UFF/USF Chapter Meeting

May 4, 2007

In attendance: J. Martin, A. Shapiro, S. Permuth, M. Klisch, B. Welker, S. Dorn, , S. Ramírez Wohlmuth, G. McColm, R. Weatherford, K. de la Peña McCook, C. Dee, J. Yoon, C. Dunkley, E. Mitchell, P. Terry, B. Frank

Adoption of the Agenda: The agenda was adopted with a few changes.
Announcements:
· S. Dorn announced the assignment of the release units that will be assigned in the fall. Receiving release time in fall, 2007 will be: Karen Berkman, Mary Kaplan, Mark Klisch (2), Jana Futch Martin, Greg McColm, Steve Permuth, and Roy Weatherford (2).
· Ratification was successful. Follow-ups are necessary on appointing study committees. Karen Berkman, Jerry Notaro, and Steve Tauber have agreed to be UFF representatives on the domestic partner health insurance study. Linda Raffaele has volunteered for the parental leave study, and more volunteers are needed for that group.
· Ed Mitchell is the new UFF Executive Director, and he will need to replace himself as field unit staff member for central Florida. Contact S. Dorn if someone knows of a good candidate.
Reports:
Consultation:
The next consultation has been rescheduled for Friday, May 11, 2007, 12:30 to 2:30 during the intercession. The last consultation covered a lot of issues, including an alarming announcement. The administration is in the process of replacing via attrition those advisors whose current class codes are ‘instructor’, with new hires coming in with the codes of ‘advisor’ – essentially reducing the size of the bargaining unit.
Other issues discusses were the UFF breakfast for new faculty in the fall, administration’s draft policy for their payment of green cards for new faculty, the YouTube issue (telling faculty to put a notice in their syllabus about the prohibition of taping in the classroom, etc.), FAIR technical issues (follow-up with Kevin Franzel), and access to GEMS information. The administration raised the issue of ‘favoritism of the chairs’ and also refused to discuss the email snafu.
Topic for the next consultation are gender equity, mediation pilot, email security, instructor promotion track implementation, non-ranked employee promotion tracks, eligibility of employees for university-wide initiatives, updating the annual review procedures across the university, and government relations forward planning.
Bargaining:
Nothing has happened yet; first session will be the afternoon of May 11th.
Grievances:
M. Klisch reported on grievances concerning tenure and promotion, non-reappointment, and academic freedom.
Communications:
The Bi-Weekly was distributed yesterday. G. McColm mentioned that over the summer more attention should be paid to the Bi-Weekly since fewer people attend the chapter meetings and will get necessary information from the online publication. He also asked if another voice was needed for the Bi-Weekly. At any rate, there will be some re-thinking over the summer.
Treasurer:
S. Ramírez Wohlmuth announced that the chapter has money in the credit union account. The expected rebate check should be arriving very soon.
Political Action:
R. Weatherford regretted the bad news concerning the surprise of no raises in the budget passed by the legislature. Moving on, though – election season is coming up. Dennis Baxley’s son Damon is running for a state office and needs to be watched. Governor Crist has been putting out feelers to higher education for a sort of ‘moon shot’ for this group. Watch for further details to emerge. There will be a Labor Picnic on June 2nd at Anderson Park on Lake Tarpon in Pinellas County, sponsored by the West Central Florida Labor Council. See R. Weatherford for further details.
“Over the Horizon Issues”:
K. de la Peña McCook spoke about the need to find an opponent to run against Buddy Johnson when he runs for re-election as Supervisor of Elections for Hillsborough County.
Good of the Order:R. Weatherford thanked everyone for supporting him during the previous elections.
K. de la Peña McCook announced that the appointment of the new Distinguished University Professors is imminent and there is only one woman candidate. This is something to watch for in terms of gender equity. Renu Khator has not chosen a woman for DUP yet in her tenure as university provost.
The meeting adjourned at 1:37 p.m.