UFF-UF

Florida’s school grades are out. Some improvement, but the message is clear: our public schools need real investment.

📉 Florida ranks 50th in average teacher pay.
🧑‍🏫 Tests don’t teach — teachers do.

Hear how low pay impacts them: feaweb.org/50inpay

UF chapter: A reminder to print & mail the “show of interest” card emailed to you (at yr off-campus email address) on 6/26. This is an important & helpful action.

Mailing your card also preserves volunteer labor: we can focus on adding new faculty members & fighting on behalf of faculty. Thanks!

Today is a great day to join a union!

myuff.org/join-uff/

2/2: We must receive signed show of interest cards from > 30% of the full bargaining unit to trigger the NEXT recertification vote.

Due to anti-union laws, cards are required EACH year to have a faculty union and keep our Collective Bargaining Agreement. Otherwise, no faculty union & no protection.

Members! We & other UFF chapters just won recertification, defying PERC estimates 🙌

🚨 New action needed from ALL chapter members.

📧 Check yr @uff_uf email (6/26) & return your “show of interest card” for NEXT year’s union recertification.

We will NOT let the state break our faculty unions!

Nine things you can do to protect education and help save democracy Overwhelming. It’s a word that comes up a lot these days, as we face blow after blow to the infrastructure we thought we could count on…

Medicaid, SNAP, scientific research, DEI, access to higher education—so much of what we hold dear is under attack, and what can we do? Plenty.

Here are nine actions you can take right now to fight back, protect education and help save democracy.

Public education funding shouldn't be used as a piggy bank for the wealthy.

Visit go.aft.org/BigUglyBill and tell Congress to stop the cuts.

University Unions Stand Up to Trump’s Research Cuts While Administrators Waver While some universities have capitulated to Trump’s NIH cuts, there are faculty and graduate student union leaders on the frontlines pushing back.

President of @uffuf.bsky.social, Dr. Meera Sitharam, is "in the process of trying to get impact bargaining for those people setting back the progression of their careers... this is a sort of unprecedented or an unexpected disruption of their careers.”
prospect.org/education/20...

Early career researchers at Penn want to unionize, which the school is challenging Organizers say they want better job security, protections against being fired unfairly and salaries that keep up with the cost of living.

Penn is doing everything it can to get in the way of postdocs unionizing. I was a Penn postdoc; the university's claims that postdocs are "trainees" is disgusting. Penn is uniquely anti-union. Postdocs at other universities who have recently filed for an election are not experiencing this pushback

Post-Tenure Review Resulted in Florida Faculty Brain Drain The number of faculty who left Florida increased by a percentage point in the wake of the new policy, which researchers say also failed to increase productivity.

Far right ideology (as opposed to shared governance, evidence-based decision-making, a shared commitment to academic freedom) is having a GREAT day today in Florida.

Here’s today’s OTHER breaking news out of #UF

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Sample important ballot from the State of Florida Public Employee’s Relations Committee marked “ballot enclosed, personal and confidential.”

Urgent: UF faculty. Don’t let Tallahassee weaken our collective voice & right to unionize.

You (faculty in qualifying units) were mailed 📬 a crucial ballot from Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) @ your home address.

Look familiar? See below 👀

*This is not junk mail!*

Scroll down 👇

Nailed it. Nor does the FL board include postage. This is a mass attempt to decertify United Faculty of Florida chapters across the state. A LOT of UF faculty are not aware. Thank you!

The ballot will ask whether UF Faculty should keep our union and our collective bargaining rights. We urge you to vote YES. Turnout is critical. We don’t just need a majority of votes, we need a large majority of eligible FACULTY to vote YES. We did this before with 80% of faculty voting yes (regardless if they became members.) Let’s do it again.

When you receive the PERC ballot above,

1) Open it!
2) You must vote YES to retain the right to have UFF represent UF faculty.

No majority vote, No UFF.

3) add a stamp (lack of free return postage is a sad tactic to disincentivize voting!)

4)and mail this ballot back ASAP!

Thank you! Share!

Sample important ballot from the State of Florida Public Employee’s Relations Committee marked “ballot enclosed, personal and confidential.”

Urgent: UF faculty. Don’t let Tallahassee weaken our collective voice & right to unionize.

You (faculty in qualifying units) were mailed 📬 a crucial ballot from Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) @ your home address.

Look familiar? See below 👀

*This is not junk mail!*

Scroll down 👇

Press release: UFF statement in response to “Desantis-DOGE” initiative

myuff.org/press-releas...

FL Governor Ron DeSantis shuts down UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ dean search after a conservative troll account falsely identifies all four finalists as “commies.”

#highered
#academicfreedom
@floridaea.bsky.social
@unitedfacultyfl.bsky.social
@aaup.bsky.social

UFF-UF members: check your email for our latest newletter:

-The important upcoming PERC recertification election, 4/30 to 5/28

-Guidance on FL DOGE info requests

-Results of UFF-UF chapter leadership elections

-Updates on union-related lawsuits, PTR, and CBA bargaining

UFF-UF works for YOU!

A Stand Up For Science nationwide campus action poster with the website Standupforscience2025.org announcing a day of action rally on Wednesday 4/23, noon, UF Campus (Gainesville FL), Plaza of the Americas

UFF-UF STANDS UP FOR SCIENCE and stands in opposition to drastic CUTS to federal research grants & plans to slash the US Department of Education.

High Noon, Wednesday 4/23, Plaza of the Americas.

More info?

standupforscienceuf@gmail.com

Black and gray graphic with the AAC&U wordmark red ampersand at center left followed by "AAC&U Public Statement" in all-caps white text at center right

AAC&U expresses strong support for the mission of @nehgov.bsky.social and for the fifty-six state and jurisdictional humanities councils that play such an important role in advancing that mission. Read the full statement: www.aacu.org/newsroom/sta... #NEHgov

🚨 Update: All statewide UFF members: **check your UFF email** for an email “Guidance for UFF University Faculty on Recent Administrative Inquiries Regarding Publications.”

Know your rights, appropriate q’s to ask, & @UnitedFacultyFl’s suggested first steps.

A copy of the two-page memo sent from FL’s Office of the Governor to state college and university presidents cc’d to each institution’s board of trustees chair

Page 2 of memo. Link to full transcription coming.

🚨 “DeSantis Does DOGE”

FL attempts higher ed AI data scrape & purge, asking for (see below)

-every grant awarded to each FL uni/college

-all “research published” by “staff” including preprints, public papers & research in academic repositories

-list of every “non-instructional” job

#highered

USF, UF campus police to partner with ICE on immigration enforcement Other Florida college police departments have signed similar agreements.

Sad day for academic freedom and civil rights. #usouthflorida

Florida Lawmakers Should Preserve Funding for Students in Advanced Academics and Career and Technical Education Classes Florida’s students and schools will all be negatively affected by reductions in funding for advanced academic and technical preparation programming.

See what your FL school district stands to lose from proposed cuts to college and career preparation courses. FEA has a webpage devoted to the education budget where you can find all of the latest information.

@floridaea.bsky.social
@aftunion.bsky.social
#publiceducation

Fast action needed!

Yesterday the FL legislature voted for massive funding cuts for programs (like AP courses) that help students prepare for college.

Despite votes, the budget is not yet final. Click here for more info & to message legislators:

secure.ngpvan.com/_iAkA48KWkGn...

#education

DeSantis’ DOGE Plan is a Trojan Horse Given Gov. Ron DeSantis’ penchant for political theater, full embrace of a far-right extremist agenda, and need for attention, it’s not surprising that he would attach himself to the Trump-Musk DOGE p...

Hands off our state colleges and universities!

What is behind the latest state “audit” (audit = AI purge of stuff DeSantis and his conservative appointees don’t like.)

More statements will be coming from UFF and FEA.

But let’s be clear-eyed about the end game.

www.rawstory.com/desantis-dog...

Opportunity to offer feedback on past NIH grants for “high risk/high reward” projects — and confronting ideological misinformation campaigns:

see below 👇

A reminder that University of Florida United Faculty of Florida chapter is Monday, April 7th, from 5pm to 7pm at Cypress and Grove brewery, 1001 Northwest 4th Street, Gainesville Fl. Your first drink (housemade seltzer kombucha, beer, or wine) is free, complements of your faculty union. Graphic of a voter placing a ballot into a ballot box. More information can br found on UFF dash UF dot org

University of Florida!

Big day Monday April 7!

👀 👇

A word from our membership chair about an important topic.

Local chapter elections Monday eve, April 5, and statewide leadership elections.

A reminder that University of Florida United Faculty of Florida chapter is Monday, April 7th, from 5pm to 7pm at Cypress and Grove brewery, 1001 Northwest 4th Street, Gainesville Fl. Your first drink (housemade seltzer kombucha, beer, or wine) is free, complements of your faculty union. Graphic of a voter placing a ballot into a ballot box. More information can br found on UFF dash UF dot org

University of Florida!

Big day Monday April 7!

👀 👇