The faculty at Florida State University voted 736 to 33 to certify the United Faculty of Florida/AFT/NEA as the bargaining agent to represent professors and professional employees in contract negotiations with the Board of trustees.  The vote in the unit of 1,532 represented a 96 percent vote for the union against a 4 percent vote for no agent. The Public Employees Relations Commission, which held the vote, also has 11 challenged ballots.

The vote at FSU brings to 10 the number of institutions in the 11-campus public university system that have affirmed the faculty's desire to be represented by UFF.  The union has been representing the employees for years, but when Gov. Jeb Bush and the legislature reorganized the higher education system last year, one effect  was to change the status of the UFF. As a result, seven faculty chapters have successfully sought voluntary recognition from their university boards of trustees and three more have won elections. The only remaining unit election yet to be held is at the University of Florida.

As with the need to recertify UFF, faculty perceive many other challenges of university life have to do with the state's political environment, says Jack Fiorito, UFF's chapter chair at FSU. He cites as an example his experience serving on the search committee that chose a former business partner of the chair of the FSU Board of Trustees as the president of FSU.  Another example that faculty point to is the disparity between administrative salaries, which are higher than at comparable institutions, and faculty salaries, which are lower than those at the same institutions.

In the weeks before the election, UFF members turned out in droves to hear AFT Vice President William Scheuerman discuss how his union, the United University Professions at the State University of New York, has responded to political incursions by the SUNY activist board of trustees.  Also helping in the organizing effort was Roy Vestrich, president of the United Professions of Vermont.  The UFF chapter had an organizing committee of 150, notes AFT National Representative Norm Holsinger. In addition, 19 distinguished faculty chair holders signed a letter to colleagues noting the importance of the faculty senate's role in governance, but the necessity of the union to protect the faculty's voice and clout.

In the end, the voice of the faculty came through loud and clear in the mandate of a 22:1 margin of victory, says Tom Auxter, president of the statewide UFF.  [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[October 15, 2003]