Advocate Online

On the Road
with Rachel Hendrickson

Organizing activities are at a fever pitch in Florida. When we last discussed the situation, the state was busily breaking up the state university system, and our NEA-AFT affiliate, the United Faculty of Florida (UFF), was faced with creating 11 bargaining locals from one statewide unit.

Throw into the mix a union-supported constitutional amendment that aimed to create a statewide board of trustees, cook in the heat of Florida politics, and you have a recipe for educational and organizational chaos.

The amendment passed, but the folks at UFF still don’t know if they are bargaining with one employer, or with 11 separate employers. But for UFF, it really doesn’t matter. An active and outstanding organizing effort—a project of the NEA-AFT Partnership—on all 11 four-year campuses has prepared the faculty for bargaining elections either on an institution by institution basis or for a statewide election, depending on how the state’s labor board rules.

Thanks to leaders like Jack Fiorito at Florida State University and Arlen Chase at the University of Central Florida, and a blitz by NEA-AFT and state affiliate staff, UFF leaders collected cards designating UFF as bargaining agent from more than 66 percent of the faculty—with several campuses over 70 percent and one campus turning in an outstanding 89.7 percent.

The faculty are enthusiastic and collective bargaining training is on-going, so the faculty will be ready for campus or statewide bargaining.

Negotiations committees are gearing up on the campuses, ready to represent the faculty who have clearly put their trust in the UFF. Faculty in Florida are energized and ready to confront the challenges to the legitimacy of the faculty voice.

—Rachel Hendrickson coordinates NEA higher Ed activities.