UFF-FAU

Get on board to help build your UFF-FAU chapter, the truly independent voice of Florida Atlantic University Professors!

UFF-FAU is pleased to announce another Member Recruiter Workshop. The event will take place on Saturday, September 18, from 10:00AM to 1:00PM, in GCS229 on the FAU Boca Raton campus. The workshop will be conducted by noted labor relations expert Bruce Nissen, Director of the Center for Labor and Research Studies at FIU. Capacity is limited. For more information please contact UFF-FAU President James Tracy at jamestrcy(at)yahoo.com or president(at)uff-fau.org.

September 7, 2010. “This Labor Day report shows some of the highest unemployment, underemployment, long-term unemployment and largest gaps between white and minority employment that we have ever seen.” –Center for Research and Labor Studies.

FIU gives downcast labor report on state of Florida’s workforce
By Jeff Harrington
September 6, 2010

Researchers at Florida International University are overflowing with numbing numbers that illustrate the Great Recession’s destructive force.

Like 15.4 percent, the average unemployment rate last year for African-Americans. Or 37 percent, the percentage of long-term jobless still hunting for work after six months.

Or this number that sticks out: 918,000.

Read more at tampabay.com.

FAU president sets priorities on campus housing, research, student retention
By Samantha Frank
September 1, 2010

During her first State of the University address as president of Florida Atlantic University, Mary Jane Saunders said that her priorities are to increase student retention, to turn the university into more of a residential campus and to build upon existing research opportunities.

“There is no more important mission for our society than the one that calls upon you and me to do everything in our power to put a degree within the reach of every student who’s willing to work hard for it,” said Saunders to a crowd of about 500 people this morning on FAU’s Boca Raton campus.

Read more at palmbeachpost.com.

August 30, 2010. Conservative think tank finds since early 1990s FAU administrative ranks increased by 81% as faculty positions decreased by 14%, “None of these are professors teaching classes or engaged in research,” study’s coauthor notes.

August 30, 2010. With drastic budget cuts looming, there has never been a more urgent time for faculty to join UFF and convince legislators of public higher ed’s tremendous importance.

A Message from UFF President Tom Auxter

(Received August 27, 2010)

Dear Colleague:

This year, faculty in Florida face the greatest challenge ever.  Federal stimulus money is about to run out, and the oil spill is affecting revenue projections in a state that is already one of four hit hardest by the recession.  We are facing up to a six billion dollar shortfall before the oil spill losses in tax revenue are even considered.

The Florida Department of Education is instructing universities and colleges to be ready to return 5% of the funds for this academic year. FLDOE is also asking all of higher education to be ready for another reduction of 15% next year.  If we lose 20% of our current budget, we will see massive layoffs on every campus.

On the other hand, if we are able to do what we did in the last legislative session, with help from our affiliate, the Florida Education Association (FEA), we could see steady state funding for higher education until the economy recovers. The outcome depends on how active faculty become.

Faculty are uniquely situated to make a significant difference. Because of your past efforts, legislators now accept our arguments that higher education is the key to improving the state economy. The alliances we have forged over the last two years of our legislative action campaigns give us an advantage in driving home the point — with the active support of students, parents, and community groups — about the value of higher education. This year, all of us will need to contact state legislators and ask them to maintain funding to build for Florida’s future.

We know from the last legislative session that faculty can change the result by contacting legislators intensively at certain pivotal times.  The payoff for Florida faculty last spring seemed incredible to faculty in the rest of the nation — a plus 5% in total allocations instead of the minus 5%, or worse, almost everywhere else.

That is why I am calling on you to engage in the 2011 legislative session. We can do it again.  But it will be the challenge of our lifetimes to maintain funding.

Join the UFF campaign to save higher education from cuts.  By joining UFF, you are provided professional representation to defend your legal rights in the event that a layoff occurs.  Join today!

Sincerely,

Tom Auxter

President, United Faculty of Florida

LINKS

How did higher education fare in the 2010 Florida Legislature?

http://www.uff-fau.org/?p=3341

Become a UFF-FAU Member!

http://www.uff-fau.org/?p=16

August 26, 2010. At least 46 states have imposed cuts that hurt vulnerable residents and the economy.

By Nicholas Johnson, Phil Oliff and Erica Williams

Updated August 4, 2010

With tax revenue still declining as a result of the recession and budget reserves largely drained, the vast majority of states have made spending cuts that hurt families and reduce necessary services. These cuts, in turn, have deepened states’ economic problems because families and businesses have less to spend. Federal recovery act dollars and funds raised from tax increases have greatly reduced the extent, severity, and economic impact of these cuts, but only to a point. And federal aid to states is slated to expire soon, well before state revenues have recovered.

The cuts enacted in at least 46 states plus the District of Columbia since 2008 have occurred in all major areas of state services, including health care (31 states), services to the elderly and disabled (29 states and the District of Columbia), K-12 education (33 states and the District of Columbia), higher education (43 states), and other areas. States made these cuts because revenues from income taxes, sales taxes, and other revenue sources used to pay for these services declined due to the recession. At the same time, the need for these services did not decline and, in fact, rose as the number of families facing economic difficulties increased.

Read more and download report at cbpp.org.

August 20, 2010. Athletics Department risks almost entire marketing budget on away game that should be home.

FAU football hopes to lure plenty of Michigan State fans to its game in Detroit
By Marcus Nelson
August 18, 2010

BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger is flying to Michigan Thursday on a mission to convince Michigan State fans to come watch their Spartans play the Owls next month in Detroit.

In fact, drumming up interest for the Sept. 11 game is so important to FAU the school is spending about $200,000 – nearly its entire football marketing budget for the season.

Why would a team spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to lure thousands of fans of its opponents to a game? Because the game – officially a “home” game for FAU – could be a cash cow for the Owls, bringing in a possible $2.6 million in gate receipts.

Read more at palmbeachpost.com.

See related post:

Universities Spending Too Much on Sports, Report Says

August 12, 2010. NEA’s “Speak Up for Education & Kids” campaign propels Education Jobs bill through House.

(Received 8-10-10)

Just moments ago, the House passed the education jobs/FMAP bill by a vote of 247-161 . We will forward the roll call vote as soon as it is available. This means the bill only has to go to the President for signature and it becomes law!!! The President will sign the bill this evening at 5:00pm, so that the implementation process can begin immediately! New figures from the U.S. Department of Education estimate that some 161,000 educators who had received pink slips will be heading back to school this fall.

This victory is a result of an amazing team effort involving every level of this Association. The participation by members, the multiple contacts with every single congressional office, the calls, e-mails, and personal visits by affiliate leaders and staff were unprecedented. Together, we put together an unstoppable, persistent campaign that spanned the breadth of the Association, worked tirelessly on our members’ behalf, and overcame multiple pronouncements of the bill’s death by the press, advocates, and Members of Congress.

Our efforts were recognized as very impressive by congressional leaders, the media, our allies, and most importantly, by our members. The following provides a short summary of our campaign efforts, along with a brief discussion of next steps, including immediate actions we are taking to thank Members of Congress as well as efforts to make sure you have all the information you need about how states will receive the funds.

NEA’S EDUCATION JOBS CAMPAIGN: We launched a national “Speak Up for Education & Kids” campaign plus a targeted media campaign to draw attention to the education jobs crisis. Mobilizing NEA members: · 101,636 phone calls were made to congressional offices, including patch-thru programs and our toll-free Speak Up line. · 3,642 members signed petitions in support of education jobs funding. · 32 Affiliate presidents recorded robo calls, which went out to 1.1 million NEA members. · We sent out 42,000 postcards for our members to share their story and deliver to their member of Congress. These postcards were delivered back home and during Capitol Hill visits in Washington, D.C., by Association leaders. · 21,000 organizing packets were developed for state Representative Assemblies and other local meetings. Packets included petitions, worksite flyers, and the postcards mentioned above. · NEA sent 14,264 text messages to our activists with legislative updates and calls to action. · A number of state Presidents/Execs/leaders dropped everything to fly into DC to make personal visits to key

Senators: o AR, Donna Moray – Senator Pryor o CA, David Sanchez – Senator Feinstein o CO, (meeting in CO) – Senators Bennet; Udall o FL, Eric Riley – Senator Nelson o IA, Chris Bern – Senator Harkin o IL, (in state calls): Jim Reed, Cinda Klickna – Senator Durbin o IN, Teresa Meredith – Senator Bayh o LA, Joyce Haynes – Senators Landrieu, Vitter o MA, Paul Toner – Senator Brown o MD , Clara Floyd– Senators Cardin; Mikulski o ME, Rob Walker, Tom Major – Senators Collins; Snowe o MI, Joyce LaLonde o MO, Paula Hodges o NM, Sharon Morgan – Senator Bingaman, Senator Udall o OH , Pat Frost-Brooks – Senators Brown; Voinovich o OR, Jerry Caruthers – Senators Wyden; Merkley o SD, Sandy Arsenault – Senator Johnson o VA, Rob Jones – Senator Webb o WA, John Okamoto – Senators Murray; Cantwell NEA members who had been laid off came to DC for personal Hill visits: ·

Nine states sent member lobbyists to D.C. Twelve Member Lobbyists and four Local Leaders came to D.C. Fourteen House and twelve Senate offices were visited: o CA, Laid off Teachers: Clarissa Barragan, Brianna Clegg, Christopher Rieder; Local leaders: Peter Boyd, Bradford Barnes, Tahnya Noder, John Seybold; Visited Rep. Jane Harman, Rep. Jim Costa, Rep. Dennis Cardoza, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, Sen. Feinstein o IL, Angie Hallock, visited Sen. Durbin, Rep. Quigley, Rep. Foster o IN, Lisa Koester visited Rep. Ellsworth, Rep. Donnelly, Rep. Hill, Sen. Bayh (staff Jonathan) o LA, Carla Lowe visited Sen. Landrieu, Sen. Vitter o ME, Lee Libby visited Sen. Collins, Sen. Snowe o MA, John Lynch visited Sen. Brown o MO, Jeffrey “Tof” McWilliams visited Sen. McCaskill, Sen. Bond o NC, Gina Frutig visited Rep. McIntyre, Rep. Price, Rep. Shuler, Rep. Butterfield, Sen. Hagan; Bethany Banks visited Sen. Hagan o OK, Mitzi Ridinger visited Sen. Inhofe, Rep. Boren ·

The Massachusetts Teachers Association sent an Action Alert from member lobbyist John Lynch · The Maine Education Association sent an action alert to members highlighting the efforts of member lobbyist Lee Libby. · Back Home press was done after the visits in CA, IN, ME, and NC · NEA Today Stories: Laid-off Oklahoma Teacher to Congress: ‘Our Kids Need Your Help’; Laid-Off Educators Go to Washington to Fight for Jobs Legislative and Political Advocacy: · Every congressional office was contacted—multiple contacts were made with all 100 Senate offices and all targeted House members. NEA lobbyists made hundreds of in-person visits with congressional offices on the jobs issue. NEA staff visited every Senate and House offer to hand-deliver letters, state-state-by charts showing jobs that would be created, and other materials. · NEA Board members visited 243 congressional offices in May. · NEA field staff members in town for a meeting visited 37 congressional offices and delivered 35 education jobs information packets to 35 additional House targets. · NEA staff and governance had numerous conversations with Department of Education and White House staff about the need to pass an education jobs fund. · Over 280 delegates at the NEA Representative Assembly videotaped messages to their Senators in support of the jobs bill (http://www.youtube.com/user/NEAABS). NEA sent links to these video messages to the Senate offices. · Our intergovernmental relations staff made countless contacts with intergovernmental organizations and state and local elected officials, including highlighting the issue at the National Conference of State

Legislatures meeting, and working closely with the DGA. The result was an unprecedented show of support from elected leaders, including letters from governors (NC, MA, OR, MD, IL, IA, KS, CO, OH, MI). Letters from governors are posted on the NEA website (www.nea.org/lac). In addition, three governors released press statements in support of the jobs package (NV, OR, IA); 25 governor s signed a letter supporting FMAP and an extension of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (AR, CO, DE, IL, IA, KS, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, NH, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, TN, VI, WA, WI); and 25 governors signed a letter in support of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 (AR, CO, DE, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MT, NM, NY, NC, NH, OH, OK, OR, PA, TN, VI, WA, WI, WV). Social Media: We used the Education Votes website (www.educationvotes.nea.org), the Legislative Action Center (www.nea.org/lac), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#!/speakupforkids), and Twitter (http://twitter.com/NEAtoday)—to mobilize members to contact their Members of Congress about the education jobs bill.

The Speak Up for Education & Kids Facebook page now has 35,621 fans and is still growing. · 301,126 e-mails were sent to Congress through our Legislative Action Center and we garnered 145,786 NEW e-mail activists. · State and local affiliates sent hundreds of thousands of emails to members. · We had 60,460 visits to the Education Votes website and 92,889 page views. · Over 350 personal stories about the impact of layoffs were submitted through the Education Votes site. · Our NEA Today on line site (www.neatoday.org) posted 47 stories on the jobs campaign.

Earned /Paid Media: · Television spots (http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/speakup/) aired in 3 states and Washington, D.C. The markets were: Tallahassee and Panama City (FL-02 Boyd); Mobile (AL-01 Bonner); Lexington (KY-06 Chandler), and Washington, D.C. · Radio ads (http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/speakup/) ran in 12 markets, with more than a thousand spots total. Ads aired in these districts: AR-01 Barry, AR-04 Ross, CO-03 Salazar, FL-02 Boyd, GA-02 Bishop, IN-08 Ellsworth, MD-01 Kratovil, TX-17 Edwards.

Internet ads ran in 7 markets, with at least 2 million impressions. Internet ads ran in AL-01 Bonner, CA-20 Schiff, IN-08 Ellsworth, FL-02 Boyd, KY-06 Chandler, OK-04 Cole, TX-17 Edwards, and on The Hill website. We also ran an ad that took over the front page of The Hill’s website. · Print ads ran in 12 markets (29 papers) and in The Hill. Markets included: AR-01 Barry, CO-03 Salazar, FL-02 Boyd, GA-02 Bishop, IL-10 Kirk, IN-08 Ellsworth, KY-06 Chandler, MD-01 Kratovil, OK-04 Cole, PA-08 Murphy, TN-04 Davis, TX-17 Edwards. The Hill ads ran on 5/26 and5/27.

We scored interviews on national news outlets—including CBS News, NBC News, MSNBC, FOX News, The Fox Report, CNN, C-SPAN, New York Times, Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, McClatchy wire service, Associated Press, USA Today, NPR, and CBS Radio. We also leveraged national events—like the naming of the 2010 Teacher of the Year and President Obama’s commencement address at a high school in Michigan—to draw more public attention to the education jobs bill.

Dennis Van Roekel participated in a press conference with Representative Obey (D-WI), Senator Harkin (D-IA), and Secretary Duncan in May. This event generated considerable press coverage, including in the Washington Post and on CNN radio. Coalition work: Through our extensive coalition efforts, we:

• Gained the support of over 190 diverse organizations for passage of the education jobs bill.
• Built a solid union coalition along with the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, and SEIU that hung together and ran–with the cooperation and engagement of our state affiliate leaders–coalition grasstops efforts on the ground in 10 swing Senate states.
• Helped solidify the education community’s voice and activities, notably through engagement in our Speak Up effort, Learning First Alliance coordination and outreach, Forum on Educational Accountability actions, and collaborative work through the Committee on Education Funding.
• Launched a major initiative to gain parent and family voices in support of the jobs legislation, including specific outreach and collaborative work with the National PTA, Public Education Network, National Coalition for Parental Involvement in Education, Coalition of Title I Parents, Coalition of Community Schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, and NEA’s Public Engagement participants.
• Engaged in a major outreach effort to the ethnic minority and civil rights communities, gaining visible support for the education jobs legislation from a wide array of these organizations, including action alerts and member involvement from American Indian Higher Education Consortium, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), ASPIRA, Black Women’s Roundtable (BTR), Latino Elected and Appointed Officials National Task Force on education, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Association for Asian Pacific American Education (NAAPAE), National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL), the National Indian Education Association and the National Indian School Board Association (NISBA).

• We will be sending you additional materials and information in future e-mails and ask that you keep an eye out for those communications. Thank yous to Members of Congress:
• We have already sent out a press release (see attached) praising Speaker Pelosi for calling the House back in and urging people to vote for the bill.
• We will be pitching an op-ed by Dennis Van Roekel to media outlets following the vote. Dennis will also appear on MSNBC today. · Thank you letters will go to all Members of the House who supported the bill.
• Thank you letters were sent last week to Senators who voted for the bill.
• We have updated our Legislative Action Center to provide talking points to thank Members who voted yes and express disappointment to those who voted against the bill.
• We will be sending out a special “Ed Insider” this afternoon to all NEA cyberlobbyists urging them to thank Members of Congress. · Stories about the victory will be posted on neatoday.org and Education Votes and will also appear in the next NEA Express and NEA Today publications.
• We have already run print ads in Maine, Washington State, and Nevada thanking Senators Snowe, Collins, Murray, and Reid (see Reid ad attached). Additional thank you ads and other media activities are planned.

NEXT STEPS: We will be undertaking a number of steps in the coming days and weeks both to thank Members of Congress who supported us and to ensure that you have all the information you need regarding how states will receive the funds.

Distribution of Funds: Governors have 30 days to apply for the money; otherwise, Secretary Duncan can distribute it to another entity/entities, such as school districts. You should have received an initial e-mail from us yesterday with preliminary information about the bill and implementation issues. It is very important that affiliates:

1. Contact, preferably in writing, your state department of education and/or your governor’s office and urge them to apply immediately for the money;

2. Figure out which distribution method – the state funding formula or Title I formula – will save the most jobs in your state, based on the density of layoffs.

We are also working with the U.S. Department of Education on guidance about the urgency of getting this money to flow.

August 5, 2010. Data shows numerous “special pay increases” and other monetary boosts for administrators at a time of an alleged university-wide budget crunch.

As an addendum to the August 2010 Bargaining Update please find below data on raises awarded to in-unit and out-of-unit FAU employees in 2009. This is the only information available to date.

UFF-FAU is awaiting additional updated data that it has requested from the administration and will make that information available when it is received.

In-Unit/Faculty Raises (Excel Document)

Out-of-Unit/Administrator-Staff Raises (Excel Document)

See related post:

Faculty and Staff Salary Data, 2008-09, 2009-10

August 2, 2010. Bargaining Team appreciative of 2010-11 three percent salary increase offer, Asks for modest 2009-10 half-percent increase to achieve greater parity with salary growth of administrators and other out-of-unit employees.

After the announcement of raises for out-of-unit employees by the administration, I know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting resolution of the bargaining contract for unionized employees.  I would like to share with you where we are in the process.

We have reached agreement on most of the articles in the contract.  The two contentious issues that remain are Salaries and Reserved Management Rights.  You can read the proposed Article 4 here. We are concerned that a significant expansion of management rights has been proposed and we strongly object to the insertion of their interpretation of case law into the agreement.

On salaries, the latest administration proposal for in-unit employees includes a 3% increase in base salaries.  The proposed increases would be effective at the start of the 2010-2011 academic year.  The increase would be distributed as follows: a 1% retention increase for all faculty with satisfactory evaluations, a 1% increase for meritorious performance, and a 1% increase for performance based market equity.  These are the three categories that we have traditionally tried to secure increases in.  We are satisfied with these increases for 2010-2011, but we remain concerned with how to adequately compensate faculty for 2009-10. The administration has proposed no increases for 2009-10.

The popular perception is that the University was dealing with a dire budget situation in 2009-10 which prompted tenured faculty layoffs without adequate notice and numerous special meetings to discuss the budget.  We have just learned, however, that during the same period, many administrators and other out of unit employees received special pay increases whose total exceeded $500,000.   These special raises were in addition to pay increases for promotions and job reassignments.  We believe that in-unit employees deserve similar compensation and have offered to settle for an additional 0.5% increase, for a total increase of 3.5%.

In the next couple of weeks we hope to share the data on pay raises in 2009-10 for out-of-unit and in-unit employees with the faculty community and solicit your input on salaries through an online survey.  Based on those findings, we hope to conclude negotiations soon after the start of the Fall semester.

In Solidarity,

Sharmila Vishwasrao

For UFF-FAU