Official USFFA Announcments

May 27, 2020

FAQ on the status of negotiations:
What’s going on right now, and how does it impact you?

Answers from USFFA Executive Board

The negotiations between our union and the administration are continuing almost daily. There’s a lot of information out there, some of it coming from management, so we wanted to be sure all of you have the facts.

Q: How did we get to this point?

A: From the onset of the COVID crisis, we tried to approach it in the spirit of the shared governance that the administration has said it supports. We made it clear that we are partners in the future of this institution, and we wanted to work together.

On May 3, the administration told us it was exercising a clause in our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that would re-open the CBA.

If the university’s revenue drops by 5 percent or the student enrollment drops by 2 percent, management has the right to demand we open up our collective bargaining agreement for negotiations. After consultations with legal counsel, we agreed that there were no grounds to open the CBA.  We knew, of course, that the COVID crisis was hitting USF, and we reiterated that we were happy to meet with the administration and talk about how we can work together to address the situation. 

On May 18, USFFA met with the administration’s negotiators. The administration’s point person is David Philpott, the assistant vice-president for labor and employee relationships. They presented us with five “concepts” that they told us were a package that we had to accept or reject as a whole. They included:

  1. A salary-step freeze.

  2. A suspension of new Faculty Development Fund distributions.

  3. Moving the deadline for probationary faculty non-renewals to July 1.

  4. Delaying most sabbaticals.

  5. Suspending the commuter benefit.

They told us they wanted a membership vote on those changes by May 22. That was impossible – four days is nowhere near enough time to consult with our members, evaluate and explain the situation, and obtain positions on critical issues. 

On May 20, USFFA Policy Board created the Contingency Planning Team (CPT), which would turn into an official Negotiating Team should the criteria in our CBA be triggered. The CPT has the following members: 

Sonja Poole (SOM; Lead Negotiator)
Xornam Apedoe (SOE)
Dorothy Kidd (Arts)
Jennifer Parlamis (SOM)
Christina Purpora (SONHP)
Justine Withers (Library)
Mike Webber (Arts)
Naupaka Zimmerman (Sciences)

Since May 20, the CPT has met with representatives of the administration nearly every day. They have asked the University numerous times to take the probationary faculty non-renewal concept (concept 3) off the table completely and not to send the letters, in exchange for agreement on the other concepts. Their requests have been rejected. 

Last night (May 26), the CPT had a 4 hour meeting with administrators that lasted well past 10pm. Updates are forthcoming, so please stay tuned...

Q: What is the issue with probationary faculty non-renewals?

A: Under our CBA, if the administration wants to lay off tenure-track faculty, it has to inform them in advance, which for most of our pre-tenure faculty, would be June 1. At that point, these professors may be asked to either work for another year as Term Faculty and then face termination, or be terminated immediately with six months of severance pay. The move would save the University little or no money during this next year. But the administration is now threatening to send non-renewal letters on June 1 if we don’t accept all of their concepts as a package. 

Q: How is the union responding?

A: We have taken the position that mass layoffs of probationary faculty are not acceptable. This would devastate the university and undermine the entire idea of union solidarity. The junior faculty are USF’s future. They have in many cases come here from around the country and around the world to take these jobs, some would have visas revoked, and layoffs would destroy many careers. We have offered to bring every other proposal to a vote if they take the mass layoffs off the table. They refused.

Q: So what is happening now?

A: We have prepared a counter-offer. We have made clear that we will work with the administration on financial savings to make the budget work. But we want that done in the spirit of shared governance, not ultimatums. We want to move forward, not backward. The bargaining is continuing.

Q: How do I find out more?

A: We will update you on a regular basis. Please come to the Policy Board and General Membership meetings (links above) to hear and participate in the discussion.

 

 

From the Solidarity Committee

As many of you may know, last week union members with probationary status formed a caucus and issued a call for individual letters and collective/departmental statements of solidarity and support. Our union leadership would like to collect these statements in one place for our archives. Please email copies for this purpose to the Solidarity Committee c/o solidarity@usffa.net

 

Some 95 percent of USF's approximately 100 food service workers were laid off by BonApp at the end of March without any pay or. UNITE HERE Local 2 represents these workers and has been providing support including covering medical benefits through the end of July 31. They do this through assistance from the national UNITE HERE Education & Support Fund.

 

Representatives of Local 2 have requested USFFA circulate the following information among our members, with their request for solidarity and donations on behalf hotel and restaurant workers so hard hit by the current crisis, including our campus food service workers. Contributions to the UNITE HERE Education and Support Fund will directly aid hospitality workers by:

·maintaining family health insurance coverage during layoffs or reduced hours

·paying for food, rent, and utilities

·replacing wages lost due to reduced hours and tips

·retraining for new jobs during the business downturn

Thank you for your consideration, and donations of any size.

If you would like to support USFFA's solidarity efforts like this, our Solidarity Committee needs you!  Email kcoll66@gmail.com for more information.

 

What do you want to know about USF finances?

The union has hired a forensic accountant to dig deep into the university’s finances so that as we enter bargaining we will know exactly what the real data shows. Have a question? Something about the revenue or spending that you are wondering about? You can post it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11VQachB2mPqqcpCffcC9F86UoCU0CLcl9F5gS8wWrzI/edit


Please provide Your non-USF email address

Kathy Nasstrom and Rebecca Mason, Co-Chairs
Membership Engagement Committee

Thank you to the USFFA members who have provided us with a non-USF email address and a cell phone number. More than half of you have responded. For those who haven't, we hope you will help us establish a confidential and secure way of communicating with you, as USFFA prepares to use a non-USF server to send and receive member communications. Use this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBBInChHcOrN16xpRS9Qd4V_KLJ2GPElCz3_NSl1gKqiHvKg/viewform. 



How to stay connected, and communicate thoughts and concerns

It’s more important than ever for all of us to stay in touch over the next few weeks and months as the university makes plans for the fall. Here’s some ways to keep connected:

  • Facebook: If you are on Facebook, search for “University of San Francisco Faculty Association” and submit a request to join. This is a closed group, open only to USFFA members, where we can post questions and ideas, and share solutions. When you send your request, it is helpful if you could mention a few Librarian or FT Faculty friends who are on Facebook, so we can verify that your account is really you. Alternatively, send your usfca.edu email address, so we can send you a confirmation email. If you are in a discussion that raises issues that should come to the attention of the Policy Board and/or Executive Board, please tag Rebecca Mason, who will be checking regularly and will report back.

  • Twitter: Follow and tag issues relevant to USFFA with @USFFaculty