United Faculty of Florida-FGCU Chapter

Letter from the UFF-FGCU President, Maddy Isaacs

Dear Colleagues,

A quick overview of the past year’s activities.  In Spring 2009, we conducted a climate survey to allow faculty to communicate ideas and concerns about working conditions.  The executive summary is posted on this web site.  Faculty identified salary raises as a key area of concern. 

During the fall semester, the bargaining team led by Monika Renard negotiated “reopeners” from 2009. Reopeners are targeted articles that one or the other side wish to improve or clarify. These are in addition to Salary and Benefits which are reopened every year. Download Monika's report to Faculty Senate here. One important item was the proposal to correct faculty salaries, based on the results of an compression-inversion study completed by UFF-FGCU.  The administration did not agree to the union’s proposal and we are still working on how to resolve our differences.  In fact, bargaining for all articles ("full-book" bargaining) was technically opened on February 1, 2010 but the team agreed to defer the start of 2010 bargaining until we know how we are going to finalize the 2009 bargaining we started.  This is the first time since our first locally bargained contract that we did not have an agreement by the beginning of the academic year. 

The 2010 bargaining will see a transfer of bargaining leadership for UFF moving from Monika Renard to Morgan Paine. Faculty interested in helping with bargaining research or at the table should contact Morgan. We encourage you to download the union’s compression/inversion report and send us feedback. 

This year UFF has been advocating for individual and collective faculty by enforcing the contract and our rights to be treated fairly, according to our negotiated contract, and according to state law that demands that our administration negotiate policies that impact terms and conditions of employment. The union has filed two grievances against the administration/board of trustees for failing to consult the union on policies that affect terms and conditions of employment. Our grievance team and leadership have spent hundreds of hours working with administration to enforce the contract for all faculty and for individual members.

We are forming workgroups to give process and voice for faculty who have common interests in studying and improving the work and climate at FGCU.  One work group will be studying policies and regulations at FGCU and another will be focusing on issues of workload.  

This year, we invite you to attend - and bring guests - to our chapter meetings.  Come find out about the status of bargaining, ask questions about your rights as expressed in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and discuss issues of concern. Our goal is to give all members the opportunity to be active in areas that are important to them and to give each of you a strong voice in our direction and the University’s governance.   

We will host our first Open Forum for faculty and administrators on Friday, March 12.  The goal of this forum is to exchange information on evaluation criteria and revisions across colleges.  A second forum will discuss the challenges of preserving the quality of education in a fast-growing university.

UFF-FGCU has grown from 30% membership two years ago to now 46%.  After two months of a membership drive, we are nearing our goal of becoming a majority unit in which 50% or more of eligible faculty have joined.  This goal is important to all faculty because research indicates better contracts can be negotiated when members demonstrate their commitment to improving working conditions and terms of employment by joining the union.  

Help us meet our goal of an excellent University in which we invest our work and careers. If you’re not a member, please join UFF today! If you are a member, invite your colleagues to strengthen the faculty voice and build a stronger partnership among the union, administration and board of trustees.  Thank you.

Maddy Isaacs

Madelyn L. Isaacs, Ph.D.
President, UFF-FGCU
Professor, Counseling College of Education
Florida Gulf Coast University 10501 FGCU Blvd., S.
Fort Myers, FL 33965 239 590-7785