Category: Uncategorized

Tragedy in Oregon

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Once again, a campus, this time in Oregon, has been shattered by violence. Once again, families have been torn apart and the lives of their children and parents snuffed out. Once again, a mentally disturbed shooter had easy access to firearms and was able to live out his dark fantasies by taking the lives of innocents. And once again, our national response will be to send our “thoughts and prayers” and then sit idly by and wait for it to happen again. And again. And again. At what point will Americans admit that passively accepting a level of gun violence far exceeding that in any other developed nation is a national disgrace? At what point will voters decide that enough is enough?

But wait. Let’s listen to the gun lobby. Had someone been armed in that classroom, things would have been fine. But would he or she have been able to draw a weapon without being shot first? Would the result have been to increase the carnage? This is not a Western in which a good guy takes out a bad guy with a single shot. Statistics confirm that even trained law enforcement and military personnel miss their targets far more often than not. By the time an armed killer starts a rampage, it’s already too late. Read More →

Market Equity Salary Adjustments.

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We get a lot of questions about the new Market Equity raises that were implemented this year for the first time.  This is a new system and required a lot of back and forth bargaining to get a workable solution acceptable to both the administration and the UFF.

Your bargaining team has put together some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and answers to help explain how the raises will be calculated this year.  We hope that this category of raises will be funded in the future to fully address the Market Equity issue.

Read More →

Ratification of contract

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On August 6 and 7, FSU faculty voted on changes made to the 2013-2016 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).  The result was unanimous approval of some excellent revisions to the contract.   We planned the vote as soon as possible after reaching agreement with Administration in order to implement salary adjustments as soon as possible.  Thanks to all who were able to cast votes at this time of year.  We’re very grateful to Kris Harper and Michael Buchler for their work in organizing the vote.

Salary increases will be phased in over the next couple of months, depending on the category of the increase. The average salary increase, consisting of promotion, sustained performance, merit, performance and market equity components, will be in the 5% range. A reminder that this is an average, as market equity will not apply to all faculty, and merit increases will vary from department to department. Faculty will be informed of their individual raises by the University.

For further details, please go to this link to read the CBA as amended:

https://uff-fsu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BOT-UFF-CBA-2013-16-V2015-07-23-Changes.pdf

Many thanks to our bargaining team for their tireless work:  Irene Padavic, Scott Hannahs, Michael Buchler, Jack Fiorito, Robin Goodman, Nancy Kellett, and Tom Wazlavek.  We look forward to building on these gains in coming years.

Notice of Ratification 2015

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NOTICE OF RATIFICATION VOTE
TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY BARGAINING UNIT REPRESENTED BY THE
UNITED FACULTY OF FLORIDA – FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
UFF-FSU

VOTING FOR RATIFICATION OF THE 2015-2016 AMENDMENTS TO THE 2013-2016 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UFF-FSU AND FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY WILL OCCUR AS LISTED BELOW:

THURSDAY, 6 AUGUST
9 am – 11 am: UC “C” 3101 (Communication)
10 am – 12 pm: Kuersteiner (Music) 213
1 – 3 pm Dodd Hall Lobby
Noon – 4 pm: Strozier Main Lobby

FRIDAY, 7 AUGUST
10 am to Noon: Carothers Lobby (east end of building, 1st floor)
11 am – 1 pm: Mag Lab Lobby
11 am – 1 pm: Bellamy Atrium (1st Floor – entrance facing Strozier)
1 pm – 3 pm: Stone Building Atrium Lobby (west end of building)

On the Panama City Campus:
9 am to Noon: Holley A301 Dean’s Conf. Room

ALL MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY BARGAINING UNIT ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE REGARDLESS OF UNION MEMBERSHIP.

THE MEETING TO CONDUCT THE VOTE AND COUNT THE BALLOTS IS OPEN TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE BARGAINING UNIT REGARDLESS OF UNION MEMBERSHIP.

VOTING SHALL BE BY SECRET BALLOT OF BARGAINING UNIT MEMBERS. BARGAINING UNIT MEMBERS SHOULD BRING IDENTIFICATION TO VERIFY VOTER ELIGIBILITY.

VOTES SHALL BE PUBLICLY COUNTED AND THE RESULTS ANNOUNCED AT THE CONCLUSION OF VOTING AND COUNTING AT EACH VOTING LOCATION. THE FINAL TALLY SHALL BE ANNOUNCED AT 5:30 PM ON FRIDAY, 7 AUGUST, IN THE STONE BUILDING ATRIUM

THE 2013-2016 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT AND THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS:

UFF-BOT Collective Bargaining Agreement 2013-2016 as of 2015-07-23

NOTICE OF RATIFICATION VOTE
UNITED FACULTY OF FLORIDA – FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

Ratification Summary for 2015-2016

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On August 6 and 7, faculty will be asked to accept or reject, via a ratification vote, changes to the 2013-2016 Collective Bargaining Agreement. These changes were negotiated between UFF-FSU and the Board of Trustees. A list of all changes to the document and the text of all tentatively agreed Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) are presented below, followed by short descriptions of the changes (with hot links to the text).

1. Article 23 – Salaries
2. Article 30 – Amendment and Duration
3. Winter Break MOA

Article 23 – Salaries specifies raises and bonuses as follows:

  • Promotion Increases: 12% for the second rank and 15% for the top rank.
  • Performance Increases: 0.5% of current salary for virtually all faculty members, effective August 28.
  • Departmental Merit: 1.75% of the salary base is committed to the departmental merit pool to be distributed according to faculty-approved merit procedures (an increase from last year’s 1.55%). Effective October 9.
  • Deans’ Merit: 0.35% of the salary base is committed to the dean’s merit pool (up from last year’s 0.2%) to be distributed at the discretion of deans, effective October 9.
  • Sustained Performance Increase: 3% of current salary for faculty in the top rank (e.g., Professor, Research Faculty III, Teaching Faculty III, University Librarian) who qualify based on Sustained Performance Evaluation or comparable criteria, effective August 10.
  • Specialized Faculty Performance Increase: An additional 1% of current salary for Specialized Faculty only, effective August 28.
  • Market Equity adjustments for General Faculty (Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Professors and Eminent Scholars): Varying amounts based on current salary, Oklahoma State University’s annual national survey of average faculty salaries at public universities, and years in rank, taking into account adjustments for recent merit increases, overload pay, and payments from Direct Service Organizations. A total of $2,000,000 will be distributed, with a cap of $10,000 each. These increases will go to approximately 550 UFF-represented faculty members and will average approximately $3,600, effective September 25.
  • Up to 1% of the UFF-represented faculty salary base (more than $1 million) for Administrative Discretionary Increases (ADI) such as counteroffers, extraordinary accomplishments, and increased duties.

Article 30 – Amendment and Duration updates the timetable for renegotiations for next year.

Winter Break MOA updates the dates of winter break for in-unit faculty.