May 16, 2012. UFF-FAU President points out that by signing a mid-year revised notice of appointment you waive your rights under the CBA

Dear Non-Tenure-Track Faculty,

It has recently come to the union’s attention that many non-tenure-track faculty have been issued mid-year revised notices of appointment.  Included within these revised letters is an end date to your contract and perhaps a clause stating that you are not entitled to notice of non-reappointment. If you sign this letter, it effectively waives your rights within the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) under Article 12: Non-Reappointment.

Under section 12.2 (1), the contract stipulates: “Employees in their first year of University service who are on academic year (9 month) appointments shall receive notice of non-reappointment not later than March 1 of the academic year.” Also, section 12.2 (2) states: “Employees in their second year of continuous University service who are on academic year appointments shall receive one semester notice of non-reappointment.”

The reason such clauses is so you have adequate time to find other employment if your contract is not renewed. But if your appointment letter holds an end date, the administration can not renew your contract after the March 1 deadline or without a semester’s notice, whichever one is more applicable to you.

So, you want to check your letters of appointment to see if there is an end date within it. If so, you have the right to attempt to negotiate it from your next letter of reappointment for the 2012-2013 academic year with your Chair. Some departments have letters with end dates; others do not. And when they don’t have end date, the union has effectively challenged when faculty were not given adequate notice of non-reappointment. Of course, you need to be a union member to the union defend your rights regarding this.

We are also going to be addressing this issue during our next bargaining session (May 14, 2:00 PM in the Provost’s conference room on the Third Floor of the Administration Building). You should feel free to attend. Bargaining is open to the public. We will be addressing how such end dates undercut the stability for non-tenure-track people we have been working for in establishing a promotional system. We are going to propose that any NTT faculty who have been here over two years should have no end date in his/her letter of reappointment and is entitled to adequate notice of non-reappointment.

If you haven’t joined the union yet, you should. The union is the only university body that addresses such issues to the administration and actively advocates for non-tenure-track faculty. It costs you 1% of your base salary, but it protects you in ways that are worth much more than that. We have witnessed too many cases this semester of non-tenure-track faculty who didn’t belong to the union needing our representation for not having their contracts renewed. Unfortunately, we don’t represent non-members. It is a very painful moment to inform faculty that they are on their own when such occasions arise. Join. Get involved. Download the membership form and send to: Chris Robe’, UFF President, CU 214, Boca Raton, FL 33431.

Best,

Chris