Collective
Bargaining Updates
2011/13 Contract
2011-13 Bargaining Flyers for Download:
November 23, 2011
Insult to Injury in Challenging Times
We bargained last Weds, the 16th, and ended up walking out.
Rather than follow the meeting's agenda to work on non-monetary issues on which we're finally finding some common ground before coming back to money, the Administration pushed for consideration of their new pay proposal: Option B.
Option A: Pay Cuts with Insults is the proposal that states without evidence that 30% of us are not doing our job adequately to be promoted into the position we hold. Half of the proposed pay increases of 4.1% and 4.1% are in the form of "merit pay" that is really a graduated pay cut, so that only a minority keep up with inflation.
Option B: is 3% and 3% across the board: cuts in purchasing power for everyone if we don't accept their phony "merit" deal.
Option A is called "cost of living plus merit," but is really a graduated pay cut; Option B is a club to beat us into taking Option A.
All of this followed "answers" to our questions about the composition and purpose of PSU's record-breaking reserves -- 19.8% of operating revenues or $54 million this past year, and a projection of 18.5% of operating revenues, or $49 million, at the end of the current academic year. The response: "we have plans for that money, we will spend it, and we can't tell you anything more detailed than that."
(I know it's hard to believe that the reserves are so high, given the way PSU's being managed these days, but check it out for yourself, in the "Agenda and Materials for the Nov. 4th OUS Board meeting, page 7: http://www.ous.edu/state_board/meeting/dockets)
We'll most likely bargain again on Weds, Nov. 30th -- I'll send you an announcement about the exact time and location when details are firmed up. We're preparing some options of our own, modeled after other OUS strategies and following these principles:
* No pay cuts with record reserves and an expanding administration.
* Protect the hardest hit from rising health care costs.
* Reward merit with bigger promotion increases and more promotion possibilities, in addition to existing "special raises"--see below.
* Make progress on bringing PSU salaries closer to market.
We're also pushing several smaller initiatives, while resisting Administration proposals to make our disciplinary process more punitive.
Under the circumstances, we are NOT going to bring a resolution to the Faculty Senate in December. We made our point in November; it's time for other tactics.....
And remember! Despite the administration line that "the union prevents us from rewarding merit," the AAUP has NEVER stood in the way of anyone getting a raise, and never will. Last year, while PSU was on wage freeze, 35 members of our bargaining unit received "special raises" averaging over 10% for reasons of "equity, retention, exceptional performance or expanded duties." And yet we keep hearing: "We can't give you raises because the union ties our hands!" NO FURTHER COMMENT! (in e-mail....)
November 14, 2011
We FINALLY have a date pinned down for a bargaining session:
9 - 11 am, Weds, Nov. 16th, in 654 MCB.
This is the first day the Administration has agreed to bargain since that marathon, all-day session on Friday, October 28th, which ended with the outrageous "merit" pay proposal asserting that 30% of us are not doing our jobs adequately to be promoted into the job we CURRENTLY HOLD!
But PSU faculty sent a powerful message to the Administration during last Faculty Senate! If you weren't there, it was incredible! The place was packed with people in red t-shirts and upset about the new health care plans. After a bargaining update, the faculty stood up and clapped long and loudly, while the Administration sat, stoney-faced.
President Wiewel then spoke, saying that bargaining shouldn't intrude into Faculty Senate! Certainly he prefers to keep it confined, at more than an arm's length, and conducted by people who explicitly say that they "take marching orders" and have no decision-making power.
We need to use the Senate and any other means we can think of to communicate to him that we are NOT HAPPY with the "offer" the administration is making us, of a cut in real pay, worse and worrying health care, no improvements in the working conditions of fixed-term faculty or APs, and a more punitive disciplinary and pay structure, while expanding the administrative payroll like crazy and piling up a huge reserve.
NO THANKS!
WE will be
a) bargaining Weds morning, the 16th, in 654 MCB - please come observe if you can.
b) facing a contract extension that expires at the end of the month, with no other bargaining dates set, nor any dates set for other meetings agreed on at the end of the day on Oct. 28th.
c) bringing a resolution to Faculty Senate on Monday, Dec. 5th -- see below! Please turn out to Senate --3 pm, CH 53 -- wearing red t-shirts and buttons, ready to vote for this resolution or support those who can. (and pass the word!), and
d) heading into mediation, if we don't settle first, on Weds., Dec. 14th.
PLEASE
a) come to Faculty Senate on Monday, Dec. 5th, in red shirts and buttons AND
b) invite a member of the bargaining team to your department or unit meeting for an update!
best!
Mary King, VP for Bargaining on behalf of the AAUP Bargaining Team
(Anh Ly, Bob Liebman, David Hansen, Ron Narode, Sy Adler, and Jonathan Uto and Phil Lesch, ex officio)
October 31, 2011
In a nutshell: the administration is trying to scare us and push us into accepting a completely repellent and inappropriate re-structuring of the faculty work environment, but they went so far at the bargaining table that they appear to have scared themselves and pulled back, just a little.
We need to push back, and push back hard, if we want to work in a place that values the hard work of all of us in a collegial, collaborative community, rather than an inept attempt to create a "business model" that rewards a few super-stars and insults the rest.
It's time to flyer the campus, invite members of the bargaining team to your units to update people, raise questions in Faculty Senate, and come to observe bargaining on Monday, Nov 14th at 1 pm (location TBA).
The Full Story
Friday the 28th, starting at 9 am, they heard our proposals - modified to deal with some of their concerns - and stated that they were gratified that we'd moved, that they'd work with the numbers and focus on the nits and grits of our other proposals.
They left us cooling our heels for a couple of hours, and came back to say that we appeared to be close enough that they would like to sign a couple of small agreements, and continue to work with the numbers to see if they couldn't come back with something we'd consider, and also extend the contract.
They left us waiting around another couple of hours, and then came back with
* an absolutely foul - and completely new - pay proposal - details below,
* utter refusal to increase job security for Fixed-Term faculty, limit out-of-schedule work for APs, create standards for academic quality, pay people during the Winter Closure, or increase promotion raises,
* a persistent attempt to dismantle protections of due process in discipline, and
* a refusal to extend the contract, so that we'd be working without a contract, starting Nov. 1st.
The pay proposal
* offered a total of a 4% COLA, which equals inflation over the last biennium but nothing toward the next 2 years, and
* another 4% in a "merit" structure that asserts that 30% of the faculty aren't even doing their jobs at the level required to be promoted to the position they currently hold. Another 40% were asserted to be only OK, not doing anything meritorious. Only the "top" 10% would have a hope of coming out ahead by the end of the biennium.
SO, they are going to incent us to work hard by
* giving most of us a pay cut, while salaries rise around us - at U of O, in the academy as a whole, and in Portland,
* allowing the whole PSU pay structure to drop even further from market, and
* letting us know while they're at it that most of us are doing a piss-poor job.
What management consultant advises you to insult the majority of your work-force and pit them against each other?
What we teach at PSU is that a merit pay program should offer at least a 5% raise, be available to everyone and 80% of your people should get it.
This is only more true when people work autonomously, as we do, and have a lot of control over the quality of their work.
On the way out the door at 5 pm, after keeping us there all day, they let us know that they would not be interested in extending the contract - an unusual and hostile act aimed at the union, particularly at the protections of the grievance process.
Then, over the weekend, they seem to have gotten nervous, realizing perhaps how dependent they are on the good will of the faculty to work with donors, community partners and granting organizations, as well as to recruit both students and faculty - not to mention, educate students and keep the place running.
We always have the option of "working to rule," of doing only what we absolutely have to do to meet our job descriptions, and nothing that could be conceived of as "optional," like taking on extra committee work, or more students, or answering surveys, or fundraising, or addressing community groups, or talking to reporters, or taking potential recruits out to dinner, or a myriad of other things that we do because we're professionals who take pride in our work and university.
How could they even tell, if so many of us are so deficient in our performance already?
Or maybe they realized how bad it would look to the mediator to have refused to extend the contract. This morning, Oct 31st, they decided that they DO want to extend the contract, after all, and we have done that- to November 30th or until we settle, whichever comes first.
But that's all we've got, the old contract extended for another month, a date to bargain on Nov. 14th, and a date with a mediator in mid-December, if we haven't settled by then.
Stay tuned - we're going to need your support to get a half-way decent contract. I guess they need all of that enormous reserve for really important priorities, like hiring more Associate Deans and Assistant Vice Presidents....
Mary King, AAUP VP for Bargaining for the PSU Bargaining Team (Anh Ly, Bob Liebman, David Hansen, Ron Narode, Sy Adler and Jonathan Uto and Phil Lesch, ex officio)
October 27, 2011
Sorry to have left you hanging for the past few days, before updating you about bargaining last Friday. We needed some time to think through our situation. There's a handy flyer below to print and post, which captures it in a nutshell.
As you know, our contract expired August 31st, and we extended it to Oct. 31st--nothing new at PSU given the PSU Administration's extreme caution about fall enrollment and state funding.
We're seeing some dynamics moving against us:
* Oregon may well fall into a "double-dip" recession, reducing state revenues.
and public opinion may be less favorable to us holding out.
* PSU and the OUS system are planning for cuts in the state allocation of up to 10%,
which will eat up some of the reserves.
* AFT, representing PSU adjuncts, has just settled, for 4.15% and 4.1%, in The Box.
* OSU announced it will keep pay increases in The Box, at 4% and 4%.
In this situation, we realized that we had to move, so on Friday the 21st,
* we offered to take this year's pay increase beginning at mid-year
(Jan 1 for 12-month employees, Feb 1 for 9-month employees)
* we offered a sliding scale pick-up of part of the health care premium, between 1% for people earning less that $40k to 5% for people earning $70k or more.
While continuing to press for
* 3-year rolling contracts for Fixed Term Faculty with 3 years experience, as they do at SOU
* a limit to out-of-schedule work for APs, with comp time off
* No unilaterally imposed furlough between Christmas and New Year's for APs
* maintenance & improvement of mid-career support by peer review
* expansion of professional development to make it more inclusive & better funded
* improved and clarified policies for family leave & a catastrophic leave bank
* a plan to make improvements over time in Academic Quality, by monitoring class size, reducing course loads, raising salaries and improving both student & research support
What was the response?
* They said: "You've barely moved" Really? Giving up a half year of pay increases and the principle that we won't take a double whammy on health care is nothing?
* They said: We've moved up to 4 and 4, which is a pay cut given inflation and health care costs, never mind trying to shift out of the bottom 20% of Phd Granting institutions,
* They said "it wouldn't be equitable" not to make everyone pick up the 5% health care premium!
Really? It's "equitable" to charge the same dollar amount to a single mother adviser earning $35k as to the President, earning $350k, plus housing, etc. etc.?
* They said "we have to give to all the administrators whatever we give you, and then this settlement won't fit into the Chancellor's BOX.
Really? Every administrator has to get the same percentage pay increase that we bargain for PSU faculty? Despite the facts that
* they are all much closer to market, since so many are relatively new in their positions
* their pay has kept up to inflation plus 2% over the past 10 years, while we keep losing ground
* they are proliferating like rabbits - remember when Bill Feyerherm was Dean of Graduate Studies AND Research and Sponsored Projects? He seems to have been replaced by a Vice Provost, a Dean, a Vice President, two Associate Vice Presidents and an Assistant Vice President - in case you were wondering where your overhead was going, it's not into people actually doing research accounting or grant writing...
Do you think Bill feels more good or more bad that PSU's paying nearly $850k a year to replace him?
* They said: "We'll have to go to mediation, if you don't get into The Box."
Well, ok, we're willing to go into mediation; we don't want to take another pay cut that will further damage PSU's ability to recruit and retain people - and provide any continuity to students -- while there's a huge pile of reserves and we're spending on other priorities.
We are bargaining tomorrow, Fri. Oct. 28th, from 9 to 12 and perhaps longer, in MCB 651.
Come by to see us, in a red shirt and button -- you might hear something amazing...
But first, print and post this! (please click image to download PDF)
October 18, 2011
We're bargaining again on Friday, October 21st, from 9 until noon, in SMU 329.
Please MAKE A BIG EFFORT to come to observe - wearing your AAUP t-shirt and buttons! - if you possibly can, for any part of the session. This is the time for PRESSURE!
Bargaining is heating up - we're bargaining weekly now, and the Administration has moved closer to us on salary--more on that later.
FIrst, though, I haven't mentioned much about issues apart from our big priorities to
* raise salaries
* maintain benefits
* increase job security for fixed-term faculty, and
* create room to move for APs.
We've been promoting a lot of other issues (standards for academic quality, a limit to out-of-schedule work and comp time off, an early retirement plan, a catastrophic leave bank, and several others.)
We've had no positive reaction to any of these, and in most cases, no reaction at all.
But the Administration is pushing their own agenda to increase their ability to discipline people and focus all rewards on a small minority by:
* revising Article 27 in a way that would make it much easier to give people written reprimands that become a part of their permanent file. Phil Lesch, our Executive Director, who works closely with a growing number of people struggling with autocratic Deans or Chairs, says that their proposal substantially reduces our workplace protections and constitutes a threat to academic freedom, and
* doing away with the Peer Review article, which provides some positive incentives in the form of funds for professional development activities for post-tenure review, replacing it with an administrator-heavy taskforce to create a replacement article focused on rewards for the "top performers," oral feed-back for the vast majority and something punitive for "laggards."
These proposals represent a fundamental realignment from support - if inadequate--for the vast majority working hard in a challenging environment to rewards for the very few and a new emphasis on punitive discipline. We are resisting this shift!
*** BACK TO SALARY and BENEFITS! ***
From their initial offer of 2% each year of the next biennium, they've moved to 3% each year and-last Friday--to 4% each year, keeping the cost (and benefit!) INSIDE THEIR BOX by shifting the dates of the raises to mid-year, rather than the beginning of the year, and demanding the double-whammy on health care.
The movement is good, but the total still works out to a cut in real pay:
* inflation between our last raise and June '11 ate up 3.9% of our purchasing power, and
* inflation is likely to be at least as high through the next biennium, probably higher.
So inflation will take care of even the 4% and 4% raise they now propose AND
* only half of the raises would be across the board, and half are proposed as "merit" money, which again may be focused on a few.
* health care plan changes will account for between $30 and nearly $5,000 in individual out of pocket costs next year, according the the range of scenarios just released by a PEBB Board analyst
* PSU is pushing for everyone to pick up 5% of the health care premium, which would range from $49 to $208/month, depending on your plan and family composition. (Despite VP Rimai's recent assertion to the contrary, this is the Governor's initiative, not that of the PEBB Board.)
NOT TO MENTION PSU's SKEWED PRIORITIES! Big administrative expansion & big reserves while keeping faculty on wage freeze and raising tuition 9%?!?!?!?
Why do we need to save an amount equal to the entire state allocation, as VP Rimai stated in Faculty Senate, in case it gets cut 10%????
Why should we wreak havoc on PSU to live inside the Governor's box, when we effectively raise between 5/6ths and 7/8ths of our own revenues?
Why not follow U of O's lead, and put the needs of PSU students and faculty first?
We will be pushing back, with priorities of
a. raising base pay as high as we can, reaching for equity and market, while
b. getting people something relatively soon after our furlough and wage freeze, and
c. mitigating the impact of health care cost increases for employees with lower salaries, for whom the proposed cost increases represent a potentially sizeable proportion of their pay.
Come out to bargaining - we need you! If you can't come to bargaining, wear an AAUP button on Friday!!! (plenty in the office, 232 SMU)
Mary King, for the AAUP Bargaining Team (Anh Ly, Bob LIebman, David Hansen, Ron Narode and Sy Adler, as well as Jonathan Uto & Phil Lesch, ex officio)
p.s. There are two more bargaining sessions scheduled before the contract extension expires on Oct. 31:
Friday, Oct. 21st, 9 am to noon in 329 SMU
Friday, Oct. 28th, 9 am to noon in 651 MCB
***********************************************
October 10, 2011
Please come to observe Bargaining, wearing your AAUP t-shirt or button! (more available in the office!)
Friday, October 14th, 9am to noon, 651 MCB!
Be sure to come to the AAUP - PSU Annual Meeting, Friday, Oct 14th, Noon to 1:30, for bargaining
& other updates, lunch with your colleagues and a
March to the offices of President Wiewel and Chancellor Pernsteiner!
Although the Oregonian, President Wiewel and others are talking about an "8% raise" over the biennium, in fact PSU is offering a pay cut, once you factor in inflation, new health care costs and the fact that half of what they propose is in the form of "merit" raises - just enough merit pay for maximum bad feeling but no real gain. (See figures below!)
Why on earth?
* We're losing faculty
* We're adding plenty of highly paid administrators
* We have huge reserves
* We're way behind market
- U of O has lead the way, giving wide-spread "equity" (read market) raises of 5 to 30% last May
We sure didn't get very good answers in Faculty Senate last week, although the President finds talking about it "ad nauseum" to be "tedious."
* Provost Koch told us that "there's no plan" to raise faculty salaries, in our portfolio of institutional plans
* VP Rimai told us that we need a reserve equal to the entire state allocation, in case the state makes a 10% cut
* President Wiewel told us that last year may have been PSU's best ever! REALLY?!?!?!?
Our Answer: Do the Math!
And while we're at it: better job security for fixed-term faculty and room to grow for APs!
Mary King, for the AAUP Bargaining Team (Anh Ly, Bob Liebman, David Hansen, Ron Narode, Sy Adler and Jonathan Uto & Phil Lesch, ex-officio)
p.s. Future Bargaining Dates:
Friday, Oct. 14, 9 am to Noon in MCB 651
Friday, Oct. 21, 9 am to Noon in SMU 323
Friday, Oct. 28. 9 am to Noon in MCB 651
Contract Extension Expires Oct. 31
September 26, 2011
We're--finally! -- bargaining again, Friday, Sept. 30th, 9 to 12 in MCB 651, after waiting 3 weeks for the Admin team to get their "marching orders." Come to observe, if you can!
It's time to write letters to President Wiewel - relating our concerns about the direction being taken by PSU. It was great to see so many AAUP t-shirts and buttons at Convocation; we need to keep the pressure on!
The administration is offering us a cut in the purchasing power of our pay below what we earned in 2009 by
* asking us to pick up 5% of our health care premium AS WELL AS sizeable new co-pays, deductibles and surcharges,
* "offering" 2% raises in 2012 and 2013 that will not make up for inflation and the furlough, never mind get us any closer to market,
* and continuing to expand the Administration like crazy! (can you keep track of all the new
Associate Vice Provosts/Presidents etc.?)
The Administration's offer is what the Chancellor agreed on with the Governor
* without consulting us.
* without acknowledging rising revenues and the huge reserves at PSU and elsewhere in OUS.
* without dealing with how far behind market our salaries are and how that hurts PSU.
U of O's Lariviere did NOT go along with the Chancellor, giving raises of 5 to 30% last May, to a huge proportion of the faculty -- see the Oregonian --
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/09/university_of_oregon_gave_pay.html
SEIU did NOT go along - getting raises of 6% and 6%, between inflation adjustments and 2 step increases worth 4.75% each (though they had to take a furlough to get it).
http://www.seiu503.org/2011/09/tenative-agreement-with-oregon-university-system/
Western Oregon did NOT go along - negotiating raises of 4% and 4%, between inflation adjustments and step increases.
But President Wiewel STILL wants to go along with the Chancellor
* cutting the value of pay at PSU again, and
* putting us on furlough again, though they're calling it "winter closure" without pay
It's time to send as many e-mails as we can to President Wiewel, asking him to act on behalf of his campus and faculty the way that Lariviere has for his.
Please send your own message to President Wiewel (Wim Wiewel <president@pdx.edu>)
(If you cc me, please make it a bcc!)
Suggested talking points are listed below.
In the meanwhile, come to observe bargaining on Friday, wearing your AAUP t-shirt or button (pick them up in the AAUP office, 232 SMU). If you can't make it to bargaining, wear your t-shirt or button to work that day!
best,
Mary King, AAUP VP for Bargaining on behalf of the Bargaining Team (Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly, Ron Narode and Jon Uto & Phil Lesch, ex officio)
TALKING POINTS for an e-mail to President Wiewel (Wim Wiewel <president@pdx.edu>)
PSU salaries are far behind market, harming faculty recruitment, retention and morale.
PSU saved 20% of last year's operating revenue, far in excess of what OUS recommends.
U of O's President Lariviere recognized the cost of operating like this and gave large,
wide-spread raises last spring, prioritizing his campus over state politics.
Fixed term faculty have far too little job security; an ASPSU representative said at bargaining
that she realized she had more job security at Starbucks, and that students pay for
faculty insecurity and turnover
APs need room for promotion and raises.
APs need a limit on out-of-schedule work demands, and comp time off in exchange.
PSU faculty need more support to meet high research expectations, in the form of travel money, grant support, academic computing support and COURSE RELEASE!
PSU courseloads need to be reduced, to come in line with those institutions with
similar research expectations.
PSU priorities seem off: classes getting larger, tuition going up, administration expanding while
we cut faculty, faculty pay, the library.....
PSU's reputation was really hurt by unnecessary hiring pauses & freezes last year while
saving a huge surplus.
And a million more that you can think up, I am sure!
As Lariviere says, "the only way we can fulfill our critical public mission in the contemporary environment is to maintain the highest quality faculty and staff, who in turn provide the highest quality education for our students. We can't accomplish this goal by being one of the lowest paying public AAU universities in the country. It is imperative that we continue to make progress on faculty and staff salaries...."
September 9, 2011
On Thursday September 8, 2011, PSU-AAUP met with the Administration to continue bargaining the 2011-13 contract. About 35 of your colleagues came out to support the bargaining team which sent a strong message to the Administration, which hopefully will be forwarded to President Wiewel, that we are paying attention and expect to be taken care of.
PSU-AAUP sent across the table proposals on Salary, Health Care, Professional Development and Support, and Institutional Career Support/Peer Review. The University responded to our proposals regarding Academic Professionals and Fixed Term Faculty.
The Main Issue of Salary/Compensation:
We know that the University has banked $54 million dollars in tuition revenue at the end of the 2011 Academic Year. However, President Wiewel is hiding behind the Chancellor and insisting that he is not allowed to increase total compensation for faculty by more than 7.3% which includes health care and PERS costs. What this really means is a pay cut to all of us as health care and PERS eats up most of the cost and the meager percentage points left for salary increases would not keep us up with increases in cost of living or get us any closer to our market comparators.
While we are sympathetic to the position President Wiewel claims to be in when we look at our sister institution, University of Oregon, we see that their President chooses to take care of his faculty. In the 2009-11 biennium, when PSU’s administration told faculty that they must take furloughs, UO faculty were not put on furlough. Salaries were maintained. When UO staff were furloughed under the DAS contract, President Lariviere took care of his employees by allowing them to work overtime to make up the difference. We are also hearing anecdotally that ahead of the 2011-13 biennium, President Lariviere showed real leadership by handing out healthy?? salary increases to keep his faculty whole and bring them closer to market. At bargaining we asked the Administrative team to tell President Wiewel to do the same.
Other Positions:
• PSU-AAUP asked that the University double the amount of money for Professional Development and Support to $800,000, increase the maximum award amounts, and increase the types of activities the money can be used for to be inclusive of Academic Professionals and Fixed Term/Research Faculty.
• PSU-AAUP asked that the University triple the Institutional Career Support money for mid-career faculty to $150,000 and expand the types of things the money can be used for.
• The Administration responded to our request for increased Job Security for Fixed Term Faculty by insisting they couldn’t do anything around this issue including increasing the number of multi-year (2 Year) contracts. A student representative from ASPSU (Student Government) spoke in favor of job security for Fixed Term Faculty saying she had more job security working at Starbucks and that it the lack of job security has a negative impact on students education. They can’t get advising or recommendations written. We couldn’t agree more!
• Finally the Administration refused to entertain the idea of a step system for Academic Professionals that is similar to SEIU Classified Staff and Faculty at Community Colleges and Western Oregon University.
The Road Ahead:
Over the next month and a half we must increase the pressure on President Wiewel to find ways to take care of the faculty. A few ways you can get involved:
• We will be attending Convocation in our red PSU-AAUP shirts to respectfully show President Wiewel that having decent wages and health benefits must be a top priority for the new year. If you do not yet have a red shirt we will be set up outside Hoffman Hall handing them out. The event is Tuesday, Sept 20th at 3:00. We hope as many PSU-AAUP folks as are able to will be there!
• We have a Poster Team that is each committing to put up 20 Posters each run. If you would like to join please email tita@psuaaup.net. We have several people stepping up to make posters and fliers.
• We will continue to send invitations for attendance at bargaining. We are moving bargaining to the Smith Union as often as possible for Fall Term and your attendance really can make a difference! Keep an eye out for the bargaining schedule.
• ‘Like’ us on Facebook for frequent updates and information that affects your wages, hours and working conditions. www.facebook.com/PSU.AAUP
• Invite a Union Officer to your department meeting. We are happy to discuss issues specific to your unit.Email me at utoj@pdx.edu if you would like one of us there.
Thank you for staying engaged as the Academic Year begins! We are hopeful that President Wiewel will listen and lead on behalf of the faculty!
Submitted by Jonathan Uto, PSU-AAUP President (utoj@pdx.edu) on behalf of the Bargaining Team (Mary King, Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly & Ron Narode)
August 27, 2011
Thanks to everyone who came out to observe bargaining on Aug 23rd!!!
The rest of you owe thanks to these people, because
pressure's the key to getting our best agreement, and Observers = Pressure!
Next Bargaining Session: Thursday, Sept. 8th, 1 to 3:30 pm in MCB 651--come if you can!!!
(be sure to drop by the AAUP office, 232 Smith, to pick up a t-shirt and button!)
During bargaining on August 23rd, we
* signed an agreement extending the contract through Oct. 31st, which keeps us covered until we can settle.
* signed an agreement stipulating that the University will continue to pick up the employee 6% for PERS, continuing the agreement forged in the 1970s, to save the State money in salaries. Our contract says that if they stop picking up that 6%, our salaries must be raised 6%.
* presented our case for significant pay increases to
- make up for what we lost on furlough and wage freeze over the last biennium
- keep us up with inflation in the Portland area
- move PSU salaries toward market in all ranks
- keep us up with our own administration
ALL WITHOUT CUTTING RESERVES BELOW WHAT OUS RECOMMENDS.
Instead the PSU Administration, is offering us a pay cut.
Their "offer" is that we
- pick up 5% of our health care premium, about $64/month next year
- on top of paying more in health care co-pays and deductibles
(PEBB is figuring the numbers on this -- we'll let you know)
- and take a 2% pay increase Jan 1, 2012 and 2% more on July 1, 2012, or
NOT ENOUGH to compensate us for what we lost to inflation and the furlough last biennium, never mind what we'd lose paying more for health care, or to inflation next biennium or making any progress to get us closer than 82% of
our comparators.....
The President's Office no longer sends a representative to the Bargaining Table -- too busy!
But President Wiewel needs to understand what's going on. AAUP President Jonathan Uto will be calling on everyone to write a letter to President Wiewel, letting him know the impact of PSU's low salaries on you, your department or unit, your students and the University. If he realized the full cost, he couldn't think it's a good idea to save far more each year than OUS recommends, rather than improve pay, working conditions and academic quality at PSU.
U of O didn't take furloughs OR a wage freeze last biennium, and just spent $2 million on raises in last May alone, to bring people closer to market. PSU needs leadership like that!
COME OUT TO BARGAINING ON SEPT. 8TH, 1 to 3:30, MCB 651 - any part of that time is good!
Mary King, for the AAUP-PSU Bargaining Team (Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly, Ron Narode and Jonathan Uto & Phil Lesch, ex officio) August 27, 2011
August 17, 2011
Next Bargaining Session: Tuesday, August 23rd, 1-3:30 pm, SMU 333
*** Please come to observe if you can ***
We'll be pushing back on the Administration's pay cut proposal
AAUP T-Shirts and Buttons will be available!
(or pick them up now in the AAUP office, 232 SMU)
As you know, this bargaining session is going to be tough! The Chancellor wants all of OUS to take the harsh deal that regular state workers have had to take, even though
* public money represents less than 1/6th of our budget,
* all other sources of revenue are up, up, up! and
* PSU took a furlough and a wage freeze last biennium, while U of O got raises.
SEIU, representing the clerical and facilities staff, is resisting the same, bad deal; calling the Chancellor "Mad King George;" and will be calling on us to come out and support them. We'll give you as much notice as we can about their rallies and events, but events are moving quickly! The better they do, the better we'll do!
PSU is following the OUS lead - using the recession's impact on state funds to push a pay cut, while stashing a huge amount in reserves and hiring ever more administrators.
At our last bargaining session the Administration's presented these proposals:
* a pay cut, resulting from employees picking up 5% of the health care premium (@$64/month) while pay rises less than the cost of living
* NO to increased job security for fixed-term faculty & a step system for AP pay
* increased ability to discipline faculty for low productivity and other issues
Needless to say, we'll be pushing back!
PSU closed FY 2011 at the end of June by adding $89 million to unrestricted reserves. That represents 24% of unrestricted funds, and includes 20% of E & G funds. That's even more than last year's $30 million, put aside while we were on furlough!
The point of reserves is to SPEND them in hard times, to maintain the University's capacity and competitive position, and to SAVE in good times. PSU is saving BIG in hard times, amplifying the destructive impact of declining state support, and PSU faculty is paying for it, while teaching and advising more students, bringing in more research funding, wasting time on failed or paused searches and watching while administrators get raises.
COME OUT TO OBSERVE BARGAINING ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 23RD,
1 - 3:30 PM (or any part of that time slot), SMU 333
For details on the Administration's weak, late, unsupported and unpersuasive response to Howard Bunsis' May 20th Financial Audit of PSU, see the forthcoming AAUP News E-zine.
best,
Mary King, for the AAUP-PSU Bargaining team (Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob LIebman, Anh Ly & Ron Narode, with Jonathan Uto and Phil Lesch ex-officio)
August 4, 2011
Hi All! I hope that you're finally enjoying some summer weather!
After a quiet July, we’re headed back into bargaining on Tuesday, August 9th from 1 to 3:30 in MCB 651 – come to observe if you can!
Since our last bargaining session in late June, AFSCME and SEIU-DAS (for non-OUS employees) have nearly finalized agreements with the State of Oregon for the coming biennium, which include
* 5 – 7 days of furloughs each year, with higher paid workers taking the longer furloughs
* Cost of Living increases, one each year, of 1.5% and 1.45%
* A phased step increase in salary
* No change to the 6% PERS pickup by the employer
* Employees taking on 5% of the monthly health care premium, offset by a subsidy for the lowest paid employees.
* Other health care changes geared to keeping down health care cost increases, including development of a “Health Engagement Model” that will reduce coverage for some treatments and require participation in programs to change some health habits (smoking and weight management) as a condition of continuing in the health plans with best coverage.
These agreements may be the starting point of the Administration’s position on our contract. The Chancellor of the OUS System has put out a memo that states that he made an agreement with the Governor that all OUS employees will follow the general lines of the agreements with AFSCME and SEIU-DAS.
The health care plan changes will definitely apply to us. We only negotiate over how much we contribute to our health care premiums. We can't negotiate plan design; the PEBB Board does that, with strong representation from the state unions, including Peter Callero, faculty at WOU.
We will be arguing that we are quite unlike the state employees represented by AFSCME and SEIU - DAS and should get a better deal, because
* state funding accounted for only 1/6th of PSU revenues in 2010
* enrollment, tuition and external funding are all increasing rapidly
* PSU has been adding to reserves and the administrative staff every year
* our salaries are NOT competitive – AAUP ranks us in the lowest quintile nationally
BUT clearly we may be forced to accept trade-offs at the table. We will appreciate your feedback on priorities. Please send us your thoughts!
AND MOST IMPORTANT: We’re stronger the more it’s clear you care! Please come observe if you can! Bargaining Sessions areTentatively Scheduled for:
Tuesday, August 9 – 1 to 3:30 in MCB 651
Tuesday, August 23 – 1 to 3:30, Room TBA
Thursday, Sept. 8th – 1 to 3:30, Room TBA
The Contract expires August 31st, but we may have to extend;
AFT (representing the adjuncts) has extended until Oct. 31.
Mary King, AAUP-PSU VP for Collective Bargaining on behalf of the Bargaining Team (Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly, Ron Narode as well as Jonathan Uto and Phil Lesch)
June 27, 2011
Bargaining Session #5, on Monday, June 20th was devoted primarily to
* Article 16: Institutional Career Support/Peer Review
Peer review needs to be better funded for this process to support meaningful mid-career projects
* Article 17: Academic Professional Faculty
APs need room to grow on the job, in terms of salary and professional development
July will be devoted to working in small, joint groups, hashing out proposal language, hopefully on
* Article 17: Academic Professional Faculty - salary steps?
* Article 18: Fixed Term Faculty - more multi-year or indefinite length contracts
Next Bargaining Session, #6: August 9th, 1 to 3:30, in a Smith Room TBA
No formal agenda yet set - most likely dedicated to
* presentation of any proposals resulting from small group discussions in July
* Administration reaction to Howard Bunsis' assessment of PSU finances
they've been working on it since May 20.......!
We'll keep you posted about the room - come observe, if you possibly can!
Mary King, for the Bargaining Team (Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly & Ron Narode, with Jonathan Uto and Phil Lesch - ex officio)
June 13, 2011
BARGAINING SESSION #4, was June 8th, FOCUSED ON SALARY and BENEFITS
We were told that raising faculty salaries is an often reiterated priority of the President and Provost....
We answered that while we HAVE often heard this, we see no EVIDENCE that faculty are a priority at PSU:
* our pay is in the bottom 20% of the profession
* we have barely budged against our comparators over that last decade, while
* significant progress IS being made in administrative numbers and salaries, as well as physical expansion
* enrollment, tuition and external funding have all risen dramatically
* PSU has been adding millions to reserves every year - at the end of '09/'10 PSU had over $60 million in unrestricted net assets; a one percent pay raise for every AP, fixed term faculty member and tenure-related faculty member costs about $1m......
To be competitive at all, PSU needs to
* make up for what we've lost in furlough and wage freezes
* keep us up with the cost of living over the coming biennium
* maintain full funding of health care and PERS
* move us closer to our comparators and keep us moving forward!
* take real leadership for our faculty, students, staff and University!
BARGAINING SESSION #5, will be Monday, June 20th, 1 - 3 pm, 650U MCB, and will focus on
1. AP Issues: need room for promotion; pay for education, experience and performance
also limits to out-of-schedule work and comp time off, an option to cash out accumulated vacation pay,
and easier re-classification
2. Fixed-term Faculty issues: need more job security!
PSU Admin has expressed interest in our proposal of indefinite contracts, like AP contracts, with 120 days notice
if you've worked at PSU 1 to 3 years, 180 days notice if you've worked at PSU 3 years or more
3. Leave Issues: need the ability to borrow sick leave for paid family medical leave,
a catastrophic leave bank, the right to one year's unpaid leave for family and medical leave, and
clear right to leave for jury duty
4. Article on Progressive Sanctions - the Administration wants to make changes in this article; we'll
hear more on June 20th.
TO GET A BETTER CONTRACT, COME TO OBSERVE BARGAINING! June 20th, 1-3, 650U MCB!!!!
There was a great turnout on the 8th, with a lot of people holding signs, wearing red, wearing buttons....
That makes a HUGE difference!
The clearer it is that a lot of us care deeply about these issues, the more powerful we are at the bargaining table!!!!!
I hope to see you there on Monday the 20th! You can come in and out, if need be.
best,
Mary King, for the Bargaining Team (Sy Adler, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly, Ron Narode, Jonathan Uto)
May 30, 2011
BARGAINING SESSION #3, MAY 25th, focused on the introduction by AAUP of 2 new possible contract articles
1. Academic Quality: for progress on class sizes; faculty numbers; course loads; teaching, research and student supports, as well as faculty salaries.
2. Leaves: including provisions for borrowing sick leave to obtain a quarter's worth of paid family medical leave; the creation of a sick leave bank to help people with serious medical issues of their own or a family member; and clarifying the conditions of jury leave.
BARGAINING SESSION #4, WEDS, JUNE 8TH, WILL FOCUS ON SALARY AND BENEFITS
We've been laying the ground work on salary and benefits at each session:
* Salaries are at 82% of comparators, and far below when work load adjusted by student FTEs
* We've been on furlough and wage freeze while
- $30 million was added to reserves in '09/'10 alone
- high level admin positions and salaries keep increasing
- U of O not only didn't take furloughs, but got raises
- we have $60 million in unrestricted assets, which could be spent on anything
- Athletics loses $1m every year, after tuition and student fee subsidies of nearly $6m
* PEBB is keeping health care cost increases to about 5% - PSU can easily pay it.
* PERS should continue to be fully funded; PSU should honor the bargain it made.
We're barely a public institution - only 16% of our revenues come from the State.
With enrollment growing rapidly, tuition rising fast, and external funding climbing quickly:
WE'RE MAKING MONEY FOR PSU BUT NEITHER WE NOR THE STUDENTS ARE SEEING IT.
If PSU faculty are to make any progress, the union needs your help:
1. Come to the AAUP-PSU Annual Meeting, May 31, 4-6 pm, Simon Benson House
2. Come to a Contract Action Meeting, Thursday, June 2nd, 4-6, Rogue Hall (formerly Paccini's)
3. Come to observe bargaining, Weds., June 8th, 1-3:30 pm, 650U MCB in AAUP buttons and red shirts!
AND
4. Be sure to turn in your computer lottery form by June 1st - see www.psuaaup.net for details!
Mary King, AAUP VP for Bargining on behalf of the Bargaining Team
(Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly, Ron Narode and Jonathan Uto)
May 18, 2011
Hi All,
Thanks to Gary, for a good update of the bargaining session we held last Weds, the 11th, focused on
* low AP salaries, with little possibility of promotion
* excessive demands for APs--especially advisors--to work overload on weekends and evenings
PSU's priorities are mixed up:
* faculty need a raise of 25% to reach comparators, make up for last round's wage cut and freeze, and counter
inflation in the next two years
* administration is expanding rapidly, in numbers and in pay
* we throw away $1million a year in general ed funding on Athletics, as well as dedicating $2.6m to athletic scholarships that could go for scholarships based on academic merit combined with financial need, and stand by while students fees fill another $3 m hole in athletic funding, while tuition and fees are climbing fast.
* reserves are being built up while faculty and staff are on furlough, tuition is being raised and class sizes are growing
To learn more about the priorities PSU is pursuing, come hear Howard Bunsis, JD, MBA, PhD in Accounting, present "The Financial Condition of PSU: Are Big Academic Cuts Really Necessary?"
Friday, May 20th, 11-12:30, ASRC 620/630 (top floor of the student rec center building)
And come to observe bargaining on Weds, May25th, 1 to 3:30 pm in 650U MCB - Numbers are Strength!
best,
Mary King for the Bargaining Team ( Sy Adler, David Hansen, Anh Ly, Ron Narode, Bob LIebman, Jon Uto)
April 28, 2011
Hi Everybody!
We participated in our first bargaining session for the 2011-2013 contract yesterday, primarily stating our principles on the issues of salary, benefits, improved job security for fixed-term faculty and issues related to professional development.
We'll re-visit all of these, and start conversations about the need for room for growth for APs, and leave issues, in our next session on Weds, May 11th from 1 to 3:30. If you can come to observe for any part of that session, please let me know! It's very helpful to have additional members of the bargaining unit in the room.
Our central point is the neglect of faculty, APs and academic quality while the administration has been pursuing other priorities - that needs to change! For evidence on that point, have a look at the flyer below - suitable for printing and posting!!!! (all data comes from OUS and PSU Fact Books, available on the web, except for administrative salary data, which was provided to the AAUP by the administration in response to a formal information request.)
The main thing we heard yesterday is that there is no plan whatsoever to improve wages and working (learning) conditions at PSU, only the plans of which we're all aware: to raise enrollment, to increase the proportion of out-of-state students, to increase campus housing, to expand physically to South Waterfront, to increase external funding, etc., etc., etc.
For further updates, discussion and contract action planning, please come to Paccini's at 4 pm on Thursday, May 5th. We'll meet on the food side, to be able to include any younger members of the bargaining unit and hear each other!
best,
Mary King, for the Bargaining Team (Sy Adler, David Hansen, Anh Ly, Ron Narode and Jonathan Uto)
April 21, 2011
Dear AAUP-PSU Members!
We are heading into bargaining next week on Weds April 27th, which is why I imagine that we've been hearing such doleful budget presentations.
But the external auditors report for '09/'10 - you may remember the year we were on furlough? PSU booked a net income, a surplus of over $17 million! We were right - enrollment went way up, tuition went up, research funding went up, and PSU made money.
At the outside, they could have given faculty and APs a 17% raise, at approximately $1m = 1% across the board salary increase. That might have gone some way to bring us up from earning 82% of what our comparators do.....maybe fewer of our searches would have failed....
We'll need your help to make them pay us, rather than pursue all their other priorities. Please be ready to wear an AAUP button on bargaining days, to come to observe a bargaining session, and to use your new AAUP travel mug at all times!
We’ll be bargaining alternate Wednesdays, from 1 to 3:30 – please contact Jonathan Uto (utoj@pdx.edu) if you can come and observe!
best,
Mary King, for the AAUP Bargaining Team (Sy Adler, David Hansen, Bob Liebman, Anh Ly and Ron Narode)
p.s. if you're the sort who likes to check figures for yourself, see the OUS 2010 Annual Financial Report here, pages 50 & 51:
http://www.ous.edu/factreport/operreport
p.p.s. Buttons and travel mugs available from your unit rep, or the AAUP office in Smith 232
