2008 Woodie Awards
Union members closing in on final contract
By Amy Kelly
Rocket News Editor
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: News
With the results of the four-month long negotiation process to be revealed this Tuesday, Slippery Rock University Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty members are not in agreement about the contract on the table.
SRU's seven delegates voted 5-2 last weekend to recommend the tentative agreement during an APSCUF Legislative Assembly meeting in Monroeville. Overall, the state system delegates on hand voted 61-43 to recommend the agreement, with two abstentions. Thomas Daddesio, Itzi Meztli, Derrick Pitard, Wilma Cavill and Catherine Massey voted to positively recommend the tentative agreement, while Amy Walters and Mark Banks voted to give the contract a negative recommendation.
"The reason that I voted to give the contract a positive recommendation is that while there were a lot of problems within the contract, especially in terms of dealing with temporary faculty, it seems to me that a strike would be disastrous," said Pitard, an associate professor of English.
Pay raises, unlike the placement of temporary faculty, are one aspect that members are agreeing on.
"I feel that we were still able to negotiate a decent contract," said Itzi Meztli, an assistant professor of English. "It still allows us pay raises beginning in the second, third and fourth years, of at least 3 percent. Our summer pay over the four years is going up at least 11 percent, too, and healthcare costs for faculty are only going up 5 percent, and that's only in the fourth year."
Amy Walters, assistant professor of communication and Mark Banks, professor of communication, both expressed their displeasure with a few aspects of the contract's legal language.
"The 25 percent full-time equivalent cap is a disadvantage to the faculty," Walters said. "This allows universities that aren't at 25 percent temporary faculty cap yet to raise up to it."
In the contract, every full-time professor can be replaced with up to four temporary professors.
"It is a time-consuming process to hire temporary professors who might only be at the university for a year," Walters said. "Temporary professors also do not have to be an adviser or be involved in campus organizations."
Many of the professors that voted for a positive recommendation feel a strike would only damage the university, and that the time for doing so has come and gone.
"The alternative is that if we don't approve it, we're going to have to take a job action," Meztli said. "The faculty would be at a disadvantage to do that. It won't help us to engage in a job action in the middle of the semester, because student and public opinion will turn against us."
Professors at the 14 state schools received the legal language of the contract Sept. 24. Voting began on Tuesday and ran through Wednesday.
"It wasn't enough time to look at all the information and make a vote," Walters said.
With the vote being so close, APSCUF members feel that the contract will be approved when the final tally is made.
"The vote will favor the contract," Banks said.
Catherine Massey, an associate professor of psychology, said she understands her counterparts' viewpoint.
"But once again, I think that if we don't ratify the contract, we would be worse off," Massey said. "I think the contract overall is a decent contract."
Another aspect that led Walters and Banks to vote against the tentative agreement is because of the summer pay increase.
"We will only be paid on the 2001 pay-raise scale," Banks said. "Do you think they charge students tuition on the 2001 scale?"
Friction between members who voted against it and those who voted for it seems to be evident on campus.
"What I saw at the assembly on Friday and Saturday was that people who are against the contract are very much vocal about it, and those that are for it are very vocal about it as well," Massey said. "There is some tension because of that."
Additional reporting by Caleb Pardick.
SRU's seven delegates voted 5-2 last weekend to recommend the tentative agreement during an APSCUF Legislative Assembly meeting in Monroeville. Overall, the state system delegates on hand voted 61-43 to recommend the agreement, with two abstentions. Thomas Daddesio, Itzi Meztli, Derrick Pitard, Wilma Cavill and Catherine Massey voted to positively recommend the tentative agreement, while Amy Walters and Mark Banks voted to give the contract a negative recommendation.
"The reason that I voted to give the contract a positive recommendation is that while there were a lot of problems within the contract, especially in terms of dealing with temporary faculty, it seems to me that a strike would be disastrous," said Pitard, an associate professor of English.
Pay raises, unlike the placement of temporary faculty, are one aspect that members are agreeing on.
"I feel that we were still able to negotiate a decent contract," said Itzi Meztli, an assistant professor of English. "It still allows us pay raises beginning in the second, third and fourth years, of at least 3 percent. Our summer pay over the four years is going up at least 11 percent, too, and healthcare costs for faculty are only going up 5 percent, and that's only in the fourth year."
Amy Walters, assistant professor of communication and Mark Banks, professor of communication, both expressed their displeasure with a few aspects of the contract's legal language.
"The 25 percent full-time equivalent cap is a disadvantage to the faculty," Walters said. "This allows universities that aren't at 25 percent temporary faculty cap yet to raise up to it."
In the contract, every full-time professor can be replaced with up to four temporary professors.
"It is a time-consuming process to hire temporary professors who might only be at the university for a year," Walters said. "Temporary professors also do not have to be an adviser or be involved in campus organizations."
Many of the professors that voted for a positive recommendation feel a strike would only damage the university, and that the time for doing so has come and gone.
"The alternative is that if we don't approve it, we're going to have to take a job action," Meztli said. "The faculty would be at a disadvantage to do that. It won't help us to engage in a job action in the middle of the semester, because student and public opinion will turn against us."
Professors at the 14 state schools received the legal language of the contract Sept. 24. Voting began on Tuesday and ran through Wednesday.
"It wasn't enough time to look at all the information and make a vote," Walters said.
With the vote being so close, APSCUF members feel that the contract will be approved when the final tally is made.
"The vote will favor the contract," Banks said.
Catherine Massey, an associate professor of psychology, said she understands her counterparts' viewpoint.
"But once again, I think that if we don't ratify the contract, we would be worse off," Massey said. "I think the contract overall is a decent contract."
Another aspect that led Walters and Banks to vote against the tentative agreement is because of the summer pay increase.
"We will only be paid on the 2001 pay-raise scale," Banks said. "Do you think they charge students tuition on the 2001 scale?"
Friction between members who voted against it and those who voted for it seems to be evident on campus.
"What I saw at the assembly on Friday and Saturday was that people who are against the contract are very much vocal about it, and those that are for it are very vocal about it as well," Massey said. "There is some tension because of that."
Additional reporting by Caleb Pardick.
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