Update #2

Meeting date: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Bargained Article: 8.4.F.1 [Appointment]
Concerned Party/Article Opened By: Management
Issues: Summer compensation (management concern)
CBA Language under review: Section 8.4.F.1 (“Available supplemental summer appointments shall be offered equitably … in accordance with written criteria. The criteria shall be made available in each department and unit”) and Section 8.4.F.3 (“Faculty teaching during any of the summer terms shall be compensated in the same amount as compensation received during the regular academic year for the same or similar course”)

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Summer Compensation Section 8.4.F.1

Management has fielded complaints from faculty members unhappy with their lack of a summer assignments, and expressed concern that our current base compensation structure for summer classes (which is equivalent to every other SUS institution) denies the opportunity to teach for every in-unit faculty member who wishes to.

Through discussion, the concerns with summer appointments were ultimately attributed not to budget or compensation structure, but a lack of written and well-communicated criteria for summer appointments in those units and departments that have demonstrated problems equitably assigning classes to faculty. Upon cursory review, it was revealed that required summer teaching assignment criteria provided by colleges and departments ranged from very specific, to unclear, to nonexistent. The requirement that such criteria would be posted openly on FGCU’s web environment and readily available to faculty through managers also proved unmet. It was concluded that such wide variance in practice leads to miscommunication, resentment, complaint, and threatened grievance.

To help minimize faculty concerns, management will be meeting with each college for clarification of any unclear or nonexistent summer assignment criteria in appropriate areas, and oversee strengthening of communication of such criteria to all faculty who request it in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement. UFF-FGCU’s Bargaining Team will review the progress of this initiative during full-book negotiations this year when Article 8 is reopened and advise further. Management has moved to close discussion on this matter and UFF-FGCU has agreed.

Summer compensation will not be changed.

UFF-FGCU is pleased at the resolution of this matter and believes it will notably increase transparency between management and faculty.