UNF raises await word on budget, Jacksonville News

By Adam Aasen
December 5, 2008
For months, the union for the University of North Florida's faculty has been working on a new contract with the administration, but its biggest issue - salary increases - is being put on hold amid state budget uncertainties.

Faculty members have been working under the previous three-year contract, which expired in the summer. Under that contract and since 2002, pay has increased, on average, more than at any school in the state.

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FSU students start process to establish a union for better work conditions, Tallahassee Democrat

By Angeline J. Taylor
September 17, 2008

There are about 3,200 students at Florida State University who work as graduate assistants. They teach or do research. Recently, they’ve joined forces in an attempt to establish a union.

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University of South Florida to tap cash reserves to pay for raises, St. Petersburg Times

By Donna Winchester
August 23, 2008

University of South Florida administrators will begin dipping into the school's cash reserves to provide raises and cost-of-living increases for faculty and staff.

USF provost Ralph Wilcox announced the decision Friday at a faculty assembly, saying the move is the best approach to managing the "unprecedented magnitude of budget cuts" handed down to the state university system from Tallahassee.

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Were women and minorities targeted in UF layoffs? TV20 WCJB

August 1, 2008

Women and minorities were disproportionately targeted for layoffs by the University of Florida, according to an email message sent by the school's Faculty Union President and now obtained by WCJB.

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UF faculty and staff to get small raises, Independent Florida Alligator

By Katie Sanders
July 25, 2008

UF President Bernie Machen announced a plan Friday to give faculty and staff small pay raises for the first time in two years.

Faculty will receive 3 percent merit-based raises based on criteria set by each college’s dean. All staff will receive an across-the-board 2 percent raise.

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UF employees to get raises, Gainesville Sun

By Nathan Crabbe
July 25, 2008

The University of Florida will use tuition money to boost employee pay at a time of budget cuts and layoffs, UF President Bernie Machen announced Friday.

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U.F.s Faculty Union President Responds to Looming Budget Cuts, WCJB TV20

June 27, 2008


The cuts included hundreds of staff and faculty positions.

This week, President Bernie Machen told WCJB that no alternative proposals met the administration requirements of a six percent cutback in the budget of each department.

To see the rest of this interview, click here.

For related story, see Exclusive Interview with U.F. President

UF made cuts with $131M left over from 2007 funding, Gainesville Sun

By Nathan Crabbe
May 28, 2008

Leaders of the University of Florida's faculty and graduate assistant unions are raising questions about whether university officials could have tapped unspent money to prevent layoffs.

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Report: UF retains $131 million in untapped reserves, Independent Florida Alligator

By Katie Sanders, Alligator Staff Writer
May 29, 2008

A recent report reveals that UF had almost $131 million in unrestricted funds at the end of the 2007 fiscal year — none of which will be used to offset a $47 million budget crunch this July.

The United Faculty of Florida, the state’s higher–education faculty union, commissioned the report, which was first publicized in a Wednesday article in The Gainesville Sun. It has incited leaders of UF’s faculty and graduate student unions to question whether digging into the “rainy–day fund” could prevent roughly 130 UF faculty and staff layoffs.

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USF Union Seeks Budget Cut Delay, Tampa Tribune

By Adam Emerson
May 20, 2008

TAMPA - As the University of South Florida prepares to announce its budget-cutting plan this week, its faculty union is saying, not so fast.

Over the weekend, union leaders sent an e-mail calling on the university administration to suspend any plans to reorganize USF's various academic departments so the faculty can discuss pending cuts further.

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