Notes from the Chief Bargainer
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Thank you for your interest in GAU and preservation of our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)! The CBA is a binding contract between your labor representatives (GAU) and the employer (University) that establishes wages, terms, and conditions of GA employment. Every year, GAU has bargained for improvements in GA working conditions. In order to effectuate any changes to our wages, terms, and conditions of employment, GAs must ratify the agreements reached by GAU and the University. Normally, GAU is limited to Article 10 negotiations. This means that GAU can seek to modify wages and fee relief every year but not other issues unless the University mutually agrees to do so. 2020 was different because our negotiations were “full book,” meaning all items in the contract were negotiable.
As your Chief Bargainer, I want to share that GAU had lofty ambitions for the 2021—23 contract period, including pay raises and implementation of paid parental leave. The COVID-19 health emergency forced us to reconsider our priorities, especially after the University cited economic uncertainty with possible furloughs and declined to consider wage raises for GAs as well as any other employee groups. Wage raises and parental benefits will be reconsidered this year, 2021, if the proposed CBA is ratified. Otherwise, GA furloughs have been avoided. GAU also worked extensively to preserve GA rights and protections in a Memorandum of Understanding, independent but complementary to the CBA that will last as long as the current COVID-19 health emergency. That document is available here. Despite these obstacles, GAU has had a lot of success at the bargaining table this year. Primarily, GAU managed to maintain low monthly health care premiums for GAs while working to close a sizable deficit incurred over the last three years. GAU is unique in our ability to work closely with our health plan GatorGradCare to modify our benefits package during negotiations. Because of the complexities of healthcare negotiations, we’ve provided additional information about proposed benefit changes and what you can expect here. GAU has also worked to secure a novel mental health and wellness apparatus into our contract, in the hopes of preventing future tragedies and closing the gap between GAs in need and access to services. The following is a summary of the tentative agreements GAU has secured in negotiations with UF Administration for the 2021—23 CBA. This summary is intended to break down the new changes for the CBA (besides Article 12 healthcare changes) for your convenience. Some changes to the contract were necessary temporal adjustments, like fixing dates or years of implementation; this summary will focus more so on substantive changes to the CBA. If you have any questions about ratification, negotiations, or any of the article breakdowns below, please do not hesitate to contact GAU at organizing@ufgau.org or via virtual office hours. JAVIER MESA, Chief Bargainer |
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Tentative Agreements
Article 4: Appointments
§4.9 is a new addition. It permits continuing 9-month employees to receive summer appointments as TAs or RAs, depending on availability. The mutual goal was to reduce GA need to seek employment elsewhere during summer months and allow GAs to continue their own research or academic progress.
Article 12: Health Insurance
Our health insurance plan, GatorGradCare, was a priority for the Administration because over the last three years of our contract GatorGradCare has suffered a total deficit of $383,369. Since GAU also wants to keep GatorGradCare solvent to maintain our current level of protection, we agreed to some changes within our health care plan. Below is a complete list.
Most notable to our members, is the small premium increase. Members will now pay $12 a month (or $6 every pay period) instead of the previous $10 a month ($5 every pay period). GAU believes this small premium increase is a vital way to protect our GAs with chronic illnesses and those who experience life-threatening medical issues. By distributing premium increases across all members, we were able to avoid individual share-of-costs that could cost members up to the Maximum Out Of Pocket of $2,700. Other changes include an increase in the Calendar Year Deductible from $100 to $200 for Tier 1 services, an increase in the Urgent Care Copay from $30 to $35, and limiting Tier 3 coverage to emergency services only.
However, this new plan also comes with some added benefits. GAs now have expanded access to New Directions Behavioral Health virtual visits for a reduced copay of $20, access to speech therapy for their dependents up to five years of age, adding suicide repatriation coverage for international students, and access to reduced cost membership to Weight Watchers.
Since these changes will go into effect during a global pandemic, GAU has also secured a Memorandum of Understanding with the University that GatorGradCare will cover 100% of the cost for inpatient and observation hospital admissions for a COVID-19 positive diagnosis.
Most notable to our members, is the small premium increase. Members will now pay $12 a month (or $6 every pay period) instead of the previous $10 a month ($5 every pay period). GAU believes this small premium increase is a vital way to protect our GAs with chronic illnesses and those who experience life-threatening medical issues. By distributing premium increases across all members, we were able to avoid individual share-of-costs that could cost members up to the Maximum Out Of Pocket of $2,700. Other changes include an increase in the Calendar Year Deductible from $100 to $200 for Tier 1 services, an increase in the Urgent Care Copay from $30 to $35, and limiting Tier 3 coverage to emergency services only.
However, this new plan also comes with some added benefits. GAs now have expanded access to New Directions Behavioral Health virtual visits for a reduced copay of $20, access to speech therapy for their dependents up to five years of age, adding suicide repatriation coverage for international students, and access to reduced cost membership to Weight Watchers.
Since these changes will go into effect during a global pandemic, GAU has also secured a Memorandum of Understanding with the University that GatorGradCare will cover 100% of the cost for inpatient and observation hospital admissions for a COVID-19 positive diagnosis.
Article 20: Employee Rights
§20.4 is a new addition. Following two separate tragedies involving GAs the previous academic year, GAU sought to create a new mechanism to identify incidents that jeopardize the mental health and well-being of GAs and to memorialize that mechanism concretely in our CBA. §20.4 allows GAs to report incidents of disruptive conduct (for example, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, or threats) anonymously and trigger a University investigation. The University would agree to investigate such matters confidentially, to protect GAs who fear retaliation, as permitted by Florida’s public records laws (meaning that some investigations may be legally made public as a matter of Florida law; GAU nor the University cannot supersede Florida law in negotiations). Findings of the University’s investigation would be made to the complainant as well as GAU. We hope that this mechanism provides a safe means of reporting misconduct, helps identify patterns of misconduct, and promotes action against misconduct in prevention of future tragedies. §20.4 represents a unique mechanism to address these issues not found in similar GA CBAs.
Article 22: Grievance Procedure
§22.9 has been modified to clarify who shall properly adjudge Grievance Step 1 meetings. The Article 22 grievance procedure is an “informal” mechanism to resolve disciplinary issues or other potential CBA violations. As defined by subsections (e) and (f), when a grievance involves employees from the same College, that meeting would be overseen by the respective College Dean or their designee. For grievances involving employees across colleges, the Step 1 meeting shall be overseen by the Dean of the Graduate School or their designee.
Article 25: Amendment and Duration
This is a standard article defining the lifetime of the proposed CBA (three years, 2021 through end of 2023) and any future negotiations within that period. Designates a reopener negotiation of Article 8 (Leaves of Absence; GAU has publicly expressed we will focus on paid parental leave) in the 2021—22 academic year and Article 10 (Stipends) every year.
Appendix G: Dental Benefits
Appendix G covers our dental benefits. There are no substantive changes from the 2017—20 CBA. Instead, this appendix codifies previously existing 2017--20 limits on our dental benefits into the CBA.
Next Steps
Once GAU and the University reach a tentative agreement on the entire CBA, this agreement is subject to ratification by all graduate employees. If it receives a majority vote, it is officially ratified and becomes our collective bargaining agreement.
Who can vote?
ALL GRADUATE EMPLOYEES, regardless of GAU membership, are eligible to vote and encouraged to do so.
When is ratification?
The ratification will be held from 12:00AM (EST) on Thursday, February 11th, 2021 to 11:59PM (EST) on Friday, February 12th, 2021.
How do I vote?
Voting will be conducted virtually via Helios, which provides encrypted and verifiable online elections. Your ballot is anonymous. Details on how to vote will be sent to you GatorLink email account.
Voting Results
Should the 2021-23 tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between UF-GAU and the University of Florida be ratified?
Yes: 308
No: 14
Status: Collective bargaining agreement ratified. Results can be verified on Helios with the voter ID and password used to initially cast your ballot. A public tallying of ballots is available on YouTube.
Yes: 308
No: 14
Status: Collective bargaining agreement ratified. Results can be verified on Helios with the voter ID and password used to initially cast your ballot. A public tallying of ballots is available on YouTube.
You can check out our latest bargaining sessions on YouTube!
