President's Message
By Kathleen L. Wilson
UFF-FIU Chapter President
November 14, 2011
Dear UFF-FIU Members:
UFF-FIU Chapter President Kathleen Wilson Last week was a busy and exciting week for UFF-FIU, for collective bargaining rights, and for the 99%--as the Occupy movement is becoming known. An increasing sense of injustice and inequality is uniting workers, teachers, students, union members, the unemployed and underemployed, homeowners who are either "under water" or have already lost their homes, clergy, and thousands of other people from many walks of life who have come together for the common good.
Last weekend I attended a conference at the University of Massachusetts for the "Campaign for the Future for Higher Education," and on Saturday evening I (and several of my colleagues from universities and colleges from around the country) attended Occupy Boston. It was invigorating—and not just from the 30 degree temperature—as I listened to young people implore our leaders to stop blaming teachers and unions for the state of our economy. The 1% has been enjoying significant tax benefits for many years, and now they and many elected leaders are blaming the rest of us for their mistakes. Not only do they want to undercut our jobs, salaries and benefits—effectively a tax on the public sector—but they want to take away our collective voice as well.
So it was a significant victory for us when over 60% of Ohio's residents voted to repeal Senate Bill 5 that would have taken away the collective voice of teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters and other public workers. Let's hope Governor Rick Scott and Florida Legislators take note as they make plans to decertify unions, disallow dues deductions for unions (although several hundred other organizations may still deduct dues) and impose taxes on us (3% from our pensions last year, "the other 5%" from our pensions and a decrease in our health benefits likely planned for next year).
On FIU's campus, students hosted their own Occupy FIU teach-in. Several of those student organizers joined guest speakers UFF State President Tom Auxter, United Faculty of Miami Dade College Mark Richard, and UFMDC Legislative Director Ana Ciereszko at the UFF-FIU teach-in held on Thursday Nov. 10, to discuss threats to Higher Education in Florida. Students and faculty alike stressed the importance of Affordable, Accessible, Quality Public Higher Education, which is currently being threatened throughout the country, and especially here in Florida.
Governor Scott has made it clear to his newly-appointed University Trustees, to University Presidents and to the public that he is in favor of the "Texas 7-Point Plan." The plan is essentially a business model that refers to students as customers and that measures faculty "productivity" by class size, how many A's and B's given out, and relies on student satisfaction ratings as the sole method of evaluation of a teacher's effectiveness. It even proposes doing away with our accrediting agency! As faculty working conditions are eroded, so are student learning conditions. Fortunately, here at FIU, we have a strong contract. But if we fall below 50% membership, we will lose our ability to bargain collectively as well as our contract-- with all the rights and privileges contained therein, including tenure. (Our current contract is posted on our website www.UFF-FIU.org.)
The Governor's posting of our salaries was just one step in trying to justify his "plan" for Higher Education, which would include doing away with tenure. As an FIU Administrator said to me recently, "Now he [Governor Scott] will make it even easier for other universities outside of Florida to recruit our best faculty. All they have to do is look on the Governor's website and they will know what to offer."
UFF-FIU initiatives to address these significant attacks on our working conditions, our salaries and benefits, on our right to collective bargaining, and to public higher education, include the following:
Membership Drive: We have a goal of 60-65% membership for this Academic Year. We are currently at 50%, which is not enough to withstand decertification and/or losing our ability to deduct dues. (This bill would decertify any union that drops below 50%, even by one member.) If you are a member, please ask your colleagues to join. Call or stop by our UFF office PC111 for a membership packet. 7-3212 Or you may invite your non-member colleague to join UFF over lunch, and UFF will pay for lunch for both of you (just keep receipts). Membership forms can also be downloaded from our website.
Government Relations: We are going out in teams to Miami-Dade and Broward key legislators to ask them NOT to support the anti-union bills or the Texas 7-point plan, and to support FIU. We have prepared packets for Legislators and talking points for FIU faculty. If you would like to join us in visiting Legislators, either email me or call Alyce Gowdy-Wright in our office (7-3212) to sign up for visits. You also will have received a letter asking for a contribution to our UFF-PAC to help with our campaign. Again, this year is crucial for our survival, so please consider a generous and positive response to my letter.
Opportunities to connect with your colleagues:
Nov. 18 Happy Hour, 3:30-6:30 pm PC 111
Dec. 2 Brunch 9-11 am, PC 111
Dec. 8 Holiday Party with food, libations and jazz! 4:30-7:30
Best wishes for the remainder of the semester and in solidarity,
Kathleen L. Wilson
UFF-FIU Chapter President