Category: Florida Legislation

Report to Faculty Senate, Feb. 20th

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Our annual faculty poll’s question on parking was removed last spring over my objection.  In view of the earlier presentation and discussion and prospects for more parking problems, I plan to argue strongly for putting it back this spring.

We are NOT bargaining, for a change.  You will recall that we concluded bargaining in October.  Discussions on implementation and other matters are expected at two consultations with President Barron, Provost Stokes, and other FSU administration representatives next month.  Bargaining for 2013-14 and beyond is scheduled to begin later this spring.  We will be seeking your views on bargaining in our upcoming poll and in other ways. Read More →

Senator Montford on Higher Education Issues

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The UFF-FSU Chapter will be pleased to feature Senator Bill Montford as our special guest for a luncheon on Tuesday, February 26th at 12:30 in the Oglesby Union’s Florida Room.  Senator Montford will discuss issues facing higher education in the upcoming legislative session.  A postable flyer can be found at:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/MontfordFeb26.pdf

All FSU faculty members are welcome to attend.  A catered hot lunch will be available, free for UFF members and $12 for others.  If you plan to attend, please notify UFF-FSU Vice President Jennifer Proffitt ([email protected]).

Florida Supreme Court Retirement Ruling

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Thursday’s Florida Supreme Court ruling did more than dash the hopes of more than 620,000 public workers in the Florida Retirement System who wanted to see 3 percent of their pay returned.  It also opened the doors for lawmakers to make more changes that help the state’s bottom line but cost the school teachers, law-enforcement officers, county employees and state workers.

     From the Tallahassee Democrat, Jan. 18, 2013

Let’s build a stronger voice for faculty.  If you are not already a UFF member, please join!

Full text of the Democrat story:  https://uff-fsu.org/art/td20130118.pdf

The full text of the Florida Supreme Court 4-3 ruling, including dissenting opinion is available at:  https://uff-fsu.org/art/sc12-520.pdf

 

Happy New Year! (Updates, Revised)

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Some brief updates that may be of interest:

1.  Implementation of ratified changes to our UFF-FSU Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is proceeding.  At least some promotion raises, now at 12% and 15%, with back-pay to early August, were implemented in December, and at least some merit raises are slated for implementation by January 25th.  Implementation is also proceeding for other raises called for in the revised Article 23, but no information on dates has yet come to our attention (sorry).  Vice President McRorie sent a memo summarizing bylaw changes that will be needed in view of the new contract provisions on evaluation (Article 10) and for other reasons.

VP McRorie’s memo can be found at:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/McRorieBylawsMemo20121218.pdf

The ratified 2012 changes to our CBA can be found via the summary of changes at:

https://uff-fsu.org/art/BargainingUpdateNov2012.pdf

Read More →

Bargaining Update and Higher Ed Policies

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Bargaining Update: Recently the Administration/BOT and UFF faculty teams reached tentative agreement on new language for Article 10 on Performance Evaluation and on Winter Break. Key changes in Article 10 include a more detailed five-point performance rating scale sought by the Admin/BOT and a ban on forced distributions sought by the faculty team. Some of these provisions will require significant bylaws revisions — sorry. Read More →