What’s Next?

Faculty who were present at the bargaining session agreed to keep the 4% offer on the table in hopes that the BOT and President Walker would re-examine this offer and accept our proposal since it is the same was what the administration received in July. 

Faculty have been working very hard this year in preparation for the SACS visit.  They are now having to pay in 3% for their retirement, so in essence, they would be losing money if they agreed to the BOT’s 2% proposal.  Most people in the caucus felt that 4% was the least we should accept this year.  If, at our next session on September 28, the BOT does not accept our 4% offer, we are prepared to declare impasse.  This basically means that bargaining has stopped because we have stopped negotiating. 

Our next step will be to take our case directly to the BOT (we will by-pass the Special Master) at their October meeting.  At this time, faculty will make our case to the Board of Trustees.  They will have the choice of either accepting our proposal or imposing their last offer of 2% on the bargaining unit. 

Preparations and Consequences

If we end up going to the Board, the faculty must have a well thought out and carefully planned presentation.  In order to help us with this, we have hired a Sarasota accounting firm to review the college budget that we were given as a part of the bargaining process.  We felt that faculty needed expert help in figuring out how much money the college actually has and where it is being spent. 

This firm is well known for doing these kinds of audits.  Their preliminary report is due on September 9^th.  This will be presented to the bargaining team. 

We would like to have a union meeting next Thursday( August 8 ) to discuss this and other issues.  The following week we will have another meeting where the accouting firm will present its findings to the membership and answer any questions we may have.