Dear Fellow Faculty Members,

At the biweekly chapter meeting on March 21, the USF chapter of the
United Faculty of Florida voted to fill out the paperwork requesting
voluntary recognition of UFF as the bargaining agent at USF.  This
move was in direct response to an offer by the administration and the
BOT to recognize the United Faculty of Florida as the exclusive
bargaining agent of faculty and professional employees at USF and to do
so without changing the existing bargaining unit.

We have thus secured collective-bargaining representation by the United
Faculty of Florida.  This was one of the two guarantees of our rights
that we have sought since the mess of reorganization began and since the
faculty clearly demonstrated its intention to continue UFF
representation.  To everyone who is a member or who signed one of the
1000 collective-bargaining authorization cards we collected in the fall,
thank you for your support.  The active defense of faculty rights by
faculty organizations -- including the United Faculty of Florida, the
Faculty Senate, and the chairs of the College of Arts and Sciences --
has convinced the administration to back off its unprofessional
definition of misconduct from the fall.  It has also apparently
convinced the administration that it would be unwise to reject the
summer salary formula that it has been trying to get rid of for years -
I am told that our formula will be used this summer whatever the status
of the contract might be.

The other guarantee of our rights is a legally-binding contract.  The
position of the United Faculty of Florida is that the provisions of the
previous collective bargaining agreement, which ended at the end of
January 7, continue in force until a new agreement is negotiated.  The
administration has refused to acknowledge the continuation of our
rights, and we look forward to a ruling by the Public Employees
Relations Commission (PERC) on several Unfair Labor Practice complaints
in the state that will settle that issue. 

As you may recall, the union has been arguing that it would be better to
file a request for amended certification than for voluntary
recognition--with amended certification unambiguously guaranteeing
that the contract would continue in force.  Two things have happened to
change our position:  First, PERC has issued a judgment in a related
case that says they are not inclined to authorize amended certifications
in cases like ours.  Second, The USF administration has said that if we
do not agree to voluntary recognition they will file a "Consent to
Election" form and we will proceed with the election.

Union attorneys reassure us that the doctrine of continuation of the
status quo with respect to terms and conditions of employment applies to
our case and preserves the contract no matter what procedure we employ
in the recognition process, so there is no legal advantage to doing it
by election rather than voluntary recognition.  An election would be
time-consuming and expensive, and it would engender more hostility
between faculty and the administration.  By doing voluntary recognition

instead, we can proceed directly to the bargaining table. 

As we begin bargaining, we need your support more than ever. Our
colleagues volunteer their time when they sit on bargaining committees,
represent faculty in grievances, and communicate news about faculty
concerns.  But those activities require support in two ways.  First,
those who bargain on our behalf, or represent us in grievances, need
legal advice and training to do their job, and that advice and training
costs money.  Second, the administration takes account of the membership
statistics when its representatives sit down to bargain with our
representatives.  The larger our membership, the stronger our bargaining
position.

If you are not currently a union member, please complete the

application for membership at

<http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/application.doc>,

and return it to the chapter at MHH 223.  If we stay the course

and stick together, we will ultimately win the rest of the battle

for our rights, our dignity, and the improvement of the university. 

In solidarity,

Roy Weatherford
President
USF Chapter
United Faculty of Florida