• UAFT WORKLOAD ISSUES
• An UAFT represented Faculty Member typically has a five part workload.  If a bipartite assignment, four of these parts are usually teaching or teaching related.    Those teaching parts include “up to” 12 credits of teaching or teaching related activities per semester.  Teaching of upper division classes may be part of the UAFT workload for a bipartite Faculty Member.  This generally requires that an Agreement to Alternate Assignment form is completed and signed.  See Appendix C and Article 5.1 and 5.3 of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between UAFT and the University.
• An UAFT represented Faculty Member may have a tripartite assignment.  This typically occurs on extended sites and campuses, but may occur on the three main campuses, and includes three parts teaching, one part service, and one part research or creative activity.  Again, those combinations may vary.  Research and Teaching of Upper Division classes are fully within the contractual confines of the University of Alaska/UAFT Collective Bargaining Agreement.  If there is some question whether a particular workload reflects the traditional workload in the UAFT bargaining unit, an alternate assignment form is typically used.  A Faculty Member is not required to forfeit representation by UAFT just because s/he decides to engage in research or creative endeavors, teach a variety of classes, or chair a department.  Faculty Members on every campus in the state enjoy the benefits of UAFT representation performing all varieties of research and teaching with tripartite and bipartite workloads, and have done so since 1975.
• Service is the fifth part.  The fifth part does not equal 3 credits and an UAFT Faculty Member’s workload agreement should not state or imply a 15 credit workload.  The fifth part is also not equal to 1/5 of the workload.  It is a five part workload, but these parts are not required to be equal.  The fifth part is generally considered to be the amount of work that a Faculty Member would put into teaching a second section in one semester of a previously prepared and taught class.  The fifth part was designed to recognize Faculty Members’ natural inclinations to service as part of their work and to recognize the inherent nature of service in the faculty profession.  The fifth part was not designed to provide an additional measured amount of time that management can assign to committees and projects.
• Service on UAFT union boards and committees as well as all other university committees is considered to be university service and should be noted as such on  workload agreements and review files.  Service to the community as the Faculty Member chooses is also service which should be noted in the workload agreements and review files, particularly where that service is related to the faculty member’s interests or expertise.  Where the relation is less distinct, community service still may and should be recognized.  Faculty peer reviewers have routinely attached different weight to different types of community service and are fully capable of doing so in an academic setting.  Weighing the value of community service is not something to be taken lightly or relegated to non-academic staff. 
• Rarely does a complicated question arise about workload assignments. If you have questions about a particular assignment, please discuss the questions with your Campus Representative and your Dean or Director.  Use the Contract as part of your discussion.  If clarification is needed, contact the UAFT office in Anchorage at 907-786-4090 or e-mail ayaccft@uaa.alaska.edu.

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