We are the Ferris Non-Tenure Track Faculty Organization, Local 6528 — a group of dedicated teaching professionals at Ferris State University.
Our Mission Statement
“FNTFO is a community of professionals who are excellent and respected educators valued for our commitment to students and public service who create a unique educational experience. We strive to provide a just, respectful, and collaborative workplace for the university and community.”
More About Us:
We’re dedicated nontenure-track teaching professionals who have invested our careers in Ferris State University and our students. We are committed to providing quality education to our students while gathering together to advocate policies that improve the welfare of the teachers, students, university, and community.
Our History:
Prior to being a union, a large number of our future unit had taught at Ferris State University for decades. Members of our unit are unique in that we are not temporary nor are we on the tenure-track.
It is important to emphasize that the majority of our members are not temporary. We frequently work full-time schedules including unique courses that we have developed and teach.
It is our unique make-up that prompted our forming a union with a partnership with AFT. We began negotiating our first contract with the administration in February 2011. Negotiations continued through 2011 and 2012 with our union ratifying our first contract just in time to begin the 2012-2013 school year. The three-year contract helped establish the first pay regularly-scheduled pay raises for our members. Prior to the contract, some of our unit members had worked for over 10 years without an increase in pay.
Our second contract was a five-year contract that expired in 2020. In early 2020, our members voted to approve a four-year contract extension with a possible fifth year.
Our current contract extension expires at midnight June 30, 2024 but has the option to extend for a fifth year. Our members voted to decline the fifth-year extension and instead will move to negotiate a new contract.
Currently, the union is preparing for our next contract negotiation. We are seeking members’ feedback on what they would like to see in our next contract. We are also looking for volunteers to help conduct the business of our union both in times of bargaining but also in the day-to-day details.
Our Leadership
Our current president is Diane Jackson, and you can see a full list of your representatives on our Contact Us page.
You can read our constitution or our current contract as well as the details from the 2020 extension.
A dedicated group of teaching faculty, FNTFO is an AFT organization.