A new contract offer from Oakland University to the teachers’ union was rejected at the last collective bargaining session on Thursday.
During the mediator-led meeting, OU offered Oakland University’s American Association of University Professors (OU-AAUP) union a contract that included salary increases of 14.25% over five years, as well as increases in travel grants and research stipends.
The union rejected the offer. A further meeting between both sides and the mediator is not planned until August 28. The current contract has also been extended until then. Classes are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, September 4.
“I don’t think the faculty would object to merit increases, but we are much more concerned about the inflation-related erosion of everyone’s salaries and that has to be addressed first and that is not done through merit increases,” said Mike Latcha, AAUP section president.
The university outlined its proposal in a statement.
Year 1: 4% benefit increase plus a lump sum payment of $1,000 if the contract is completed by August 15
Year 2: 2.75% performance increase
Year 3: 2% benefit increase plus $300,000 for market adjustments (which represents an additional 0.5% increase)
Year 4: 2.5% performance increase
Year 5: 2.5% performance increase
“In the hope of finding a sustainable deal that rewards faculty for their important efforts, OU has also agreed to withdraw its proposal for determining performance pay and significantly change its position on adjunct faculty teaching loads,” the university’s statement said. “Nevertheless, OU-AAUP has rejected the deal.”
In a statement posted on its website, the union explained why it rejected the offer.
“The employer proposes to change the current merit system (rating 1-5) so that only 10-15% of full-time faculty receive a performance rating of 5 and only 20-25% receive a 4,” the statement said. “This would have resulted in lower ratings and salaries for over 300 members. This not only has the effect of undermining the merit system, but would also lead to economic bias and discrimination.”
The university claims that if OU accepts the union’s current salary proposal – a three-year contract with a 4% pay increase based on performance criteria – it would cost it $21.8 million over three years.
“For OU to consider this package, it would have to consider a tuition increase of more than 10% per year,” the school said. “When all compensation and benefit improvements are taken into account, OU’s offer would result in additional costs of at least $13 million over five years.”
Latcha said there was another reason for rejecting the offer.
“They’ve got 14.25% on the table for five years. If you take inflation into account and subtract the current contract, teachers have lost 13% of their salary over the last three years,” Latcha said. “That would be a net 1% increase for the next five years that would be immediately eaten up by inflation and then locked in for the next four and a half years, and we just can’t take that risk.”
The union also said the offer of $300,000 in the third year to adjust to the market was not enough.
“They have offered a market match in the third year of the contract, even though it is only funded at $300,000, far less than the more than $3,000,000 needed to close the gap between Oakland and comparable institutions,” the union said.
Although the union is willing to meet directly with the university before the next round of collective bargaining, they claim the OU is not ready to do so.
“Despite the employer’s refusal to meet in the coming weeks, our team will continue to work together toward a fair and equitable contract,” the union said.
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