Some teachers get raises

While students relished in their summer freedom, UCF faculty negotiated salary increases.

These increases came on July 30, but only to a portion of eligible faculty and staff.

A one-time payment of $1,500 was awarded to those not associated with a union. The pool of applicants also will receive a 1 percent merit-based pay increase starting Aug. 27.

Faculty and staff belonging to the UCF chapter of United Faculty of Florida union, however, are unsure if and when they can expect the same financial compensation.

The UFF, as described by the UFF-UCF website, is a professional association and collective bargaining agent for faculty members of colleges and universities in Florida.

About 1,400 faculty members are involved in the UFF bargaining unit.

According to Jim Gilkeson, chief contract negotiator for the UFF-UCF and associate professor of finance at UCF, essentially all faculty and some staff are involved with this union.

The Board of Trustees, members that oversee the policies of the university, and the UFF are responsible for negotiating the union members' bonuses and raises.

The issue being fought by both sides deals with keeping faculty that is considered valuable at UCF.

Diane Chase, who served as Interim Provost, briefly wrote in the July 27 Provost's Update about the importance of keeping and hiring more tenured and tenure-track faculty members.

Attached to the compensation proposal was the Administrative Discretionary Increases.

This would award "out-of-cycle" raises, using existing departmental or college funds, to ultimately keep professors and associate professors away from the lure of competing colleges and universities.

"It's difficult to imagine how any organization could prosper without being able to retain its best people. In fact, UCF already has lost key faculty members because we cannot make counter-offers," said Grant Heston, the assistant vice president of UCF News and Information.

ADI is a common-sense practice that is in place at public universities throughout Florida.

Gilkeson, as well as the UFF-UCF, believe it is unlawful for the the Board of Trustees to tie faculty and staff raises with ADIs.

"UCF is simply asking the union to do what it has done every year before this: approve ADI for the good of all faculty members and the university, said Heston. "In order for UCF to award the compensation package to faculty members, the UFF must approve ADI."

According to a UFF-UCF letter on their website directed at union members, this is not the case.

"[The Board of Trustees] hopes that you will see UFF as obstructing [a faculty member's] salary increase, rather than as obstructing their ability to ignore the bargaining process and impose whatever harmful contract they want," the letter stated.

Negotiations came to a halt as no agreement was reached.

"It is completely up to the Board of Trustees whether the faculty get this bonus and small raise package that every other employee at UCF is being given," Gilkeson said.

Money for this year's faculty and staff raises and bonuses was set aside from last year of the university's budget.

A 1 percent raise was also implemented for the 2008-2009 year, but there was no raise during the 2007-2008 year.

"The university will have over 56,000 students this fall — so with the huge amount of additional tuition from 3,000 more students, the 15 percent tuition increase, fee increases and increased grant funding, there is more than enough money for the small raise provided and for a larger raise this year," said Gilkeson. "UCF faculty continue to face rising class sizes, increased duties, reduced funding for professional development.  A modest raise is deserved."

Courtney Sneed, a junior science education major, also believes that the faculty and staff deserve a raise regardless of economic hardships.

"Teaching is one of those professions that requires a lot of work and receives little recognition," Sneed said.

"There is something to be said for having a group of people who understand the difficulties of the job and are willing to work to make changes for the greater good."

Laura Holling, a junior interdisciplinary studies major and president of Kappa Delta Pi, which is an international honor society in education, disagrees.

"Since programs are being cut and teachers are getting laid off, it would not make sense to give pay increases to those teachers who remain,"  Holling said.

However, Holling believes that neither she nor education majors will be deterred by job uncertainty and decreased budgets in their fields.

"It might be tough to find a teaching job right out of college but I think that if you put in the hard work during college, you will be eligible for any teaching position," she said.