Uncommon
Sense
The Newsletter of the USF Chapter of the
United Faculty of
(UFF is a
Volume 16, Number 2 Spring 2009
Join UFF today: visit our membership website at faculty.ourusf.org/join-uff/
______________________________________________________________
In This
Issue
Election Season
What do USF’s Finances Look
Like?
Know Your New Contract
The Positions
Membership
To join, go to http://www.faculty.ourusf.org/join-uff/
______________________________________________________________
Election Season
Each spring, the USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida elects its President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and UFF Senators and FEA Delegates. These positions are described in the article on The Positions on page 2. Only current union members may make nominations, stand for election, run, and vote. We encourage all union members to consider standing for election, and to vote.
If you would like to stand for election, or if you think someone else would, please send a letter of nomination (or self-nomination!) to:
CHAIR, Election Committee
United Faculty of
USF
Or email to: tauber@ourusf.org. The letter should contain: (1) your name, (2) the name of the nominee, and (3) the position the nomination is for. All material – including permission by the nominee to be a candidate, descriptive paragraph and contact information (home & campus address, phone & email; for details, go to http://www.uff.ourusf.org/letters/nomination.rtf) – must be received by January 30.
All nominees are strongly encouraged to submit a short (250 words or less) self-description and/or campaign statement, which must be received by January 30 to be included in the ballot materials.
Election will be by secret mail ballot; members will be responsible for getting their ballots returned by the deadline. The ballots will be sent out in early February, and be due in March, when they will be counted at the chapter meeting; all union members are invited to attend.
On April 1, newly elected officers and representatives formally assume their duties.
What do USF’s Finances Look
Like?
Leroy Dubeck regularly works for the National Education Association, analyzing institutional budgets, and it was on one such assignment, reviewing USF's reports to the State of Florida (at the request of UFF!), that he noted that USF had $ 240 million in "unrestricted net assets." It was that observation that brought USF's unrestricted assets to the attention of the university community.
Leroy Dubeck is Professor of Physics
at
He will be speaking at USF about the university budget on Thursday, January 22, at 2 pm at USF-Tampa, place TBA in the upcoming Biweekly. The lecture is free, open to the public, and sponsored by the USF Faculty Senate, the USF Student Government, and the USF Chapter of the UFF. Everyone with a stake in the future of USF is strongly encouraged to attend.
Know Your New Contract
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement is
ratified and in force. It has a 2.4% raise pool in a very tough budget year, a
new paid parental leave program, and 33% more full-pay, one-semester sabbatical
slots.
The
new agreement also gives the UFF-USF Chapter more authority to enforce the
contract. You should know what your obligations are in enforcing the contract,
and what the chapter can do.
It is YOUR obligation
to know the contract, which is available online (on the side navigation at http://faculty.ourusf.org/). Chapter
officers can answer questions about the union's interpretation of the language.
Sometimes this will differ from the University's, but in most cases both sides
agree on the obligations in the agreement.
If you are a
dues-paying member at the time of a violation and have a meritorious grievance,
the United Faculty of Florida can represent you. There is a 30-day deadline for
filing a grievance that starts at the time you knew or should have known about a
violation. If you think you need to file a grievance, do not delay; contact Mark
Klisch (mklisch@verizon.net).
The chapter will file
grievances by itself to enforce the contract where elected chapter officers
discover violations that affect the entire bargaining unit or represent a
serious encroachment on academic values.
If you are not a
member, when there is a violation of your individual rights, including loss of
your job, you can represent yourself in a grievance or hire a lawyer, and you
will be responsible for all expenses. The UFF-USF chapter can answer procedural
questions, and the University must notify us of all independently-filed
grievances.
The statewide United Faculty of Florida enforcement committee has
authority over what unresolved grievances proceed to arbitration.
The Positions
The USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida consists of the members of the union in the USF General Faculty Bargaining Unit. The Chapter is a participatory democracy: policy is set at the Chapter meetings on Friday paydays, and all union members are invited to attend.
The Chapter has three kinds of positions: elected executive positions, elected legislative positions, and appointed positions.
There are four elected executives. The President is the chief executive and chief spokesperson of the chapter. The Vice President assists the president, and fills the president's office if necessary. The Secretary composes minutes and maintains other records the Chapter requires. The Treasurer supervises the finances of the Chapter.
There are two kinds of elected representatives.
A Senator represents
USF at the UFF Senate meetings, and there are typically two meetings a
year. Each is on a weekend, in
A Delegate represents UFF at the annual Florida Education Association
Assembly. The FEA is the preeminent union representing teachers in
These are the positions open for election. There are also several chairpeople appointed by the President. The Bargaining Chair is the Chapter's Chief Negotiator, and bargains contracts with the assistance of a Bargaining Committee. The Grievance Chair handles “contract enforcement” by overseeing grievances, with the assistance of a Grievance Committee. The Membership Chair goes out and persuades faculty members to join the union, while the Publicity Chair puts out the newsletters and handles the websites.
The Chapter has a Constitution describing these offices, and it is on-line at https://frontend.cas.usf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/Laws.html.
Logistics
The USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida publishes two newsletters, Uncommon Sense (see https://frontend.cas.usf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/US/index.html) and a UFF Biweekly (or, if you prefer, a fortnightly) every other Thursday giving upcoming news, items of interest (past news and items archived at https://frontend.cas.usf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://uff.ourusf.org/), and announcing the Chapter meeting the next day. All members of the bargaining unit should be getting both newsletters: to get on the mailing lists, contact the UFF/USF Webmaster, Greg McColm, via uff_biweekly-owner@ourusf.org.
We have two websites, one on-campus at https://frontend.cas.usf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://w3.usf.edu/~uff, and one off-campus at https://frontend.cas.usf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://uff.ourusf.org/. Come and visit us!
This spring, the USF Chapter of the UFF will meet on alternate Fridays during the lunch hour. We will be meeting on Jan. 16 & 30, Feb. 13 & 27, Mar. 13 & 27, and Apr. 10 & 24 (places TBA in upcoming Biweeklies). This is where decisions and plans are made, and all union members are invited to come (and bring a friend!). Sandwiches and soda pop are free. Come and join the movement.