Bargaining Update

7/14/2020

Dear FSU Members,

We started main table bargaining last Friday.  The FSU core bargaining team was there, along with—for the very first time!—30 additional FSU members, who attended as part of our expanded team.  It was really exciting to bargain with administration knowing that our members were in the Zoom room with us, holding it down throughout and ready to caucus with us at a moment’s notice.

We presented five proposals to administration, based on your feedback this past Fall and Spring:   

1) institute a 2/2 Teaching Load for all Tenure Stream Faculty

2) institute a 3/3 Teaching Load for all (full-time) NTT Faculty

3) eliminate course cancellations due to low enrollment

4) implement the recommendations of the Alternative Scheduling Taskforce

5) expand the FSU travel fund – (a) In the event that travel is restricted, allow faculty to use travel funds for other research, scholarship, or creative purposes; (b) extend travel fund to Librarians, Clinical Professors (all ranks), and NTT faculty.

We also initiated a discussion about limiting/capping enrollments for virtual courses for both pedagogical and workload reasons.

These were just the initial proposals for the first bargaining sessions – there will be others!!

The Administration will not respond to these proposals until our next meeting (date TBD), but did make it a point to outline the dire financial situation of the university – suggesting that from their perspective, proposals must be cost-neutral or even save money. 

Admin also raised the possibility of agreeing to a one-year contract as opposed to the typical three-year deal – which many campuses around the state are now exploring given the uncertain financial future.  This has some appeal to unions.  Given the financial situation (and political mood), a three-year contract could lock us in to no raises for three years whereas a one-year contract would limit the pain and perhaps allow us to negotiate a longer term contract under an improved economic climate.  There will be much discussion about this in the coming weeks.  

We will continue to update you.  And – we will let you know when the next bargaining session is so you can join us at the virtual table!

Sincerely and in solidarity,

Core Bargaining Team:

Caroline Coscia, Senior Lecturer II, Political Science, FSU Vice President

Katie D’Urso, MTA Field Representative

Jessica Holden, Librarian III, Healey Library

Maria Mellone, Associate Lecturer, Mathematics

Alex Mueller, Associate Professor, English

Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Membership Coordinator

Jason Rodriquez, Associate Professor, Sociology

Heike Schotten, Associate Professor, Political Science

Steve Striffler, Director of the Labor Resource Center and Professor, Anthropology, FSU President

Tony Vandermeer, Senior Lecturer II, Africana Studies  

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