October 31, 2011. Saunders and Claiborne squelch discussion on faculty salaries, Agree on public budget forum
UFF met with President Saunders, Provost Claiborne, and Sr. Associate General Counsel Larry Glick on October 21, 2011 for Consultation. Before our meeting began, the administration requested that the meeting not include issues related to current grievances and bargained matters, including salaries. While we would have preferred to have an open discussion about all employee concerns, UFF agreed to these terms. The exclusion of salaries was particularly disappointing since, as most faculty know, low-salaries plague every level of employment here at FAU from instructors to professors to staff. Limiting discussions of salaries to the bargaining table prevent UFF from adequately presenting a vital issue in contexts other than bargaining and offering more systemic analysis of the university’s issues. We hope that the administration in the future might be willing to change its position and discuss general salary issues in other contexts so that they don’t simply come to a head, piecemeal during bargaining.
We began with discussing the threats of Rick Scott’s “education reform” and his saber-rattling against tenure. Although the President will not issue any general statement regarding these issues, she is a part of a statewide task-force that will be presenting their stance in the upcoming weeks. She encourages faculty to write to her concerning their position towards these issues, which she will relate to the state-wide committee. UFF strongly encourages faculty to write to President Saunders and relate their sentiments regarding the importance of tenure, the mission of public education, and the integrity of the state university system. Please write to: mj.saunders@fau.edu. She will be reporting to the task-force soon, so your urgent response is urgently.
President Saunders also suggested that faculty explore the University of Texas System Action Plan to gain some sense of how the Florida SUS presidents might be responding to Rick Scott’s plans. We have attached the document.
In the meantime, UFF will be publicizing our defense of public education, tenure, and the like through local and statewide news outlets. We will be joining the teach-in sponsored by Occupy FAU occurring on November 2nd. We encourage faculty to follow the group on their Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-FAU/223687997691795> and attend the rally. The teach-in will provide an important venue to have all of our voices heard and magnified, as well as meet people who share similar interests.
The administration also agreed to hold a public forum regarding the budget that would allow time for questions-and-answers from faculty, staff, and students. Furthermore, they will be sponsoring a subcommittee that will be working on providing greater clarify regarding the specifics of the budget.
Faculty within the Henderson school are still in limbo in regards to the status of promotion and the legality concerning their loss of permanent status. UFF’s K-12 affiliate, the Florida Education Association, has filed suit to block the Florida Legislature’s 2011 law barring all new teachers in Florida from gaining permanent status. The administration is waiting to see how the courts decide the case of the loss of permanent status by K-12 teachers. Although the administration is sympathetic to Henderson employees, it will not take a proactive position regarding the extremely precarious condition of its faculty and the deleterious effects this will have on the integrity of the Henderson School. This sends a warning to all other FAU faculty regarding the potential loss of tenure and our administration’s willingness to remain competitive with our peer institutions by protecting academic quality, freedom, and tradition.
The administration encouraged addressing both partner benefits and parental leave during the next collective bargaining session in February 2012. UFF hopes this marks a change from prior dismissive administrative attitudes towards these vital issues that affect our faculty. We would also like to hear from you regarding issues you think we should address during bargaining. Email us at: president@uff-fau.org or svishwas@fau.edu.
Finally, the administration agreed to further discuss issues related to Intellectual Property of on-line distance education courses. We intend to set-up a task force, as we have done in the past, to further discuss the potential unbundling of rights that may be more applicable within a university setting.
We plan on holding another Consultation in the spring, so please feel free to contact us regarding issues that you would like to see addressed. More importantly, tell us how you would like to become involved in addressing such issues. Although consultation provides a limited platform where only certain issues can be addressed, we can at least use preparation for consultation to become more aware of your concerns and, more importantly, effectively organize around them. To learn more about UFF-FAU, visit our webpage <uff-fau.org>, follow us on Twitter <UFFFAU>, and/or just contact us: president@uff-fau.org.
In Solidarity,
Chris Robé
President UFF-FAU