United Faculty of Florida
|
United Faculty of Florida
In 1976, the United Faculty of Florida was elected the collective bargaining agent for 7,000 faculty and professional employees. The election was the culmination of an eight-year organizing campaign that was led and organized by Ken Megill. UFF was the first public employee organization to seek recognition under the Florida Public Employee Collective Bargaining law. He built the organization from a small handful of members on one campus to a statewide organization on each of the nine campuses of the State University System of Florida. In addition, he led a successful drive for representation for graduate assistants at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida. Twenty-five years later, the right for graduate assistants to organize was finally recognized by the National Labor Relations Board.
On July 10, 1978, after many months of antagonistic negotiations, agreement between the United Faculty of Florida and a hostile Board of Regents was finally reached. The agreement has been re-negotiated since then and UFF continues to represent the faculty and professional employees of the Florida State University System.
The success of UFF was widely noted throughout Florida and the country and Ken Megill became a well-known political leader in academic unionism and the State of Florida. On June 1, 1979, a new organization encompassing all community colleges, private colleges and university, graduate assistants and State University System faculty and professional employees was founded.
Megill continued to lead the organization through several crises, including attempts by management to dissolve the organization, challenges by competing national organizations and attempts by its affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, to undermine its local autonomy.
In 1982, the UFF chose to affiliate with the National Education Association.
It is still a strong, proud and independent organization.
|