July 17, 2012. Bargaining team signed off on 16 articles; Next bargaining meeting August 13, 2012 at 12:30PM
We continue meeting throughout the summer bargaining over the entire UFF-BOT Collective Bargaining Agreement. We have already tentatively agreed on the following articles: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 16, 19, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, and 29.We will eventually send you the amendments when we ask the faculty to ratify the contract after we have finished bargaining.
Some of our main debates concern summer instructional activity. The union is firm that faculty needs to be compensated for any credit-generating activity when they are not under regular contract. The summer compensation clause originated back when faculty took a reduction from summer pay originally being 75%of their regular salary to 12.5% years ago The administration has also suggested only offering one supplemental summer course with a cap at 12,500 dollars. We
disagree.
Another central issue is regarding notice for non-reappointment. We want the administration to follow the original contract under Article 12.2: subsections 1 and 2. The administration should honor the terms and conditions concerning the original letter of offer or original notice of appointment. If there are no termination dates in these original letters, then the dates of notice in the C.B.A. should be followed.
In regard to the instructor promotions structure, the administration has set the raises at 9% and 12% with the stipulation that any instructors who received raises from September 2008 onwards will have the difference deducted from the promotional raise. For example, if an instructor received a 3% raise in the last three years, s/he can only receive a 6% raise when going up for initial promotion. The administration argues that this structure will help create equity among instructors.
The administration has initially offered no raises. We are disputing this—particular in regard to the massive amount of reserve money they still retain. We have seen what happens when the administration hordes reserves: the state forcibly reduces its contribution. Instead, some of these reserves need to be dedicated to faculty.
Post-tenure review is also beginning to be discussed.
Our next bargaining meeting will be on August 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM in the Provost’s Conference Room (3rd Floor on the Administration Building). Anyone can attend. We strongly suggest that you do so, so that the administration can understand how faculty are deeply concerned about the aforementioned issues.
Send me any feedback that you might have at president (at) uff-fau.org. Hope you’re having a good summer.
Best,
Chris Robe’
UFF-FAU President