Bargaining Update, August 18
A salary subcommittee of members of AAUP and PSU's bargaining teams met on Friday to discuss salary issues. Several key pieces of information emerged, and these are summarized below.
Contract Extension
In the previous salary subcommittee meeting, AAUP was alarmed to learn that, under pressure from OUS, PSU was considering letting our current contract expire on August 31. Fortunately, following discussion with President Wim Wievel and Carol Mack, PSU's lead negotiator, OUS has backed off this drastic threat. OUS acknowledged that every negotiating table is different and has agreed to allow PSU to extend our contract on a meeting-to-meeting basis after August 31 to facilitate bargaining.
PSU Salary Proposal
The administration also offered their first salary proposal, which finally gives us a starting point for concrete negotiations. Although we welcome the progress, we find PSU's initial offer troubling. The proposal is based upon a new model of cuts called the "Chancellor's model." PSU characterizes the numbers it contains as more realistic than the "Governor's model"-- which was presented to the university community at several public forums and which we have been working from since bargaining began back in April. The Chancellor's Model allows OUS to hold back $10 million per year of state funds in case further budget reductions (termed Phase 2 cuts) are needed in the future. Twenty-one percent of such a system-wide cut would come from PSU.
In a nutshell, the PSU salary proposal based on the Chancellor's Model does the following:
Next Steps
Your bargaining team will continue to press the Administration on these and other points surrounding salary, while continuing negotiations on other important issues. The Administration's bargaining team clearly stated that this was an initial proposal and they fully expected to bargain on the percentages, the salary banding, and the president's days. We anticipate that bargaining will continue swiftly and in a cordial manner. The next full bargaining session will be held on August 28th, and we will communicate with you before then about how you can support the Collective Bargaining Team at this important meeting.
In solidarity,
The PSU-AAUP Bargaining Team
Contract Extension
In the previous salary subcommittee meeting, AAUP was alarmed to learn that, under pressure from OUS, PSU was considering letting our current contract expire on August 31. Fortunately, following discussion with President Wim Wievel and Carol Mack, PSU's lead negotiator, OUS has backed off this drastic threat. OUS acknowledged that every negotiating table is different and has agreed to allow PSU to extend our contract on a meeting-to-meeting basis after August 31 to facilitate bargaining.
PSU Salary Proposal
The administration also offered their first salary proposal, which finally gives us a starting point for concrete negotiations. Although we welcome the progress, we find PSU's initial offer troubling. The proposal is based upon a new model of cuts called the "Chancellor's model." PSU characterizes the numbers it contains as more realistic than the "Governor's model"-- which was presented to the university community at several public forums and which we have been working from since bargaining began back in April. The Chancellor's Model allows OUS to hold back $10 million per year of state funds in case further budget reductions (termed Phase 2 cuts) are needed in the future. Twenty-one percent of such a system-wide cut would come from PSU.
In a nutshell, the PSU salary proposal based on the Chancellor's Model does the following:
- It increases the proposed PSU salary cuts from $3.9 million to $6.1 million. The bargaining team finds this backtracking dubious, given that the $3.9 figure has circulated on campus for a number of months now. Since its first appearance, enrollment forecasts have risen and economic conditions have improved, not worsened.
- It fails to shelter lower-paid members from significant cuts; instead, PSU's offer requests 3.27% cuts from 12-month employees making less than 30K and 4.6% cuts from those making more than 49K
- It specifies graduated "President's Leave Days" during non-teaching time and closure days (between Christmas and New Year)
- It excludes any mechanism for a "snapback" or the restoration of salary cuts. Under this proposal, all cuts in salary would be permanent. Although the PSU-AAUP bargaining team recognizes the extent of the current financial challenges facing PSU, we do not see this crisis as reason to permanently undermine the hard-won salary gains achieved during the last round of negotiations.
Next Steps
Your bargaining team will continue to press the Administration on these and other points surrounding salary, while continuing negotiations on other important issues. The Administration's bargaining team clearly stated that this was an initial proposal and they fully expected to bargain on the percentages, the salary banding, and the president's days. We anticipate that bargaining will continue swiftly and in a cordial manner. The next full bargaining session will be held on August 28th, and we will communicate with you before then about how you can support the Collective Bargaining Team at this important meeting.
In solidarity,
The PSU-AAUP Bargaining Team
Labels: bargaining
posted by Jeff Alworth at
1:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home