Welcome to

The Faculty United Service Association is the professional association representing the faculty of Hillsborough Community College. FUSA is a chapter of the United Faculty of Florida - the higher education local of the Florida Education Association - which represents faculty at eight community colleges, all eleven state universities, three independent colleges, and graduate assistants at three state universities.

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Important News and Dates

Please be sure to check your faculty e-mail for important updates regarding legislative and bargaining issues.

Vicki Schnurr Elected President

  Bob Hervey elected Vice President: Results of the special election have been counted. Vicki Schnurr has been elected President and Bob Hervey has been elected Vice President following the resignations of Michael Moats and Peter Germroth, respectively. Their terms started immediately.

Special Election Scheduled

  Call for Nominations Goes Out to Members Having retired from HCC, Michael Moats has resigned his position as President of FUSA initiating the need for a special election for president. FUSA will be seeking nominations over the coming weeks with an election deadline set for December 6, 2007. Members should watch their e-mail closely.

Michael Moats Retires

  Michael Moats Leaves HCC To Take UFF Staff Position: Michael Moats has retired from HCC. He will be taking the position of Central Florida Service Unit Director with the United Faculty of Florida (UFF), statewide higher education local of the Florida Education Association (FEA) and parent of the Faculty United Service Association (FUSA).

In his new position, Michael will be responsible for organizing and assisting with bargaining, grievances, membership, training, and other duties for chapters of UFF at colleges and univerisities throughout central Florida. And, until a position is created and filled for south Florida, he will assist in providing coverage there also. In this capacity, we will continue to see him here as he meets to assist us with our own concerns.

Board of Trustees Approves Contract

  HCC Board of Trustees unanimously approves contract: The HCC Board of Trustees unanimously approved the FUSA-HCC Collective bargaining Agreement at their regularly scheduled meeting, Tuesday, October 16, 2007. Members of the bargaining unit ratified the contract September 14, sending it to the board last month. While the contract had originally been placed on the agenda for the September meeting, the lateness of the addition - the day before the meeting - concerned some members of the board who asked for additional time for review.

The contract is retroactive to August 20, 2007 with retroactive salary increases coming in the next few weeks.

Contract Ratified

  Faculty Overwhelmingly Vote for Contract: Ballots in the contract ratification vote were counted Friday, September 14, by the FUSA Council at a scheduled council meeting in DTEC-431. The official vote results are: YES = 89, NO = 7, invalid = 59. The invalid votes resulted mostly from faculty members not signing the outer envelope which prevented the Council from verifying the ballot was cast by a member of the bargaining unit. After tabulating the verifiable ballots, the Council checked the invalid votes simply to determine whether they would have influenced the final outcome of the ballot. The results were 55 yes votes and 4 no votes which is very similar to the official vote totals.

The complete contract with all changes is available along with a detailed summary of the tentative agreements on the Downloads page.

Faculty Enjoy FUSA Faculty-Family Picnic

  Rain Elsewhere Dampens But Doesn't End Picnic: In a continuing effort to bring faculty together FUSA sponsored a barbecue picnic in the park for faculty members and their families. The festivities were held Saturday, September 1, in a beautiful area of Lowry Park. The barbecue was catered by George's Hotdogs who also provides some limited food services at Brandon Campus.

Unfortunately, rain all around the county - except at Lowry Park - apparently gave many the impression that the picnic would be rained-out and kept them home as less than half those who RSVP'd actually came. However, those who did come had a good time and enjoyed very good food and friendship.

Since so maany stayed home, the costs to FUSA were greatly reduced, allowing us to plan another picnic in the Spring Term. Please look for announcements that should come before the end of the term about a Spring picnic.

Bargaining Ends

  Contract Agreement Reached - Voting to Follow: Bargaining ended August 24, with a compromise on salary that provides a 3% increase in salaries. There is a 1.5% increase in the minimum salaries and a 3% increase in maximum salaries in each grade. Reopeners on Article 14 - Economics will occur in the second and third years with a minimum 3% guaranteed increase next year. Reopeners next year (2008-2009) also include 6.20 - Enhancement of Professional Skills and 8.11 - Parking. The complete contract with all changes is available along with a detailed summary of the tentative agreements on the Downloads page.

Next Bargaining Session To Focus on Salaries

  Possibly Last Session: Bargaining appears to be coming to an end as talks have closed the gap. The FUSA Council met Monday afternoon at the close of a day of In-service to discuss the College's rejection of our last offer. However, discussions indicate we are close enough to believe an end is near. The next session has just been scheduled for Friday, August 24, 2007, starting at 10:00am in TEC-409. No ending time was announced so the session will go until the parties agree to go home. Detailed summary of the tentative agreements can be found on the Downloads page.

As previously announced, only pay issues remain to be settled.

FUSA Faculty and Family Picnic Announced

  Welcome Back Get-together: Buried in all that e-mail at the beginning of the new year was an announcement from FUSA's Acting-President, Peter Germroth. All faculty members and their families are invited to a picnic in Lowry Park, Shelter 115, Saturday, September 1, beginning at 10 a.m. The goal is to be able to talk and visit with each other in a relaxed atmosphere away from campus.

FUSA was encouraged to plan such an event in part due to comments often overheard about how difficult it is keep up with friends across our various campuses and to provide a better opportunity for our new faculty members to meet everyone. As we have encountered record numbers retiring over the past few years, the number of new faces sometimes seems to overwhelm us. FUSA's Council hopes the picnic will provide opportunies to make new friends and become reacquainted with past friends. FUSA also hopes that those who have not yet joined FUSA will understand the opportunities of membership and join.

Another Year Begins

  Many New Faculty Members Welcomed: Monday, August 20, saw another new year begin with nearly 30 new full-time faculty members. Eleven had already joined FUSA during their new faculty orientation session the week before and two more joined Monday during the FUSA Luncheon.

As in past years, FUSA provided lunch for faculty members in order to bring everyone together for the Annual General Membership Meeting. During the meeting FUSA's Chief Negotiator, Michael Moats, gave an update on bargaining and some insight into what lies ahead.