Florida State Faculty Give Union Landslide Victory

NEA Today, Feb 2004 by Gursky, Dan, McKenna, Barbara, Simon, Matt

A 150-member organizing committee turns out the votes and turns up pressure for an end to 'political interference' on campus.

A recent vote by faculty and professionals at Florida State University (FSU) to elect the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) as their collective bargaining agent reaffirmed UFF chapter President Jack Fiorito's conviction that his colleagues at FSU see union representation as the best-and maybe the only-way to deal with the politically charged environment on that campus as well as at other public universities in the state.

In October, faculty and professionals at FSU chose UFF as their exclusive representative by a huge margin: 736 to 33. "This overwhelming faculty vote for the United Faculty of Florida shows convincingly that the FSU faculty wants a strong independent voice in the terms and conditions of employment" says Fiorito.

UFF is an affiliate of the Florida Education Association, the merged AFT-NEA state organization.

"It's clear [that] faculty want the protections of a contract to defend basic rights and to insulate themselves from political interference in the conduct of their professional lives," statewide UFF President Tom Auxter adds.

The vote at FSU brings to 10 the number of institutions in the 11-campus public university system where the faculty has chosen UFF representation.

The union has been representing the employees for years, but when Gov. Jeb Bush and the legislature reorganized the higher education system last year, they changed the status of the UFF. As a result, seven faculty chapters have successfully sought voluntary recognition from their university boards of trustees and three more have won elections. The only unit election yet to be held is at the University of Florida.

Why such a need to recertify UFF? Faculty perceive that many other challenges of university life have to do with the state's political environment, says Fiorito. he cites as an example his experience serving on the search committee that chose a former business partner of the chair of the FSU board of trustees as the president of FSU.

Another example that faculty point to is the disparity between administrative salaries, which are higher than those at comparable institutions, and faculty salaries, which are lower.

The UFF chapter had an organizing committee of 150. That structure, and UFF's success in reinstating payroll dues deduction-which had been lost in Gov. Bush's reorganization-was empowering, says John Kerbs, a union department representative. Kerbs, an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice, notes that "bringing back dues deduction not only made membership more attractive and accessible, but it also helped potential members see UFF as a competent and strong union."

In the end, the voice of the faculty came through loud and clear, Auxter says.

The NEAFT Report is a project of the NEAFT Partnership. A primary aim of the partnership is to keep members of NEA and the American Federation of Teachers informed about joint programs and areas of common concern. These articles were written by AFT staff writers Dan Gursky and Barbara McKenna and NEA Today's Matt Simon.