UFF-FSU and Board of Trustees Bargaining Update April 8, 2018
The UFF-FSU faculty team and the BOT exchanged proposals with few questions and little discussion of issues. The UFF has rejected most of the changes to appointments proposed by the BOT. The BOT proposals for changing definitions of a “break in service” and “continuous service” continue to be refined to have precise meaning.
The UFF presented a proposal on extending paid leave for Family Medical Leave issues to those few faculty not covered by the federal Family Medical Leave Act. We presented a few cases where this would be helpful for faculty having a difficult period in their career.
In terms of salary the following offers were exchanged.
The BOT updated with an increase overall by about 0.25%, the administration salary offer was in the following amounts:
Departmental Merit: 0.4% Increase from 0.25%
Deans’ Merit: 0.2% Increase from 0.1%
Market Equity: 0
Performance (cost of living): 0
Administrative Discretionary Increases (ADI): Up to 1%
The BOT suggested that Deans’ merit should be half that of the departmental merit, a larger percentage than the original offer. Other categories (Promotion, Sustained Performance and ADI) remained the same as in previous years.
The UFF team was dismayed to see no real commitment to Performance and Market Equity categories. The annual UFF survey indicated the importance of these categories to the faculty. This is particularly galling in view of the rise in rankings for FSU primarily due to faculty efforts and performance. The UFF questioned BOT statements about how tight money is in view of the upbeat reports from the administration.
The UFF faculty team countered with an overall reduction of about 2 percentage points in its offer relative to its previous offer:
Departmental Merit: 1.5% Decrease from 2%
Deans’ Merit: 0% No change
Market Equity: $1.5 million Decrease from $2 million
In lieu of ME 0.25% Increase from 0% (some SF only)
Performance: 2.2% Decrease from 2.5%
ADI: Up to 0.5% No change
We agreed to the status quo proposed amounts for Promotions and Sustained Performance.
The next bargaining session will be Wednesday 4/11 at 2PM at the FSU Training Center. All faculty members are welcome to attend and observe.
Your UFF-FSU Bargaining Team
Co-Chief Negotiators
Scott Hannahs <[email protected]>, Irene Padavic <[email protected]>