As a result of issues and concerns that have been brought up in our United Faculty of Florida Town Hall meetings, I thought it might be useful to review and clarify the contractual language and implications of the BOT-UFF Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) provisions on Summer Appointments. There have been several questions that have arisen that I will address here. First, ?What does summer appointment cover?? which translates into what are you being paid to do in the summer? Second, when you are offered an online course at what rate should you be paid? Third, what is going on in bargaining with regard to summer salary and what can we expect for next summer and the future?

First, regarding summer appointments, the CBA language is clear. The money you are paid for teaching a summer course covers instructional activities associated with that course, including holding office hours to meet with students enrolled in your course. It does not cover activities such as thesis/dissertation supervision, directed independent studies, supervised research/teaching, and supervision of student interns. If you are expected to be doing these additional activities you should expect to be compensated for them above the compensation you receive for your course(s).

Although graduate students are, in many units, required to enroll in credit hours to maintain their status and assistantships over the summer, faculty are not required by the CBA to supervise them without pay. Moreover, if you are a dissertation advisor and supervise students during the summer, you should, according to the contract, be compensated for those FTEs beyond whatever courses you are teaching. There appears to be some discrepancy across units regarding whether faculty are compensated during the summer for supervising students and whether students are required to maintain credit hours during the summer. Nevertheless, according to the CBA all faculty must be compensated for those activities above and beyond any compensation faculty may be receiving for teaching courses.

Second, regarding the compensation for online courses, during the summer faculty should expect to be compensated at the contract rate for all summer courses (whether in the classroom or online). An online course is considered in-load and compensated at the rate of 12.5% if it is the first course, 11% if it is the second course or at least $5,775 if it is the third course. If a faculty member exceeds 1.0 FTE, then an online course shall be compensated as overload at a rate of $3,000 for the first 35 students plus $90 for each additional student.

Again, we have heard of some discrepancies across units and departments regarding how online courses are being compensated this summer. If you have only been offered the opportunity to teach one course online this summer? that course should be compensated at the rate of 12.5%. Any other compensation formula would be in violation of the CBA and is grounds for a grievance. Finally, rumors are circulating regarding the current state of bargaining on supplemental summer appointments. The administration would like to save money by cutting the salary rate for the first summer course to 11.28%. This is not a proposal that the UFF could accept at a time when many faculty are not being offered a second or third course.

I hope that this letter addresses some of the concerns that faculty have and puts to rest some of the rumors that have been circulating. I encourage you to read the contract . I also encourage you to call or email me or our grievance chair, Paul Warren with any questions or concerns you may have.

Yours in solidarity,
Leslie

Leslie D. Frazier, Ph.D.
President, FIU Chapter
United Faculty of Florida
Florida International University