Official Updates from USFFA

May 22, 2020
Update on Talks with Administration

Dear Colleagues,

This is a correction to the email titled “Quick Update on Talks with Administration”. The version that went out earlier was partial and had some strong claims that inadvertently misrepresent the totality of our ongoing discussions with the administration. I am sending this update to correct the record.
The administration presented the following  5 concepts as a starting point in our discussions. 

Salary and step freeze for all USFFA members through October 26, 2020.Freeze current surplus and suspend fall 2020 FDF/LDF distribution.Move the deadline for probationary faculty/librarian non-renewal notifications to November 1, 2020, so that parties can continue to evaluate enrollment data and the impacts of COVID-19 on the university’s net revenue situation.Approval of the university's April 8, 2020, sabbatical proposal/concept.Suspend the commuter subsidy benefit until October 1, 2020.

The 5 concepts were presented as a package, meaning these are items that the administration would like us to consider in total. We were still given the opportunity to modify their ideas and propose new ones. Nothing has been presented as “written in stone” and we have not yet fully discussed alternatives which we are actively developing.

The administration represented that they do not want to issue the non-renewal notices to probationary faculty, but they did threaten to do so if we are unable to co-produce solutions to the university’s immediate need to have flexibility in their ability to scale up or down as needed to address financial difficulties and course staffing needs related to COVID-19. 

We pushed to completely remove the item on moving the non-renewal date for probationary faculty from June 1 to Nov 1 in exchange for bringing their modified concepts to a vote of our membership next week. The administration countered with a suggestion to move the non-renewal date to July 1. Another idea that was discussed was moving the non-renewal date to June 15. We offered to bring this idea to our junior faculty colleagues for consideration.
The administration has represented that the faculty who would be impacted by an issuance of non-renewal letters by June 1 include our tenure-track colleagues who are in years 1-6. Our attorney disagrees with this interpretation of the contract. She says the June 1 clause should apply only to tenure-track faculty in years 3-6.  The administration disagrees with our attorney’s interpretation.

Our team also indicated that we were willing to modify the existing concepts and find other ways to reduce expenses commensurate with the savings they expect from junior faculty non-renewals, and that we are willing to continue to work to resolve the financial situation facing the university in ways that protect our members’ careers and ensure equitable distribution of impact. 

We expressed to the administration that our priority is to protect our most vulnerable faculty. We work as a democracy -- not a corporation -- which means that sometimes things move more slowly than we like, but we aim to do our best to represent our members’ interests and fight for them. 
We will continue to schedule listening sessions and other opportunities to weigh in on options and send updates to our members as things develop. Please watch your email for a potential survey to register your priorities.

In solidarity,
Sonja Martin Poole