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Ballots, Bargaining, and B.S., Oh My!

A lot is going on both locally for FUSA and at the state and national level regarding education and higher ed in particular. Your union is committed to helping safeguard and improve working conditions and pay for faculty. And there are times when we need to call on all members to lend a hand in these battles because our strength is in our numbers. Looking out for each other is the true meaning of solidarity.

Ballots

By now you should have received a FUSA Fire notification in your HCC email from FUSA President, Sherry Sippel, outlining the frustrating background behind the union recertification vote we are required to hold.

You should have also received your ballot by now at your home address. If you haven’t yet received your ballot, contact us as soon as possible. You may also email FUSA_President at hccfl.edu or jbullian at hccfl.edu.

It is imperative we get not only all FUSA members but every single HCC faculty member to vote YES to keep the union. This will send a strong message to Tallahassee that these unwarranted bureaucratic hurdles recently mandated for teacher unions, among others, are both a waste of time and taxpayer money.

Bargaining

Our second of four scheduled bargaining sessions occurred Feb 21. Both Admin and FUSA presented article proposals. Here is a Bargaining Summary of the proposals presented thus far. The next bargaining session is slated for April 4 at 9am – 1pm in YLRC 305 (Ybor Campus). All faculty are encouraged to attend and stay involved! We had a good faculty turn out last time. Let’s try and improve on it and get even more faculty to show up!

And now for the B.S.

Not only are we in the midst of the 2025 Florida Legislative session, we also are witnessing unprecedented attacks on government and education that have come with the new presidential administration. The “move fast and break things” approach has been callous, chaotic and incompetent.

If you are feeling powerless and looking for a way to stand up and fight for education and the institutions that have made this country great, your union is here to help. In fact there are large national alliances that are pushing back on these attacks.

FUSA is tracking the issues and actions with the help of our state and national affiliates. Our Issues & Actions section will provide resources to help you Get Involved, Get Informed, and Take Action, among other resources.

A great example of union power and solidarity happened on Feb. 25, 2025 in D.C. at a rally held by Labor for Higher Education, a group consisting of higher ed labor unions banding together to oppose the targeted attack on workers and funding at colleges and universities. Concurrently, an online meeting was held during which participants called their legislators and other officials and urged them to oppose these unprecedented attacks on academic workers across the country. If you missed the rally you can watch the video below (note the audio clears up at about 0:1:40 or so).

The event featured:

CWA Vice President, Public, Healthcare & Education Workers, Margaret Cook
AAUP President Todd Wolfson
UAW 2750 President Emilya Ventriglia
AFT President Randi Weingarten
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler
AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride
UAW Int’l Executive Board – Region 6 Director Mike Miller
Rutgers AAUP/AFT member Annika Barber
UE General President Carl Rosen
NEA Council for Higher Education Alec Thomson
HELU Chair Levin Kim/UAW

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Bargaining update

FUSA met with Administration on Nov. 22 2024 for the first bargaining session for the 2025-2028 contract. This was just the first of four sessions which will continue in the spring term. Both FUSA and Administration presented initial proposals (noted below).

On Jan. 24, FUSA and Administration met for a joint workshop to work through mutual interest-based issues for bargaining, such as lab points, the grievance procedure, and textbooks. In addition, a workshop was held Nov. 13 to work on Rank issues. These issues, among others, will be bargained at future sessions.

Bargaining session schedule

Mark your calendars for the following bargaining sessions to take place at the Ybor campus room YLRC 305. Faculty attendance is greatly encouraged!

  • Bargaining Session # 2 – 12pm Feb. 21
  • Bargaining Session # 3 – 9am Apr. 4
  • Bargaining Session # 4 – 9am May 9

What’s been presented?

The following contract proposals were presented at the first bargaining session:

FUSA proposals

  • 6.16.D Tenure Clock
  • 9.1.B.1-3 Performance Evaluations
  • 9.1.B.5 Student Feedback
  • 9.2. Faculty Development
  • 14.1 – 14.4 Economics
  • Prior Experience Appendix (new)

Admin proposals

  • 2.14 Contract Classifications — Lecturer Contract (new)
    • 2.20 Lecturer (new)
  • 6.12 Office Security
  • 8.11 Lounge Facilities

Separately, FUSA and Admin agreed on an MOU covering reimbursement of new state medical plan costs in December 2024 only to cover the double payments while still on the HCC plan. These reimbursements have already occurred.

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January FUSA meeting, member benefits, and more

The next FUSA Council meeting will occur Fri. Jan 24, 2025 at 9am in YLRC 305. All Faculty are welcome to attend.

Member benefits

Are you taking advantage of all of your union benefits? FUSA members are part of a larger labor movement for educators specifically and workers in general. In addition to the provisions and protections in our contract, or collective bargaining agreement (CBA), there are many other benefits members can choose to tap into. Learn more about the benefits of membership.

Legislative session

The 2025 Legislative session will begin in March. Your elected UFF Senators and the FUSA Council will keep abreast of the potential impacts to higher ed. Take a look at how you can get involved in and contact us:

  • Join the FUSA Government Relations committee
  • Become a member of the Higher Ed Regional Outreach (HERO) team for West Central Florida.
  • Here are the FEA Legislative Priorities for the upcoming session (March 4 – May 2).
  • Not interested in the legislative session or government relations? Ask us about other ways to get involved.
i'm sticking with my union
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Updates on Disaster Relief and Bargaining

As our area has been impacted by another hurricane, please see the updated list below for potential disaster relief:

 If you have any questions feel free contact us. To learn more about the benefits of being a FUSA member, visit our Member Benefits page.

Bargaining update

Due to the recent storm closure for Hurricane Milton, FUSA and the Administration have rescheduled bargaining for Nov. 22 at the Ybor campus (YLRC 305) from 12noon – 2pm. Stay tuned for the official notice from the college and an update from the FUSA President.

Bargaining on the 2025-2028 contract will continue throughout Fall and extend into Spring term. Further dates will be shared as they are scheduled. Faculty attendance at bargaining sessions is greatly encouraged!

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FUSA updates — Bargaining, Voting, & Disaster relief

Bargaining

Hard to believe, but it is bargaining season again. FUSA’s team will meet with the Admin team on Oct. 11, 9am – 12pm at the Ybor campus (YLRC 305) to negotiate the 2025-2028 contract. Bargaining will continue throughout Fall and will extend into Spring term. Further dates will be shared as they are scheduled. Faculty attendance at bargaining sessions is greatly encouraged!

Voting

As you are likely well aware the 2024 General Election is fast approaching. Are you election ready? Here are some key dates and voting resources.

  • The last day to register to vote is October 7. Note: if you are already registered you should verify your registration is still active — a recent Florida law requires voters update their registration if they haven’t voted in the last two elections.
  • Early voting begins October 26 – November 2
  • General Election day is November 5
  • Here are some voting information resources
'Are you Election Ready' graphic image

Disaster relief

FUSA members affected by the storm may qualify for the NEA Member Benefits Disaster Relief Program (DRP) in response to Hurricane Helene, a FEMA-declared major disaster. A specially designed DRP Web page at https://www.neamb.com/pages/member-assistance-program-fema-declared-disasters provides details about the resources and accommodations available to affected members. If you have any questions feel free contact us.

To learn more about the benefits of being a FUSA member, visit our Member Benefits page.

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FUSA’s Graduation Breakfast

Come join us for the annual FUSA breakfast at graduation May 3rd from 7:30-9:30 at the Florida State Fairgrounds. As usual we will also honor recent faculty retirees. It is a great chance to mingle with your fellow faculty before celebrating our students’ accomplishments.

In other news, NEA has released the Educator Pay Data 2024 report. It includes state rankings and there is a higher education section. Here are a few points from 5 Things To Know About Faculty Pay Today:

  • faculty who teach at colleges or university with faculty unions are paid more money than non-union faculty, even in the same states.
  • at 2-year colleges, faculty who collectively bargain for their pay earned $19,000 more than their colleagues who worked in the same states but without union contracts in 2023,
  • they earned $25,000 more than 2-year faculty in states without collective bargaining.

These data points are a clear indication of the difference union membership brings. Thanks for supporting your union!

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Say No to “Viewpoint Discrimination” Survey

We all get so much email. A ton. Like waves crashing on the shore, the email just keeps rolling in. But isn’t it such a great feeling when you know you can delete an email and forget it ever existed?

Well, rest assured you can delete the email titled “Intellectual Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Survey” sent by HCC (as mandated by the state), and consign it to the digital dustbin forever. And here’s why:

United Faculty of Florida (UFF) strongly advises against participating in this survey. For several critical reasons, it is seen as a violation of your rights while also being a scientifically dubious instrument. UFF recently sent out guidance to members on this survey to your personal email, but to summarize, the survey is problematic in the following respects:

  1. Privacy and Autonomy
  2. Survey Integrity and Relevance
  3. Potential for Discrimination
  4. Implications of Bias
  5. Surveillance Concerns
  6. Freedom of Speech
  7. Political Coercion

For more information, here is a PDF detailing UFF’s position and guidance regarding the “Viewpoint Discrimination” Survey. If you have any questions feel free to contact us or reach out to your campus FUSA council reps.

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Urgent: all members needed to sign “The Form”

We are calling on all members to once again rally in defense of your union, FUSA, against the arbitrary and onerous dictates of the Governor and his super-majority legislature in Tallahassee.

Please check your HCC email for a message from FUSA president Sherry Sippel, subject line: “FUSA FLASH: Action Needed from all HCC-FUSA Members!” Please follow the submission instructions and submit this form as soon as you can!

This year’s law (SP 1746) is a follow-up to last year’s SB 256 which outlawed payroll dues deduction for public employee unions (primarily educators while exempting first-responders). You responded by signing up for eDues and we surpassed the membership threshold. Then at Spring Inservice you signed the mandated “showing of interest card” as if paying dues didn’t already signify your interest in being in a union.

Now, we have “The Form.”

In order to comply with the new law we have to sign another form meant to ensure members know Florida is a “right to work” state and that union membership isn’t required. You already know this and you choose to be a member of FUSA. This form isn’t going to stop FUSA from having the strongest higher ed union membership in the state.

Thanks for all you do!

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Legislative update: still time to stop the woke stoppin’

The Legislative session is drawing to a close on March 8, 2024. Recall in the last post that legislators trotted out new iterations of the Stop WOKE act and the union-busting bill SB 256. But as we all know, building on a bad foundation is ill-advised. Both the Stop WOKE Act and SB 256 have been challenged in court. Yet while we await rulings in both cases, the legislature is doubling down. Not only does this amount to punitive attacks on unions and higher education in Florida, it adds up to a colossal waste of taxpayer money.

Yes, the state uses taxpayer dollars to defend these bad bills in court to the tune of millions of dollars. This year alone, $19 million dollars has been earmarked to fight expected court challenges to these bad bills, $5 million of which goes to the Dept. of Education alone. Our elected officials are floating dubious bills along party lines, knowing they will be challenged, and in the process ignoring real issues that are affecting Floridians: insurance, housing, health care, to name just a few.

Take action!

Make your voice heard! HB 1291, the House version of the Stop Woke 2.0 bill is set for a vote on Thursday, 2/29. According to the bill, teacher preparation programs: “May not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum or instruction that teaches identity politics, violates s. 1000.05, or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”

other actions

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More union bustin’ & WOKE stoppin’

As if taking a cue from Hollywood’s cash-grabbing tendency to crank out a sequel, the Florida Legislature is back with not one, but two sequels: a follow up to HB 7, the Stop WOKE Act of 2022 and another try at union busting because as bad as last year’s SB 256 was, they learned it is really hard to silence the collective voice of over 150,000 teachers statewide. So, they’re gonna try again.

And we’re going to disappoint them. Again.

Recall that the Stop Woke Act (HB 7) is effectively blocked due to legal challenges and the appeals process. And while SB 256 was a full-scale attack on teacher unions, FEA (and thus UFF & FUSA) turned it into an organizing opportunity and also deployed eDues — an independent dues deduction system.

It appears the Florida Legislature hasn’t learned their lesson. They’d rather attack teachers and our constitutionally protected right to organize instead of focusing on the many real problems facing Floridians. Let’s throw rotten tomatoes at these bad sequels!

Take action

SB 1372 – Stop WOKE Act, part II – The WOKE Hunter

SB 1476 – Bride of Union Bustin’

Suggestions for making your statements:

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Get involved, informed, and take action with FUSA’s Issues & Actions resources.