As shared on July 6th, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the administration concerning the impact of COVID-19 on Fall faculty work. Both parties will move forward with scheduling ratification votes. Prior to the ratification, all in-unit faculty are invited to attend our virtual ratification meetings, on Wednesday, August 5th from 11am-1pm and Wednesday, August 12th from 1pm-3pm via Zoom. Details have been sent to faculty’s FIU emails, but contact us ASAP if you did not receive them. Note that incoming faculty are not currently on our contact lists!
At these meeting, representatives from the UFF-FIU Bargaining Team will be available to answer any questions about the bargaining process and the MOU. Furthermore, under the remote-work order, UFF-FIU will proceed with an online ratification vote to be held shortly after 9-month faculty return to contract.
MOU HIGHLIGHTS
No faculty will be compelled to return from remote work:
2) “No faculty with self-identified health concerns, or who have responsibilities to care for someone who has a health vulnerability, will be required to work in a non-remote setting in the Fall 2020 or Spring 2021 semesters.”
3) “All faculty who otherwise would be assigned such work if not for the health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 global pandemic will receive alternative increases in teaching, research, and/or service effort to correspond with any reduced effort in such areas.”
This means that faculty who express health concerns and will not be returning from remote work will not receive any reduction in their FTE assignment.
No negative impact on evaluations:
11) “Student course evaluations shall not negatively impact annual evaluations. However, they may be used to positive effect.”
20) “Any lack of research productivity as impacted by this situation for faculty with research assignments during AY20-21 shall not negatively impact annual evaluations.”
25) Extended promotion and tenure protections
Faculty own all course content:
7) “Faculty shall maintain ownership of all course content, even if it is presented in an online format.”
These emergency conditions do not set precedents for future remote/online work:
13) “The decision to move to modified course modalities and course sizes has arisen only from the unique circumstances arising from the COVID-19 global pandemic and with guidelines developed by the FIU Repopulating Task Force and consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and evidence-based approaches. As during the Summer 2020 term, the move to these new modalities does not set precedents for or inherently consent to these modalities for future instructional work.”