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CONSTITUTION

PREAMBLE

We, the members of the United Faculty of Florida, have established this union in order to achieve certain objectives which are paramount to our individual and collective interests. Accordingly, the membership body shall be sovereign in all areas of organizational concern. Authority to represent member interests shall be delegated to theUFF Senate and Steering Committee which shall constitute the union's official governing units.

ARTICLE I. NAME

Section 1. This organization shall be known as the United Faculty of Florida which shall be an affiliate of the Florida Education Association and the National Education Association.

ARTICLE II. OBJECTIVES

Section 1. To bring faculty, professional employees and staff of Florida's colleges and universities into a relationship of mutual assistance and cooperation in order to obtain for them the rights and privileges to which they are entitled.

Section 2. To take appropriate action in order to safeguard rights guaranteed under the Constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Florida and to take appropriate political action that will promote the passage of progressive legislation, thereby improving the political, economic, and educational conditions of society.

Section 3. To promote a democratization of the colleges and universities of Florida that will enable members to better serve the people of the State of Florida.

Section 4. To achieve and safeguard due process and academic freedom.

Section 5. To combat all forms of discrimination based on age, disability, gender, marital status, national origin, political belief, race, religion, or sexual orientation in the colleges and universities of Florida and society.

Section 6. To promote academic excellence in teaching, research, and community service in Florida's institutions of higher education.

Section 7. To strengthen the well-being of the people of Florida through research, teaching, and community service in Florida's institutions of higher education.

ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. Faculty, professional employees, employed graduate students, and staff in the public and private colleges and universities of the State of Florida, who are members or may become members of a bargaining unit, shall be eligible for active membership in UFF except as otherwise provided in this Constitution and Bylaws. The right to vote and to hold elective office shall be limited to active and educational support members except as otherwise provided in the Constitution and Bylaws.

Section 2. No discrimination shall ever be shown toward members or applicants for membership because of age, disability, gender, marital status, national origin, political belief, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Section 3. UFF members shall be unified dues members of the Florida Education Association and the National Education Association.

Section 4. Membership shall be open to retired teachers and others eligible for membership who withdraw from the profession who wish to maintain affiliation.

Section 5. Reserve membership is open to any person who is on a leave of absence of at least six months from the employment that qualifies him or her for active membership or who has held active membership but whose employment status no longer qualifies that individual for such membership.

Section 6. Associate membership shall be open to any person who is interested in advancing the cause of education but who is not eligible for any other class of membership in UFF. Associate members shall be eligible to receive reports and publications of UFF.

Section 7. A member may only be removed from the rolls for failure to pay dues.

ARTICLE IV. CHAPTERS AND BARGAINING COUNCILS

Section 1. The UFF Senate shall establish Chapters and Bargaining Councils.

Section 2. Each Chapter may adopt Bylaws which are in addition to, but in conformity with, the Constitution and Bylaws of the United Faculty of Florida. Chapter officers shall be elected annually unless another term of office is provided for in the Chapter Bylaws.

Section 3. Senators shall be organized into appropriate Councils as set forth in the Bylaws.

ARTICLE V. OFFICERS

Section 1. The membership shall elect biennially by open nomination and secret ballot a president and a first vice-president.

Section 2. Each Bargaining Council shall annually elect a UFF vice-president by open nomination and secret ballot, who may, but need not, be already a member of the UFF Senate. The appropriate Council shall fill vacancies.

ARTICLE VI. UFF SENATE

Section 1. The UFF Senate shall be the union's official legislative body and shall consist of the president, the first vice-president, chapter presidents and senators elected in a manner presented in the Bylaws. Senators shall serve a term of one year. The Senate shall at all times be apportioned on the basis of one person-one vote and shall reflect women and minorities as legally permissible at least in proportion to the women and minority membership of the union.

Section 2. The UFF Senate shall adopt a budget.

Section 3. The UFF Senate shall have the power to interpret and enforce this Constitution and to make rules not in conflict with this Constitution.

Section 4. The UFF Senate shall appoint such committees as it deems appropriate and not inconsistent with the Constitution.

Section 5. The UFF Senate shall have the power to carry on all business affairs of the United Faculty of Florida.

Section 6. The UFF Senate shall establish procedures for periodically evaluating the union's goals and redirecting the resources of the union to achieve these goals.

Section 7. The UFF Senate shall meet at its discretion or upon call by the president at least once a year.

ARTICLE VII. UFF STEERING COMMITTEE

Section 1. The UFF Steering Committee shall consist of the president, the first vice-president, the vice-president of each Bargaining Council, two UFF members on the FEA Governance Board appointed by the president to the Steering Committee, and the chairpersons of the Contract Enforcement, Government Relations, and Membership Committees. The Chair of the Contract Enforcement Committee shall not vote on appeals from denial of arbitration. Women and minorities shall be represented as legally permissible, at least in proportion to their membership numbers.

Section 2. The Steering Committee shall prepare a budget for submission to the UFF Senate.

Section 3. The Steering Committee shall be the UniServ Coordinating Council.

Section 4. The Steering Committee shall have the authorization to employ staff and enter into contracts for the organization.

Section 5. The Steering Committee shall have the authority to act for the UFF Senate between meetings of the Senate and shall report all actions to the Senate.

Section 6. The President shall have the duty, authority and responsibility to investigate claims of chapter dysfunction. The Steering Committee shall have the authority, based upon evidence presented, to place chapters in trusteeship for violation of the UFF Constitution and Bylaws; the Chapter’s Bylaws; Florida Statutes, Chapter 447; the Federal Landrum-Griffin Act, Subchapter V, Section 481 (Terms of Office and Election Procedures); Subchapter VI, Section 501 (Fiduciary Responsibility of Officers of Labor Organizations); and/or for the purpose of assuring faithful and consistent performance of collective bargaining obligations and other duties as bargaining agent.

Section 7. The Steering Committee shall meet at least once a quarter.

Section 2. Constitutional amendments shall be adopted by two-thirds vote of the UFF Senate. Proposed amendments shall be mailed to all senators at least 30 days prior to the Senate meeting at which proposed action is to be taken.

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