Attachments: ATT00001; ATT00002
Uncommon Sense
The Newsletter of the United Faculty of
(an FEA [AFT & NEA] affiliate)
Volume 15, Numbers 2 & 3 Fall, 2007 & Winter, 2008
The Voice of the University Professional
Elections
Each spring, the USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida elects its President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and UFF Senators and FEA Delegates. These positions are described in the article on The Offices on page 2. Only union members may make nominations, stand for election, run, and vote. We encourage all union members to consider standing for election, and to vote.
If you would like to stand for election, or if you think someone else would, please send a letter of nomination to:
CHAIR, Election Committee
United Faculty of
USF
Or email to: tauber@ourusf.org. The letter should contain: (1) your name, (2) the name of the nominee, and (3) the office the nomination is for. All nominations – including permission by the nominee to be a candidate – must be received by January 31.
All nominees are strongly encouraged to submit a short (250 words or less) self-description and/or campaign statement, which must be received by January 31 to be included in the ballot materials.
Election will be by secret mail ballot; members will be responsible for getting their ballots returned by the deadline. The ballots will be sent out by February 11, and be due by Wednesday, March 5; they will be counted shortly afterwards at the March 7 chapter meeting; all union members are invited to attend.
On April 1, newly elected officers and representatives formally assume their duties.
Stagnating salaries threaten strategic plan
Now that we know the latest figures, according to the data USF submitted to the American Association of University Professors, we can measure our discontent with salaries: 2.1%. That’s how much salaries rose from last year, the mean raise for faculty who continued at USF this year.
USF faculty raises this year are much less than they were two years ago (4.9%) and were less than raises this year for Hillsborough Community College (3%) and K-12 teachers in Hillsborough County (8%). I suspect that if we looked at raises since 2001, USF’s faculty raises would be much less than at HCC, where the starting salary for someone with just a masters degree rose 54% in a six-year period.
Lower raises for faculty at USF have consequences for the institution: lower morale and higher turnover. When the USF Board of Trustees approved a new strategic plan, the goals were lofty: meeting admissions criteria to the elite Association of American Universities. The vast majority of that work has to be done by faculty and by the majority of faculty. There is no way to meet the needs of the faculty and the university without higher pay. Without meeting the needs of faculty, the goals of the Board of Trustees will go unmet.
We have already seen the erosion of the educational environment this year with substantially increased class sizes for several dozen classes. The federal budget for research grants is not going to increase, which means that hit rates will drop in many programs. Most faculty will work their tails off, as they usually do, but without a significant pool of money for faculty raises, many will also leave, leaving more work for the rest of us.
Four years ago, then-Faculty Senate President Liz Bird argued that low salaries were threatening USF’s future. For a few years, salaries rose faster than inflation. But now that raises lag inflation, we need to remind our community, our legislators, and our Board of Trustees that low faculty salaries still threaten USF’s education and research environment.
The Offices
The USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida consists of the members of the union in the USF General Faculty Bargaining Unit. The Chapter is a participatory democracy: policy is set at the Chapter meetings on Friday paydays, and all union members are invited to attend.
The Chapter has three kinds of positions: elected executive positions, elected legislative positions, and appointed positions.
There are four elected executives. The President is the chief executive and chief spokesperson of the chapter. The Vice President assists the president, and fills the president’s office if necessary. The Secretary composes minutes and maintains other records the Chapter requires. The Treasurer supervises the finances of the Chapter.
There are two kinds of elected representatives.
A Senator
represents USF at the UFF Senate meetings, one meeting in late spring and the
other in mid-fall. Each is on a weekend,
in
A Delegate represents UFF at the annual
Florida Education Association Assembly.
The FEA is the preeminent union representing teachers in
These are the offices open for election. There are also several officers appointed by the President. The Bargaining Chair is the Chapter’s Chief Negotiator, and bargains contracts with the assistance of a Bargaining Committee. The Grievance Chair handles “contract enforcement” by overseeing grievances, with the assistance of a Grievance Committee. The Membership Chair goes out and persuades faculty members to join the union, while the Publicity Chair puts out the newsletters and handles the websites.
The Chapter has a Constitution describing these offices, and it is on-line at http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/Laws.html.
Logistics
The USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida publishes two newsletters, Uncommon Sense (see http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/US/index.html), and a UFF Biweekly (or, if you prefer, a fortnightly) every other Thursday giving upcoming news, items of interest (past news and items archived at http://uff.ourusf.org), and announcing the Chapter meeting the next day. All members of the bargaining unit should be getting both newsletters: to get on the mailing lists, contact the UFF/USF Webmaster, Greg McColm, via uff_biweekly-owner@ourusf.org.
We have two websites, one on-campus at http://w3.usf.edu/~uff, and one off-campus at http://uff.ourusf.org. Come and visit us!
This spring, the USF Chapter of the UFF will meet on alternate Fridays during the lunch hour at EDU 413. (We will be meeting on Jan. 11 & 25, Feb. 8 & 22, Mar. 7 & 21, Apr. 4 & 18, and May 2.) This is where decisions and plans are made, and all union members are invited to come (and bring a friend!). Sandwiches and soda pop are free. Come and join the movement.
This semester we
will be visiting branch campuses, beginning with