Sami Al-Arian

 

On Thursday, Feb. 20, at 5:15 am, Professor Sami Al-Arian was arrested by federal agents.  He and seven others were indicted on 40 counts of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and on subsequent counts of false application for citizenship, perjury, and obstruction of justice.  Central to the charges is the allegation that Al-Arian was (and is) a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad; this accusation has been made against him many times in the last decade.

     On Friday 21, at the regular biweekly meeting, the USF Chapter of the UFF made the following resolution:

 

     The United Faculty of Florida defends the contractual and due process rights of those it represents. Professor Sami Al-Arian is in the bargaining unit at the University of South Florida, and we defend his rights related to his job on campus, as we do for all faculty members.
Our only comment on the pending criminal case is to affirm the right of every person to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

 

     UFF is continuing to track the controversy, and anyone interested in recent developments, or the history of the case, is invited to visit our Al-Arian site at <http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/AlArian/>.

Election Time

 

The UFF-USF Election committee is seeking nominations for the following positions.  Each UFF-USF member is entitled to make nominations, vote, and serve. Please send your nominations in writing or by email to Surendra P. Singh, Chairman, Election Committee at EDU 402N (email Singh@tempest.coedu.usf.edu) on or before March 7, 2003.  Self-nominations are allowed. The candidates are required to submit a brief candidacy statement not to exceed one half page. Ballots, for contested offices, will be sent out by mail, and must be received by March 28, 2003.       The nomination form is on page 3, and on-line at <http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/Election2003.doc>.  Please nominate for the following positions:

     President: President is the chief operating officer of UFF-USF Chapter. The President also serves as a UFF Senator and as a Delegate to the Florida Education Representative Assembly. In accordance with the UFF-USF constitution, the president shall preside at all meetings of the Chapter and of the Chapter Council. She or he shall be an ex-officio member of all committees, shall sign all necessary documents and papers, and represent the organiza-tion. The President shall make an annual report at the last chapter meeting held during the academic year. The President shall serve a term of one year.
     Vice-President: Vice-President shall represent the chapter, when the President cannot be present and shall perform those duties that are prescribed by the President or the Chapter Council. In the event of any
vacancy in the office of the President, the Vice-President shall serve as President for the period remaining in the existing term. The Vice-President shall serve a term of one year.
     Secretary: Secretary shall maintain records for the chapter proceedings and perform other functions as specified by the Chapter Council. The Secretary shall serve a term of one year.
     Treasurer: Treasurer shall be the chief financial officer of the chapter, shall exercise supervision over the receipt and disbursement of all monies, proper-ties, securities, and other evidence of financial worth of this organization. The Treasurer shall prepare an annual budget and make regular financial reports to the Chapter Council. The Treasurer shall serve a term of one year.
     12 Senators: Senators shall represent the Chapter at the Statewide UFF Senate meetings. The UFF Senate is the legislative and policy making body of the organization. Senators shall serve a term of one year.
     5 Florida Education Association (FEA) Delegates: The Florida Education Association Representative Assembly is the legislative body of the organization. Delegates serve a term of one year.

The Contract...

 

For a quarter century, the United Faculty of Florida and the Board of Regents negotiated three-year contracts.  Whenever a contract approached expiration, the UFF and the BOR would negotiate a successor contract.  Griev-ances that reached arbitration set precedents for grievances under future contracts.  By the time the Board of Regents was dissolved, the contract protected many faculty rights and privileges.

     The Board of Trustees claims that this quarter century of hard work has been for naught, and President Genshaft has offered to recognize the United Faculty of Florida as the faculty union, but only if the union abandons the contract and starts over from the status quo ante of 1976.  But UFF refuses.

     Underlying this political confrontation is a legal battle.

     The Board of Trustees contends that on January 7, it came into power with no contractual obligations to faculty or staff.  In particular, the contract with in-unit USF faculty expired on January 7, and the Board refuses to recognize any legal obligation to negotiate a successor contract.

     But in law as in Dickens novels, the ghosts of obligations wield heavy chains.  UFF was certified as the faculty union twice, and never decertified.  A union does not become decertified by a change in management or ownership, and so UFF claims that it is still certified, and thus that the Board is defying the law in refusing to recognize UFF, and in refusing to bargain a successor contract. Even the Administration admits that if the Board is something called the “successor employer,” namely the employer that took over an ongoing operation, then it is bound to recognize UFF and the contract.

     The Administration says that they do not know if the Board is the successor employer. But if the Board was genuinely uncertain, they would follow a prudent policy that would allow them to assume a successor or a non-successor role, depending on how things turned out.

     But instead, the Board has followed an aggressive policy of violating a range of contractual terms and conditions, and thus has set off a cascade of litigation that is likely to continue for months (or more) and consume time and money at a moment when the university can ill afford losing either.

     President Genshaft asked UFF to petition the Board to recognize UFF, but the form she asked UFF to fill out did not protect the contract. So instead UFF has offered to file a petition for “amended certification” jointly with the Board, to make the Board the successor employer.  This procedure was used before:  when the Board of Regents was succeeded by the Florida Board of Education, an amended certification smoothed the transition and maintained the contract.

     We hope and expect the Board to act in the best interest of USF, and agree to assume their role as successor employer.

 

Chapter Meetings

 

Chapter Meetings are every payday Friday, in EDU 219 (except for Mar. 7 and Apr. 4, when we will meet in EDU 214).  Sandwiches and soda pop are free.  Come and join the movement.