August 17, 2009. Your rights as a public employee in the state of Florida, as well as the right for UFF to be your representative, are defined under Florida Statute 447: Labor Organizations. I encourage you to read this important law in full at your leisure, and draw your attention to four of its most pertinent sections concerning you and your employment below.

Some FAU faculty members and staff represented in the Bargaining Unit are reluctant to outwardly support or become members of UFF. In some instances this may have to do with their misunderstandings about their rights as employees. Or, it may involve misconceptions about labor unions in general often circulated via mass media, or through peers and other cultural outlets. In other cases, however, there is the actual fear of reproach by the FAU administration. That this has crossed the academic’s mind even in the slightest points to an environment that is intellectually inhibiting and indeed a poor backdrop for creative inquiry and overall scholarly development. Section 501 of FS 447 expressly forbids employers from interfering with a labor union’s formation and development, normal functions, or expression related to such when carried out within the parameters of this law. Further, this section forbids intimidation of or discrimination against employees because of their membership in or activities in support of such an organization.

On a related note, the FAU administration and its highly paid attorneys would probably like for you to believe that the UFF-FAU chapter is a sort of fringe group that has little influence or clout. As far as chief administrators are concerned, the fewer employees who sustain UFF through their activities and dues the easier it is for them to enforce their will as they please. Indeed, in his August 3 letter to Governor Charlie Crist, FAU President Frank T. Brogan referred to FAU’s UFF chapter as “the union that represents some faculty at Florida Atlantic University” (my emphasis). In fact, UFF represents almost all full-time faculty at FAU–close to 1,000 professors, instructors, and librarians. This is because after Governor “Jeb” Bush abolished the Board of Regents and set up local Boards of Trustees, thereby decentralizing the bargaining process and jeopardizing UFF’s very existence, faculty at each of Florida’s public universities including FAU voted overwhelmingly in favor of UFF as its independent advocate and bargaining agent rather than relying on the whim and fancy of the newly established Boards of Trustees to do as they please. Even so, as you likely know, under Brogan the FAU-BOT has been emboldened to spurn the recommendations of the PERC Special Magistrate over faculty salaries and more recently convinced itself that it can run roughshod over tenure, a decision UFF is presently fighting through the grievance process. We deem each of these moves truly “vitriolic,” and contrary to sound university governance.

It is important to keep in mind that despite their ominous-sounding titles, often hefty salaries, or even political pedigree, administrators are here to serve the faculty, and not the other way around. Knowing your rights under the law helps to establish and ensure a workplace free of intimidation, favoritism, “old boys networks,” whispering campaigns; indeed, it allows us to build an enviornment of mutual respect that benefits us all, and thus the students and communities we serve. UFF is the most effective avenue for the realization of such a workplace, but it can only do so through your involvement and support.

UFF stands for the faculty’s rights and, in the spirit of the US Constitution, ensures the specific right to petition management for the redress of grievances without fear of retribution and provides assistance for binding arbitration in the event that such grievances cannot be adequately settled. However, we can only assist you in the grievance process if you are a dues-paying member of the union. Please consider becoming a member of your UFF chapter at FAU today.

In solidarity,

James Tracy
UFF-FAU President

447.209  Public employer’s rights.–It is the right of the public employer to determine unilaterally the purpose of each of its constituent agencies, set standards of services to be offered to the public, and exercise control and discretion over its organization and operations. It is also the right of the public employer to direct its employees, take disciplinary action for proper cause, and relieve its employees from duty because of lack of work or for other legitimate reasons. However, the exercise of such rights shall not preclude employees or their representatives from raising grievances, should decisions on the above matters have the practical consequence of violating the terms and conditions of any collective bargaining agreement in force or any civil or career service regulation.

History.–s. 3, ch. 74-100.

447.301  Public employees’ rights; organization and representation.—

(1)  Public employees shall have the right to form, join, and participate in, or to refrain from forming, joining, or participating in, any employee organization of their own choosing.

(2)  Public employees shall have the right to be represented by any employee organization of their own choosing and to negotiate collectively, through a certified bargaining agent, with their public employer in the determination of the terms and conditions of their employment. Public employees shall have the right to be represented in the determination of grievances on all terms and conditions of their employment. Public employees shall have the right to refrain from exercising the right to be represented.

(3)  Public employees shall have the right to engage in concerted activities not prohibited by law, for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. Public employees shall also have the right to refrain from engaging in such activities.

(4)  Nothing in this part shall be construed to prevent any public employee from presenting, at any time, his or her own grievances, in person or by legal counsel, to his or her public employer and having such grievances adjusted without the intervention of the bargaining agent, if the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement then in effect and if the bargaining agent has been given reasonable opportunity to be present at any meeting called for the resolution of such grievances.

History.–s. 3, ch. 74-100; s. 9, ch. 77-343; s. 191, ch. 79-400; s. 6, ch. 83-214; s. 154, ch. 97-103; s. 1007, ch. 2002-387.

447.401  Grievance procedures.–Each public employer and bargaining agent shall negotiate a grievance procedure to be used for the settlement of disputes between employer and employee, or group of employees, involving the interpretation or application of a collective bargaining agreement. Such grievance procedure shall have as its terminal step a final and binding disposition by an impartial neutral, mutually selected by the parties; however, when the issue under appeal is an allegation of abuse, abandonment, or neglect by an employee under s. 39.201 or s. 415.1034, the grievance may not be decided until the abuse, abandonment, or neglect of a child has been judicially determined. However, an arbiter or other neutral shall not have the power to add to, subtract from, modify, or alter the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. If an employee organization is certified as the bargaining agent of a unit, the grievance procedure then in existence may be the subject of collective bargaining, and any agreement which is reached shall supersede the previously existing procedure. All public employees shall have the right to a fair and equitable grievance procedure administered without regard to membership or nonmembership in any organization, except that certified employee organizations shall not be required to process grievances for employees who are not members of the organization. A career service employee shall have the option of utilizing the civil service appeal procedure, an unfair labor practice procedure, or a grievance procedure established under this section, but such employee is precluded from availing himself or herself to more than one of these procedures.

History.–s. 3, ch. 74-100; s. 1, ch. 74-378; s. 14, ch. 77-343; s. 38, ch. 87-238; s. 12, ch. 88-290; s. 32, ch. 91-57; s. 135, ch. 95-418; s. 156, ch. 97-103; s. 154, ch. 98-403; s. 101, ch. 2000-349.

447.501  Unfair labor practices.—

(1)  Public employers or their agents or representatives are prohibited from:

(a)  Interfering with, restraining, or coercing public employees in the exercise of any rights guaranteed them under this part.

(b)  Encouraging or discouraging membership in any employee organization by discrimination in regard to hiring, tenure, or other conditions of employment.

(c)  Refusing to bargain collectively, failing to bargain collectively in good faith, or refusing to sign a final agreement agreed upon with the certified bargaining agent for the public employees in the bargaining unit.

(d)  Discharging or discriminating against a public employee because he or she has filed charges or given testimony under this part.

(e)  Dominating, interfering with, or assisting in the formation, existence, or administration of, any employee organization or contributing financial support to such an organization.

(f)  Refusing to discuss grievances in good faith pursuant to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement with either the certified bargaining agent for the public employee or the employee involved.

(2)  A public employee organization or anyone acting in its behalf or its officers, representatives, agents, or members are prohibited from:

(a)  Interfering with, restraining, or coercing public employees in the exercise of any rights guaranteed them under this part or interfering with, restraining, or coercing managerial employees by reason of their performance of job duties or other activities undertaken in the interests of the public employer.

(b)  Causing or attempting to cause a public employer to discriminate against an employee because of the employee’s membership or nonmembership in an employee organization or attempting to cause the public employer to violate any of the provisions of this part.

(c)  Refusing to bargain collectively or failing to bargain collectively in good faith with a public employer.

(d)  Discriminating against an employee because he or she has signed or filed an affidavit, petition, or complaint or given any information or testimony in any proceedings provided for in this part.

(e)  Participating in a strike against the public employer by instigating or supporting, in any positive manner, a strike. Any violation of this paragraph shall subject the violator to the penalties provided in this part.

(f)  Instigating or advocating support, in any positive manner, for an employee organization’s activities from high school or grade school students or students in institutions of higher learning.

(3)  Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1) and (2), the parties’ rights of free speech shall not be infringed, and the expression of any arguments or opinions shall not constitute, or be evidence of, an unfair employment practice or of any other violation of this part, if such expression contains no promise of benefits or threat of reprisal or force.

History.–s. 3, ch. 74-100; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 160, ch. 97-103.