Salaries (the new Salary article’s Tentative Agreement [TA] can be found at https://uff-fsu.org/art/Art23TA.pdf):
1. Promotion raises, now at 12% and 15%, with back-pay to early August, were implemented in December (See Sec. 23.3(c) of the Salary TA).
2. Merit increases averaging 1% will begin to appear in paychecks on January 25th. (See Sec. 23.5(b) [second “(b)”, whoops!] of the Salary TA).
3. Sustained Performance Increases for eligible (most) full professors (3%) will also begin to appear in paychecks on January 25th. (See Sec. 23.4 of the Salary TA)
4. Each of these increases will be calculated using one’s August 7th, 2011 salary rate for calculations. These raises will not be compounded.
5. The FSU Administration is not yet prepared to provide details on implementing discretionary raises for “Distinguished Faculty” (Sec. 23.9(a)(6) of the Salary TA), and is not required to do so as these are discretionary, individual increases. We do expect, however, that some additional information on these will be forthcoming.
Specialized Faculty Reclassification
Attorneys for UFF and FSU are working to prepare a petition to the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) that is a necessary step prior to implementing these changes.
Bylaws Changes:
As you probably know, various changes in the CBA will require changes to bylaws. Changes to all articles can be found via the update provided in November at:
https://uff-fsu.org/art/BargainingUpdateNov2012.pdf
Subsequently, Vice President McCrorie’s office has issued a memo providing guidance on some of these changes, and a later e-mail earlier this week with additional advice. These can be found at:
https://uff-fsu.org/art/McRorieBylawsMemo20121218.pdf
https://uff-fsu.org/art/McRorieEmailOnBylaws20130107.pdf
There are some minor problems with these that we have called to the FSU Administration’s attention.
We urge all faculty members to take seriously changes to department/unit bylaws. One of the things that distinguishes us as faculty — from employees generally — is shared governance (see Article 27 of the last [white cover] printed contract, which is also available at the www.uff-fsu.org web site). Having a say in shaping the rules that govern faculty and such critical processes as promotion, tenure, evaluation, and merit salary increases via our bylaws is a fundamental part of being faculty members. Please get involved!