USF’s in-unit faculty will only see a 3% raise in their paychecks despite their union advocating for three times that.

In September, the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) called for a 7-9% pay increase for employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), but has been at a standstill ever since. 

The former CBA expired in August, and the parties are still working on a new one. Karin Braunsberger, UFF’s chief negotiator, said the union isn’t backing down.

Related: USF faculty struggle to secure pay increases as Law is recommended for $282K raise

Professors criticized the university for the lack of pay raises while USF President Rhea Law was approved for a $282,000 raise this September, making her total salary $825,000.  

“We hope that USF will have had time to reconsider how it can be justified that the President of USF gets the 30% pay increase and they’re just offering us 3%,” Braunsberger said. 

Though UFF and the university are still debating a new CBA, the 3% raise was given “to provide much-deserved increases to in-unit faculty without further delay,” according to a USF Human Resources notice.

The union has never submitted a formal wage proposal for a higher raise, according to USF spokesperson Althea Johnson. 

“UFF has verbally stated an ‘acceptable’ wage range but has not submitted a formal wage proposal or otherwise proposed any language regarding wages to be included in a new contract,” Johnson said.

Braunsberger said the union’s request for a higher raise during past bargaining sessions should be considered a formal wage proposal.

Related: USF president Rhea Law gets $282K raise, discusses future goals

Bargaining sessions are meetings where a union meets with university administration to discuss their contract and determine different aspects of their employment, such as pay, benefits and hours.

“Pretty much everything that is of importance happens during the bargaining sessions, ” Braunsberger said. “Those are formal.”

She said the union has tried to contact the administration for over a month to schedule a bargaining session for November but has not heard back yet.

UFF will continue to advocate for higher raises for faculty, she said.

The organization is trying to take a more public approach to appeal for the raise and “doing more than ever before” by reaching out to the media and sharing the process with faculty, Braunsberger said.

“I’m consistently talking to faculty to make sure they understand that we do need faculty support in order to get adequate raises,” Braunsberger said.

She said faculty has shown interest in what UFF is doing and the response has been positive after the last bargaining session on Sept. 6.

“I got a lot of emails from faculty thanking me for taking a stance on their behalf,” she said.

The last time the faculty received a raise was in 2023, which gave them a 2% increase, Johnson said.

Braunsberger said there is still a long way to go until UFF and USF reach an agreement, but she is “very confident” that eventually UFF will get the pay increase they’re looking for.

“It just takes time,” she said. “Last time, they were not excited about giving us much of a pay raise either, but with perseverance, we succeeded.”