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding Article 14 - Promotions, specifically, the Instructor Track.
The teams discussed the BOT's January 15 proposal for Article 13 on layoffs, UFF explaining that the proposed language allowed too much discretion in selecting tenured professors to be laid off.

The next session is scheduled for Friday, March 5, at 2 pm, in SVC 2070, and per state law is open to the public.

Presented at the January 15, 2010 Bargaining Session

The following proposals were presented by the UFF Bargaining Team:

We proposed no changes to Articles 1 – Recognition, 2 – Consultation, 3 – UFF Privileges, 4 – Reserved Rights, 7 – Minutes, Rules, and Budgets, 10 – Employee Performance Evaluations, 11 – Evaluation File, 13 – Layoff and Recall, 15 – Tenure, 16 – Disciplinary Action and Job Abandonment, 17 – Leaves, 19 – Conflict of Interest/Outside Activity, 21 – Other Employee Rights, 25 – Payroll Deduction, 27 – Miscellaneous Provisions, 28 – Severability, 30 – Definitions, Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Appendix D, and Appendix E. In particular, because of the sensitivity and concerns about layoffs, UFF proposed that Article 13 be immediately TA'd, but the BOT representative declined.
New language for Article 8 on Appointments; notice the proposals on new faculty hire searches, stipends for chairs and summer appointments.
New language for Article 9 on Assignment of Responsibilities; notice the proposals on teaching and committee assignments, and the number of days in a workweek.
New language for Article 12 on Non-Reappointment; notice the proposal the notice required for non-reappointment of higher ranked Instructors and Librarians.
New language for Article 14 in an MOU and Article 14 on Promotion Procedure; this is for the Instructor tracks.
New language for Article 18 on Inventions and Works; this is for instructional technology -- including recordings of lectures (!) -- and development of open source materials.
New language for Article 20 on Grievance Procedure and Arbitration; the process for addressing concerns about arbitrary and capricious assignments (Article 9.3) is described in Appendix F.
New language for Article 22 on Professional Development Program and Sabbaticals; this is for a variety of proposed opportunities for professional development.
New language for Article 23 on Salaries; we propose a 2 % base raise to all satisfactory (or better) employees plus 1 % merit plus compression & inversion plus promotion raises.
New language for Article 24 on Benefits; this is tweaking on the Domestic Partners Benefit and Early Retirement Initiative featured in the recent MOU.

As mentioned above, UFF had proposed TA'ing on Article 13, but the BOT declined. Instead they gave us a variant of their previous proposal on Article 13 on Layoff and Recall, which still permits targeted layoffs. Time running out, the two teams agreed that the BOT Team will present its arguments in favor of its new proposal for Article 13 at the next Bargaining Session, at a time and place TBA.

Contact us

Please feel free to forward questions, comments, and advice to the UFF-USF Bargaining Chair & Chief Negotiator, Mark Klisch. The other members are Sherman Dorn, Greg McColm, Art Shapiro, Bob Welker, Keith White, and Sonia Wohlmuth.