Dear Colleagues,

I hope that the first week of the semester went smoothly for everyone, even with the issues still bedeviling some of the university’s computing services.  Please find some updates on what will be happening with the Faculty Federation this semester.

Events

As we have been doing for the past few years, the Federation will be hosting the annual Spring Fling, as well as Coffee & Donuts/Cookies events for members. These are a great opportunity to meet with those people in the leadership of the Federation who are involved with promoting and protecting your interests. It is also a chance to catch-up with colleagues from outside of your department as well as meet new people in a social space.  Invitations will be sent shortly.

This semester’s events are:

Coffee & Donuts                                       Thursday, February 13        9:30 -10:30    Federation Conference Room, Violette 222

Coffee & Donuts                                        Monday, March 24                9:30 – 10:30   Federation Conference Room, Violette 222

Coffee & Cookies                                     Thursday, April 24               2:30 – 4:30     Federation Conference Room, Violette 222

Spring Fling                                                 Monday, March 31                2:00 – 4:00     Library Grand Reading Room

Retirement

A reminder that the campus has announced a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP). HR will be offering several information sessions for those interested in this program, the first of these is a ZOOM  presentation this afternoon at 2:30. Please check your email for the ZOOM link and the dates of the other three sessions.

In other retirement matters, on January 5, 2025,  President Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act which repeals two older laws, the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, both of which meant that many public service employees did not receive Social Security payments (based on work that they had done in the private sector) upon retirement that they would otherwise have been eligible for.  This change came about because of advocacy and hard work by many public sector unions (including AFT) and their members.

Contract Negotiations

The Federation negotiating team has nearly completed reviewing the various proposals that were submitted last semester by members, and is in the process of developing the final package of proposals that the Federation will bring to the negotiating table.  There will be a special meeting of the faculty unit to present the final set of proposals to the membership before we begin bargaining.  This meeting will be held in CCB 248 on Friday, February 28 starting at 2 pm.  An invitation will be sent shortlyand a reminder will be sent closer to the date.

We have final confirmation on the salary increase parameters for members of the Faculty Federation and ESU. These will be a 3.5% increase effective January 2025, with a 4.5% increase in 2026 (done as 2.25% in July 2025 and January 2026) and another 4.5% increase in 2027 (done as 2.25% in July 2026 and January 2027). This is a total of a, roughly, 12.5 % increase to people’s base salary number, but just less than a 9% increase in take-home pay given the way the increases are being implemented across each year of the contract.   Disbursement of the increases requires a signed agreement between the Federation and the Administration. Hopefully the Administration will agree that the members of the Faculty Federation and ESU deserve to get their salary increase as soon as is practical and will sign an MOA to this effect, leaving the rest of bargaining to be being about debating the merits of the proposals coming from both sides.

Union Elections

With the Trump Administration now in place, AFT National has advised us that officer elections and the elections for delegates to state and national conventions should be done in compliance with Federal regulations from the U.S. Labor Relations Board and with our local by-laws.  While the Faculty Federation has mostly been in compliance with these rules,  we will have to make some changes to ensure that we are in full compliance.   The first of these is the requirement that members be notified of the election (time, day and place) by U.S. Mail.  To ensure that the Federation has an up-to-date address, please send Stacey an email stating your current mailing addressso that she can confirm that the Federation’s records are accurate.

The other change that will need to happen is how the election itself is conducted. Federal regulations require that the election be either in-person, by mail, or online. For the later the Department of Labor sets very strict standards which the use of Qualtrics does not meet.  The Federation is investigating doing the elections online using a system from an outside vendor that meets these standards.

In Solidarity!