Update #6

Meeting date: 10 August 2017
Bargained Article: 23 (Salaries)
Issue: Base Salary Adjustment
CBA Language under review: Section 23.4.B

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If you’ll remember, our last bargaining session with management (2 August) regarding salaries resulted in UFF-FGCU’s bargaining teams offering three proposals for a modest cost-of-living base salary increase for our in-unit faculty. Management countered each proposal with repeated offers of 0% and full funding of promotion increases. UFF left management with a 3.5%, minimum of $2,500 increase proposal to take back to President Martin for consideration.

Our meeting today (10 August) revealed management’s counteroffer, and what follows is that percentage along with the sequence of verbal offers that followed:

Party	Base increase	Promotions funded?	Result
Management	0%	Yes	UFF declined
UFF	4%	Yes	Management declined
Management	0%	Yes	UFF declined
UFF	$3,500 increase to base	Yes	Management declined
Management	0%	Yes	UFF declined
UFF	3.5%	Yes	Management declined
Management	0%	Yes	UFF moved to adjourn (see below)

As it seems both management and UFF are interested in the funding of promotion increases for those faculty who earned new rank during the 2016/2017 cycle, UFF offered to write and sign a tentative agreement for Article 23, separating promotion increases from the base increase offers and securing those funds for promoted faculty regardless of the surrounding negotiations. Management declined. Upon a request for clarification by our federal mediator, management reiterated that promotion increases will only occur upon acceptance of a 0% base increase and the separate items must constitute a “package deal.”

UFF expressed doubt that its membership would ratify such a deal. As such, we moved to adjourn and will survey in-unit members in an attempt to determine the level of support for a “0% + promotion increases” offer. Those results will be shared with management, and will inform our future proposals.