A new Orlando Sentinel article today covers our recent UCF faculty raises finalized by the UFF-UCF Bargaining Team on March 21.

On that date, the 26th bargaining session of the current contract negotiations, our faculty raises were agreed to and signed into place, even before the rest of our contract has been finalized. This is thanks to a process rarely – if ever – used before in UCF negotiations: an early memorandum of understanding, or MOU.

Led by UFF-UCF Chief Negotiator Dr. Jennifer Sandoval, and reviewed by UFF-UCF labor attorney Richard Siwica, our Bargaining Team secured the MOU before the rest of the contract is to be finalized in future sessions. This ends months of waiting by faculty members to know their current salaries. Included in the MOU are both the raises and one-time bonuses of $2,250 in May, in lieu of back pay for the raises.

“In this year of constant change and uncertainty, we especially appreciate the BOT representatives for their continued engagement in good faith bargaining,” said Sandoval. “Reaching the agreement process and regarding salary is a positive step forward in our ongoing work on the new contract. We also thank the UCF administration, specifically Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth A. Dooley, for making faculty compensation a priority.”

The article notes the agreement will cost UCF up to $14.25 million in total, and suggests the Board of Trustees were not initially pleased with the arrangement. UCF’s Associate General Counsel and Associate Provost, Sherry Andrews, defended the agreement, citing the tone of recent negotiations.

Some trustees questioned whether they should approve the raises before the university and faculty union had come to an agreement on other areas of the contract. But Andrews said the union had been cooperative, and “there is something to be said for rewarding good behavior.”

.

“I do think we have achieved most not all but the vast majority of our strategic objectives in this negotiation,” Andrews said. “I do not think withholding this raise would get us anything of significance that we haven’t already gotten.”

#  #  #