3
United Faculty of Florida
Florida International University
RATIFICATION BULLETIN
BOT-UFF Memorandum of Understanding
On Salary Increases
Vote on the Memorandum of Understanding:
Wednesday, March 4, 10 am – 2 pm, or
Thursday, March 5, 10 am – 2 pm
Locations:
MMC: Green Library, foot of the escalators, 1st floor.
Engineering Center: College of Engineering Lobby, 1st floor.
BBC: Glenn Hubert Library, 1st floor.
Members of the UFF Bargaining Team will be available to answer any questions about the Memorandum at an
Informational Meeting: Tuesday, March 3, 3:30 – 5:00 pm
MMC: AHC 3-205
BBC: AC 2-210
The United Faculty of Florida at FIU negotiators and the FIU Board of Trustees (BOT) negotiators reached agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding with regard to 2014-2015 Salary Increases. It now must be ratified by a vote of the bargaining unit, and then by the Board of Trustees.
All faculty and librarians in the bargaining unit—not just UFF members—are eligible to vote to accept or reject the Memorandum.
If a majority votes “yes” to ratify, the new Memorandum provides that salaries will increase retroactive to January 3, 2015. If ratification is rejected, negotiators must return to the bargaining table to renegotiate an agreement on salaries that is satisfactory to you.
The complete text of the Memorandum of Understanding and Article 11: Salaries to which it refers are attached to this Notice.
Ballots will be counted at 2 pm, Thursday, March 5, in PC-111. Anyone in the bargaining unit is invited to witness the ballot counting.
Summary of the Memorandum and Article 11: Salaries
The agreement reached provides for a 1.5% Retention raise to base salaries retroactive to January 3, 2015, for all faculty and librarians who received a “satisfactory” evaluation at the end of the 2013-2014 academic year. In addition, it provides for a 1.5% Merit raise to base salaries retroactive to January 3, 2015. In addition, we would allow the administration to spend up to an additional 1% of the salary base for raises at their discretion for “market equity considerations, including verified counteroffers and compression/inversion; increased duties and responsibilities; special achievements; Summer Faculty Research Awards; litigation/settlements; and similar special situations."
The Merit raise must be allocated according to provisions in the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement, which provides that Merit raises will be based on our annual evaluations, which in turn must be based on our assigned duties. Then Merit raises will be distributed according to procedures decided democratically in each department/unit by vote of a majority of the employees.
The BOT-UFF Policy on Employee Performance Evaluation in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, under Procedures (B) (3) (page 61) reads:
“Each University department/unit shall develop and maintain procedures by which to evaluate each employee according to criteria specified below in this Policy. These procedures shall include the method for distribution of any merit salary increase funds provided pursuant to the BOT-UFF Agreement. The employees of each department/unit who are eligible to vote in department/unit governance shall participate in the development of these procedures and shall recommend implementation by a vote of a majority of at least a quorum of those employees.”
In other words, determination of Merit and the allocation of funds is a process decided collegially and democratically by our peers, not by Deans or other administrators. If this memorandum is ratified, we call upon faculty to monitor the process and report any attempted interference by Deans or others to the UFF so we may insure that the process adheres to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Regardless of the outcome of this ratification election, collective bargaining continues. Many non-salary issues remain unresolved, and we will be negotiating salary increases for 2015-2016 as well. How strong we are at the bargaining table and how much we are able to improve our terms and conditions of employment depend on how strong we are as a union. And that depends on how many members we have and how active we are in supporting the union.
If you are not yet a member, please consider joining now. Membership forms are available at www.uff-fiu.org.