Above photo: For months, USF system President Judy Genshaft’s administration fought the union effort by opposing it in filings with PERC and repeatedly attacking the union in emails to adjuncts. Jonah Hinebaugh | The Crow’s Nest
By Nancy McCann
During its determined but unsuccessful effort to thwart a union drive by adjunct faculty, the USF administration brought in a labor lawyer from Boston.
The lawyer, Katherine Lev, had voluntary informational meetings with adjuncts on all three campuses on Feb. 13-15 and taped an eight-minute video that the administration emailed to adjuncts.
How much was Lev paid?
The university won’t say.
In fact, university spokesman Adam Freeman seemed to suggest that she might not have been paid at all.
On March 3, The Crow’s Nest filed a public records request seeking documents that would reveal Lev’s compensation.
When the university did not provide the information, the newspaper renewed its request on March 15.
“Regarding Katie Lev, there are no documents (in) response to your request,” Freeman said in an email reply that day.
“Does this mean what she was paid is not public information?” the paper asked.
“It means there are no public records that show whether or not she was paid or how much, if any,” replied Freeman.
When pressed for further explanation the next day, university spokeswoman Lara Wade again asserted that “there are no records in response to your request.”
The paper then expanded its request to include all types of public records for any of Lev’s services that were arranged by and provided to USF related to the adjuncts’ union efforts.
Again, the answer from Wade was, “There are no records for any of these items.”
About four hours later, however, Wade apologized for providing “incorrect information” and updated her response, saying the “only records responsive” to the paper’s most recent request are “exempt from production.”
She cited the part of the Florida public records law that provides an exemption for a narrow list of attorney work products, including litigation strategy and legal theory of the attorney or agency.
“That exemption will expire upon conclusion, including any appeals, of the matter of SEIU, FPSU, CTW v. University of South Florida Board of Trustees before the State of Florida Public Employee Relations Commission,” wrote Wade.
The case she mentioned is the monthslong volley of motions and responses submitted to PERC by the union and the administration.
But a veteran media lawyer took issue with the university’s position.
“There is just no way that a public agency’s arrangements with any attorney fits within this exemption,” said Alison Steele, a 30-year media lawyer whose clients include the Tampa Bay Times. “What the agency has paid the attorney or will pay the attorney doesn’t either.
“In my experience, public agencies don’t hire attorneys over the telephone,” said Steele. “And attorneys don’t bill their clients over the telephone. There have to be records, and they are not exempt.”
Lev’s visit to the university system’s three campuses came as adjuncts began voting on whether they wished to have a union – the Service Employees International Union – represent them in their quest for better pay and benefits.
For months, the administration of USF system President Judy Genshaft fought the union effort at every turn. It opposed the union in filings with PERC and repeatedly attacked the union in emails to adjuncts.
The administration also turned to Lev, a lawyer and adjunct faculty member at Boston College who also sits on a three-member board that handles labor disputes involving public-sector unions in Massachusetts.
The administration and Lev herself stressed that she was neutral about the union drive and had been hired to provide information about labor law and unionization.
But some of the adjuncts who attended Lev’s informational sessions accused her of trying to demonize unions and scare adjuncts into voting no.
The efforts of the administration ultimately went for naught. Adjuncts decided to join the union on a 326 to 91 vote.
Lev’s compensation – whatever it was – could be a touchy issue for the university administration.
One of adjuncts’ principal complaints is that they are underpaid, noting that many adjuncts on the St. Petersburg campus get only $2,750 per course per semester. Genshaft’s annual compensation package is about $925,000.
