Uncommon Sense

The Newsletter of the United Faculty of Florida, USF Chapter

(an FEA [AFT & NEA] affiliate)

Volume 11, Number 2                                                                                                       Fall, 2003

The Voice of the University Professional

Bargaining Enforcement

The primary mission of the faculty union is bargaining and enforcing the contract.  And when the faculty union and the administra-tion began bargaining a new contract, the first issue was enforcement.

     A contract is enforced by a grievance process:  if a faculty member is a victim of a violation of the contract, that member may file a grievance, a formal charge that the contract has been violated.

     Under the old contract, a grievant filed a Step 1 grievance within 30 days of the viola-tion.  Step 1 hearings were held in the Pro-vost’s office.  If the result was unsatisfac-tory, there would be a Step 2 hearing before the state authorities in Tallahassee.  If that didn’t work, the union could require that the issue be heard by an independent arbitrator, whose decision set a precedent.

     Since the Regents are gone, and the Governors are refusing to hear anything, the union proposed eliminating Step 2 and encouraging mediation prior to Step 1.  The Administration proposed doing away with arbitration in many cases, including those involving academic freedom, benefits, discrimination and sexual harassment, etc.:  over half the grievances would have the administration as the highest level of appeal.

     But after a certain amount of noise, and the arrival of the holidays, negotiations are moving forward again.

Fear Itself

The reorganization has brought up old issues, and no issue weighs more heavily on the conscience of USF than the pockets of fear in some parts of the university.  The problem is more severe in the branch campuses, although it is noticeable in some places at the Tampa campus.

     The union has encountered faculty who would like to be involved with the union, but are afraid of vague or specific adminis-trative consequences.  Many times faculty will talk about work conditions – out of sight of colleagues – only on condition of confidentiality.  Sometimes the fears verge on superstition, although administrators have been known to retaliate against critics.

     But when a Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Inter Campus Operating Procedures encountered faculty too fearful to talk to committee members in the same town, the Faculty Senate became concerned.  So did President Genshaft (who was present at two previous Senate meetings when the issue came up), who announced that she would have the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity Affairs investigate.

     A window of opportunity to do something about these pockets of fear is opening, and the union, the Faculty Senate, and the ODEOA are picking up the issue.  There will be more on this in the months ahead.

Updates

So many things are going on that we need an update now and then.  Here are three updates:  one on progress, one on a burner, and one Faculty Senate initiative on the sidelines.

96 %.  Of the boards of the eleven universities and colleges, only those of Florida State University, the University of Florida, and the University of West Florida refused to recognize UFF as the faculty union.  That meant elections.  (Remember those cards you signed last fall?  They were for calling such elections.)  First, UWF faculty voted: 91 % in favor of UFF representation.  Then at FSU, 96 % in favor.  UF is having difficulty scheduling an election.

PERC.  The Public Employees Relations Commission oversees and regulates relations between the state and public entities (like USF) and their employees.  It consists of three Bush appointees.

     During the reorganizations of the university system, UFF and other unions repeatedly asked PERC to rule on whether the terms and conditions of the contracts would remain in place after the reorganization.  Meanwhile, all university administrations wanted all labor contracts to go away (although other contracts – not to mention grants – were to remain in place).

     Recall the issues.  The union believed that the contract should be the status quo for bargaining, that the terms and conditions of the contracts should remain in force until new contracts were bargained, and that all the old arbitration precedents should stand.  The boards disagreed.

     PERC is taking an unusually long time.  It relies on hearing officers to make preliminary rulings, and the preliminary rulings thus far have been contradictory and confused.  PERC has itself avoided making decisions.  The unions continue to press their cases, and we hope that PERC will say something decisive – and reasonable – next Spring.

Academic Freedom.  In January, 2002, the Faculty Senate proposed forming a faculty committee on faculty discipline.  President Genshaft was initially enthusiastic, but said less on the matter as time passed.  Last Summer, Committee A of the American Association for University Professors reported that President Genshaft said she would create a committee to oversee the disciplining of faculty.  This was part of the rationale for merely condemning, rather than censuring, USF.

     As of yet, no plans for forming such a committee have been announced, and the Administration’s position is that faculty discipline is handled via the New Rules grievance process.  In bargaining, while UFF is trying to reconstruct as much of the original contractual grievance process as possible, the Administration has not brought up the possibility of a faculty discipline committee.

The Biweekly

Every other week, on the Thursday before payday, the UFF USF Biweekly is broadcast to the members of the bargaining unit.  This newsletter provides the latest news and propaganda, to keep everyone up to date.

     Unfortunately, we have not been able to get entirely up to date with our e-mail mailing list, which means that many members of the unit are not receiving their Biweeklies.  We hope to have the mailing problem fixed by the end of the Spring semester, but in the meantime, any member of the unit can get their address added to the mailing list (within a few days) by sending an e-mail to the webmaster, Greg McColm, at <mccolm@chuma1.cas.usf.edu>.

     Incidentally, past biweeklies are on-line via our off-campus website at http://www.uffusf.org.