The bargaining team met with representatives of the Board of Trustees in January and again last week and remain unable to reach an agreement. The BOT representatives remain steadfast in their refusal of any raises of any amount. As I stated above, they continue to use the cuts from the BOG as an excuse to deny us raises –again!
Currently, the main point of contention remains the paid parental leave policy. The BOT continues to propose placing a cap on how many faculty members can take paid parental leave and giving the Provost discretion to decide which faculty members can take leave in any given semester.
UFF-FAU did not accept this proposal. The FIU policy that served as a basis for our paid parental leave policy does not have any of the restrictions that FAU’s BOT is proposing. This proposal would lead to faculty who need parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child to be unable to use it in the semester when it is necessary.
We will meet again to continue working on this issue.