ANNOUNCEMENTS

Tenure & Promotion Workshop

The first Tenure & Promotion Workshop will be on Friday, October 17, just after the UFF USF Chapter Meeting, at USF St. Petersburg at a location TBA. Topics covered include meeting criteria for tenure or promotion, preparing the tenure or promotion packet, the current tenure process (which applies to every tenure-track employee who goes through mid-tenure view prior to next summer, unless the employee elects otherwise), the new tenure process (which applies to employees who go through mid-tenure review after next summer, or who elect to go through the new process), and the promotion processes.

This workshop is open to all UFF members; we will have membership forms at the door, so non-members may join UFF on the spot and participate in the workshop. Participants are asked to obtain their department's written criteria for tenure or promotion: the department must provide such criteria on request.

For more information, contact the workshop organizer, UFF USF Chapter Vice President (and USF St. Petersburg Professor) Steve Lang.

Chapter Meeting Schedule

All chapter meetings are at 12 noon, and lunch is served; all USF employees in the Bargaining Unit - UFF members and non-members alike - are invited. On Friday, October 3, we will meet on USF Sarasota / Manatee in room A203A. On Friday, October 17, we will meet on USF St. Petersburg in a room TBA. In these two meetings, there will be sandwiches, chips, and soft drinks.

Then on October 31, November 14, and December 5, the Chapter will meet at CDB Restaurant just east of USF Tampa at 51st Street & E. Fowler Avenue. There will be pizza, salad, and drinks. Come and join the movement!

Join UFF Today!

Download, fill in, and mail the membership form. Benefits of membership include the right to run and vote in UFF chapter and statewide elections; representation in grievances (UFF cannot represent a non-member in a grievance or litigation); special deals in insurance, travel, legal advice, and other packages provided by our affiliates; free insurance coverage for job-related liability; and the knowledge you are supporting education in Florida. Come and join the movement.

Visit Us on Facebook!

Visit the United Faculty of Florida at USF Facebook page. This page is a place where UFF members can exchange thoughts and ideas. The page is "public", but only dues-paying UFF members are eligible to post items on the page. If you are a UFF member, ask to join on the page, or contact the Communications Committee. The Committee will invite every UFF member that asks to join. So check us out. UFF members are welcome to join, and non-members are welcome to look.

Grievances

If you have been the victim of a violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, you have thirty days from the time you knew or should have known of the violation to file a grievance. If you are, and at the time of the violation were, a dues-paying member of the United Faculty of Florida, you have the right to union representation. To contact the UFF USF Grievance Committee, go to the online contact form. For more information, see our web-page on grievances.

The Fate of Higher Education Hangs in the Balance

A Letter to all Florida higher education faculty and professionals from United Faculty of Florida President Tom Auxter

When we vote, nothing less than the future of higher education is at stake. In terms of policy, we have radically different choices. We know that education does not exist in a vacuum. Now more than ever the fate of public education is tied to other policy decisions.

Every year in Florida higher education we face funding cuts, larger class sizes, fewer courses open, and programs threatened on every campus. Every year some legislator proposes cuts in pensions and optional retirement programs, as well as in health insurance benefits. Last spring we barely defeated several draconian proposals – sometimes with tie votes in the Senate stopping the proposed legislative action. If these bills were to pass, how would it affect the faculty brain drain we are already experiencing as a result of low salaries?

Should we protect the right to collective bargaining? Or, should we leave faculty with no contractual protections against at-will decisions by supervisors? Should we protect tenure, continuing contracts, and pay raises, or is it okay to let legislators experiment with "flexible employment" and concoct schemes that supposedly reward performance?

This election is not a referendum on personalities or on whether voters like everything a candidate has done. If that is how voters decide, we will watch while large amounts of money dominate the airwaves, and higher education issues fade from view.

If voters have defeatist attitudes, or feel indifferent or frustrated, Florida will have low turnout like there was in 2010. Higher education and unionized employees have been under attack since that time.

The political stakes are too high to tune out. Ask your colleagues, ask your friends, and ask your family to vote. Now is the time to get engaged on behalf of higher education in the state of Florida.

Tom Auxter
President, United Faculty of Florida
10 September 2014

This Year, Our Colleges and Universities Need Your Vote More Than Ever!

As college and university faculty, we must make our voices heard on important education issues:

• Recruiting and retaining faculty talent - low and stagnant salaries along with cuts in pension funding has worsened Florida's brain drain.
• Restoring the funding cuts and reducing student / faculty ratios - we've endured some of the state's steepest cuts and we need to keep up with demand and fund actual enrollment.
• Grant state colleges and universities the authority to adopt policies that promote academic freedom, protect due process and preserve our ability to affect local institutional control.

VOTE BY MAIL!

Make sure your vote is counted.

It's simple to request your vote by mail ballot! Join thousands of your colleagues and request your vote by mail ballot today! Contact your friendly neighborhood supervisor of elections:

• Hillsborough County: http://www.votehillsborough.org/
• Manatee County: http://www.votemanatee.com/
• Pasco County: http://www.pascovotes.com/
• Pinellas County: http://www.votepinellas.com/
• Polk County: http://www.polkelections.com/
• Sarasota County: http://www.sarasotavotes.com/

LOGISTICS

Chapter Meeting Friday, October 3, at 12 noon, at USF Sarasota / Manatee in room A203A.

• Click here for the standing agenda.

Membership: Everyone in the UFF USF System Bargaining unit is eligible for UFF membership: to join, simply fill out and send in the membership form.

NOTE: The USF-UFF Chapter website is http://www.uff.ourusf.org, and our e-mail address is uff@ourusf.org.

About this broadcast: This Newsletter was broadcast from uff.ourusf.org, hosted at ICDsoft.com, and is intended for all members of the UFF USF Bargaining unit (USF faculty and professionals at most departments). A (usually identical) version will be broadcast to USF-News and USF-Talk from mccolm@usf.edu.

If you do not want to receive the UFF Biweekly, you can unsubscribe below. If you do not receive the Biweekly, but want to, e-mail a message to gmccolm@tampabay.rr.com.