The phenomenal membership growth of the United Faculty of Florida/AFT has helped the union preserve and protect the rights of faculty as the Florida state university system turned an administrative corner this winter. Jan. 6 was the date that a politically mandated reorganization of the 11 universities in the system put the status of the statewide UFF contract in jeopardy. UFF, which is affiliated through a merger with both the AFT and the National Education Association, has been representing faculty for more than 25 years.

An intensive internal organizing campaign, however, boosted membership by 25 percent in the 10,000-person unit. That, combined with the union's filing of cards with the state labor board from more than two-thirds of the unit (see "Florida faculty renew their union vows," News & Trends, February 2003) has guaranteed the union's survival, says Tom Auxter, UFF president.

"The UFF now has a statewide organizing committee with over 600 members" on 11 campuses, he notes. They continue to sign up members, with the hope of bringing the total to over 6,000 in short order. The growth has provided the resources "to defend our legal rights--which is a very expensive thing to do right now--and it has generated a wave of activism resulting in new leadership and new bargaining teams on every campus."

Since January, when the system decentralized into 11 universities with 11 separate boards of trustees, four have voted to voluntarily recognize chapters of the UFF as the faculty bargaining agent, and four more were likely to follow suit as AFT On Campus went to press. On the remaining campuses, faculty were preparing to hold new elections if necessary. But the thinking of many of the university presidents, Auxter says, could be summed up this way: "Look, the union has already got 70 percent of the cards. They've had an established contract for 25 years. We know what it's been like. We know what it will be. Might as well just recognize them."

Gov. Jeb Bush has proposed cutting higher education by $111 million in his next budget, notes Auxter, which underscores the need to keep increasing membership. "It will take a strong union to negotiate contracts protecting faculty rights in a state as turbulent, unpredictable and potentially hostile to faculty concerns as this one is," he says. [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[April 29, 2003]