Supporters will gather on Green following Delaney’s address on state of the university

The Green at the University of North Florida has hosted sunbathers, Frisbee throwers and political activists. Soon, it will host frustrated faculty members.

The issue of salary raises for UNF faculty has remained in limbo for the past three months. Now, faculty members are taking action, by holding a pay-raise rally Aug. 26 at 11 a.m. on the Green.

According to professor Dr. Chip Klostermeyer, who helped plan the rally, more than 400 faculty members will be affected by the resolution to the dispute. He said the purpose of the event is for faculty members to be heard, and that it is being held on the day of convocation in hopes of receiving some attention.

“Faculty salaries have been significantly lower than what they should be,” said University President John Delaney.

The proposed recommendations would be the highest faculty pay increase at any university in the state of Florida, he said.

The original faculty pay raise agreement was supposed to give faculty a total pool of a 12.3 percent pay increase and a $1,000 bonus in the 2003 to 2006 years, according to Delaney. A 2 percent increase and the $1,000 bonus have been distributed.

“This is just to express our frustration with the process,” Klostermeyer said. “We’re afraid they’re not going to come to an agreement anytime soon, and we hope to just have a conclusion in the near future.”

The agreement is one that must be reached by two parties — the United Faculty of Florida and the administration. Both sides are in negotiations regarding the terms of a contract that, among other things, will determine the pay increase of faculty members. Once the UFF and the administration reach an agreement, it has to be approved by the Board of Trustees and receive a majority vote by faculty members.

If it probably weren’t against labor law regulations, Delaney said, he would love to join the UNF faculty.

Although the negotiations have been at an impasse since May, both sides have been negotiating for two years.

“We just haven’t been able to agree,” Delaney said.

According to Klostermeyer, the rally would not be the faculty’s first attempt to encourage an agreement between the union and the administration. A petition encouraging a conclusion between the two sides was signed this summer by 83 faculty members. It was then given to the university president, vice president and the union, though no formal response was received.

Though he agreed that both sides are actively working toward a conclusion, he said the process has taken too long.

“Some of us who don’t have as much of a voice are hoping that one side will be willing to compromise,” Klostermeyer said.

According to Cheryl Frohlich, chapter president of the UFF, the proposal for raising faculty salaries is not the issue. One of the main reasons for the delay in agreeing on the contract was errors in the spreadsheet-models used to decide how salary increases would be determined.

A model was then created by the UFF and presented to the UNF administration.

“The UFF has done all they can to do to protect the rights of the faculty,” Frohlich said. “We hope to reach an agreement soon.”

Judith Solano, president of the UNF Faculty Association, said a special master will be brought to make a non-binding conclusion if necessary, though one will not be available until December. Until then, both parties will continue to negotiate.

“Hopefully an agreement will be met soon so we don’t have to wait till then,” Solano said.

E-mail Natasha Khairullah at spinnakernews@yahoo.com.