News
Email from Amy Rieger August 21, 2010
Good afternoon, colleagues. I hope your first week went well and that the coming semester is a good one.
From time to time over the past few months, UFF-Brevard has had the opportunity to address questions and comments regarding the contract from faculty and others on an individual basis. Now, in an effort to more effectively share contract information with all faculty members, UFF-Brevard plans to periodically utilize campus email to answer general questions and communicate relevant information, reminders, and contract clarification. We hope that these informational messages will help keep you connected to the work of UFF-Brevard and the college as a whole.
Faculty Office Hours:
The contract provides some flexibility in regard to faculty workweek hours, including the right of faculty members to “schedule a maximum of five hours of office time online and/or at a publicly accessible location other than the College” (Section 8.4, Part A5).
It is important to note, however, that this flexibility does not affect or reduce the additional hours necessary to meet other contractual obligations. Section 8.2 part A clearly states, “Faculty will be required to participate in scheduled departmental, discipline, and college-wide or campus-related activities…” Activities such as these are responsibilities we must meet in addition to our scheduled office and class hours.
For example: With advance notice, faculty members are expected to attend department meetings, regardless of where his/her hours are scheduled. While the intent of office hours is to make faculty available to address student needs, the reduced number of faculty on-campus hours make scheduling meetings at convenient times for all difficult: consequently, if a meeting must be scheduled during office hours, the faculty member should inform students of the temporary schedule change as quickly as possible (via email, a note posted on one’s office door, etc). In this way we meet the needs of both the college and our students.
I hope that you have found this clarification useful and I welcome topic suggestions for future correspondence. As always, TOGETHER WE CAN DO MORE!
Amy K. Rieger
UFF-Brevard President
Email from Lynn Spencer August 5, 2010:
Bargaining Concluded.
Our last bargaining session was held Monday, August 2. We began our discussions at 9:30am, were able to tentatively agree on article 14 and concluded the session a little after 4pm.
The agreement will now go to faculty for review and a ratification vote at the August 12 college-wide meeting. If the contract is ratified it will be presented to the Board of Trustees on August 16 at 9am for their consideration. If ratified by both parties the contract takes effect with the 2010-2011 academic year.
The contract should be posted not later than week's end to: http://www.uff-brevard.org/bargaining.shtml
In addition to the agreements reached and already reported to faculty on articles 6, 10, 11 and 12 our agreement on article 14 produced the following gains for faculty.
All existing full-time faculty will get a raise. The package totals $750,000 and includes $1000.00 added to the base pay of every unit member, and an additional $155.00 per year of service also added to base. The latter amount is part of a continuing effort on the part of UFF-Brevard to address salary compression. Compression was addressed the last time we gained a salary increase and it will continue to be a concern in salary discussions for the foreseeable future as this reflects the expressed concerns of the members of the bargaining unit.
Faculty members who continue to serve as Program Coordinators and Curriculum Coordinators will see a $500.00 increase to their annual compensation for those duties.
Department Chairs have the option, with the consent of the supervising administrator, to opt for additional release time (12 credits annually) and a reduced stipend ($7500.00) for the DC position. DCs may also opt to have their compensation for the position spread over 26 pays. This option must be communicated to payroll no later than the end of the first week of the fall term. This option does not change the terms of the responsibilities of the DC.
Program Managers may also opt to have their compensation for their duties spread over 26 pays. Like the DCs, this option must be communicated to payroll before the end of the first week of the fall term.
Faculty serving as coaches, assistant coaches, club sponsors, and professional organization sponsors may see an increase in their compensation. A new chart indicating an increase in range of amounts was included in Article 14 with the stipulation that the administration would seek to secure those funds from Student Government, which will not meet before August 24 to discuss the issue as they must hold elections first. In the event that SGA balks at this proposal coaches, sponsors and the like will not see an increase in their compensation.
We had initially also proposed an increase to overload pay, but dropped this in recognition of the Administration's efforts to work with us on the salary issues we thought were a priority for most of the members of the bargaining unit.
Finally as a condition for receiving salary increases in full now, rather than later ( if at all) the Administrative team asked for a memorandum which UFF-Brevard crafted and which states:
"In acknowledgment of current economic conditions and barring significant economic improvement, UFF-Brevard intends to forego requests for salary increase in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. It is UFF-Brevard's hope that this will enable BCC to address other economic issues."
The decision to accept this condition and craft the statement was unanimous, though it was not easy.
As you know the staff members have not received a pay increase; neither did adjunct faculty. While we are neither empowered nor responsible to bargain for either contingent we do empathize with them and recognize that they too are long overdue for a pay raise. This was one of the reasons administration requested the salary memorandum. We also recognize that budget conditions may deteriorate further before they improve. Federal stimulus money, for example, is gone after 2010-2011. And in the real world in which we live and negotiate, pay raises have not historically been an annual event. There are a number of other issues we discussed with respect to this. However, I don't know that any lengthy consideration here will forestall faculty questions or discussions about this particular issue or any other issue related to the CBA. We have been given a significant portion of 90 minutes at the meeting on August 12 to discuss and vote on this contract.
I know you will give careful and thoughtful consideration to what we have presented, and no doubt vote as best serves your interests. We certainly did our best to serve them as well.
Respectfully
Lynn Spencer
Email from Amy Rieger, August 5, 2010
Dear Colleagues,
I trust you have received and read the final bargaining update sent by Chief Negotiator Lynn Spencer earlier today (August 5, 2010). You'll note that this year's bargaining is now complete. The process of ratifying the proposed contract changes, however, is ongoing. The faculty will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the changes at next week's Welcome Back meeting (August 12, 2010). A ratification vote will also be taken at the end of our designated time (11-12:30 PM).
The proposed changes are also subject to ratification by the Board of Trustees, a matter they will undertake at the August 16, 2010 meeting (9:00 AM Cocoa Campus Board Room). If either side chooses not to ratify the contract, both teams will go back to the bargaining table. It is the hope of UFF-Brevard that this does NOT happen. Your bargaining team has worked very hard all summer to produce changes we believe will benefit faculty and the institution as a whole.
Attached you will find the five articles impacted by the proposed changes, plus Appendix D relating to starting salaries. Lynn has sent a number of bargaining updates throughout the summer that summarize the proposed changes. I encourage you to review them prior to Thursday's meeting. For your convenience, I am also including a brief summary below:
Article 6: Language from the MOU regarding the selection and function of the Tenure and Professional Development Committee was incorporated into the article.
Article 10: Language was created to allow a faculty member, in consultation with his/her supervisor, to be given special consideration for how and when MCC requirements are met. For example, a faculty member who has gone above and beyond the MCC requirements during one cycle may potentially carry those excess items into the next cycle.
Article 11: A number of changes were made to this article to align it with the establishment and emerging practice of the TPD committee. The faculty roles in the tenure process are clarified and strengthened, while certain ambiguities about the role of supervisor were removed.
Article 12: Language was added acknowledging the existing methods for the accumulation, use and calculation of sick leave for terminal pay. Faculty members will be charged only for those hours missed, as referenced in the faculty member's schedule.
Article 14: All faculty members will receive a raise of $1000.00 to their base salary. In addition, as part of our continuing effort to combat the issue of compression, each faculty member will receive $155.00 per year of service to their base pay. Starting salaries have also been increased. Program and Curriculum Coordinators will see a $500.00 increase in their stipend. A "new" option has been added to the Department Chair compensation plan. DCs may opt to receive an additional release time and a reduced stipend. Finally, faculty serving as club sponsors, coaches, etc. may see an increase in their stipend, depending on SGA funding.
Much work was also spent clarifying the intent/language of the contract as a whole. We will be posting an updated version of the entire Collective Bargaining Agreement, with the new proposals and as many of the appendices referenced as possible, to the website within the next few days. http://www.uff-brevard.org/bargaining.shtml Let us know if you have any questions/comments/concerns. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday!
Sincerely,
Amy K. Rieger
President UFF-Brevard