While the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties has scheduled a vote Sept. 7 to 9 that could call a faculty strike, the Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is hopeful to make progress toward an agreement in contract negotiations.
“The State System remains committed to bargaining in good faith with APSCUF in order to achieve an agreement that is fair to everyone-most important, to our students,” according to a PASSHE issued statement. “While we recognize and appreciate the extraordinary contributions our faculty make to the success of our students and our universities, we also must take into account the serious fiscal challenges the universities are facing. Even more important, we must acknowledge the strain that rising tuition is putting on our students and their families.”
Several additional bargaining sessions are scheduled with the faculty union.
“The action taken by the APSCUF leadership to schedule a strike authorization vote among its membership follows past practice by the faculty union. Similar votes have been taken during each of the previous four rounds of contract negotiations,” according to the PASSHE statement. “Everyone should know that any decision to call a strike would rest solely with the faculty union. We would hope the APSCUF leadership understands-as we do-the devastating impact a strike would have on students and their futures, as well as on the universities.”
Kenn Marshall, Media Relations Manager, PASSHE Office of the Chancellor, responded to coverage of the Move-In Day event Aug. 27 at Kutztown University at which KU ASPCUF faculty handed out letters to students and parents about contract negotiations.
Marshall wanted to respond specifically to APSCUF-Kutztown Spokesperson and PR Chair Dan Spiegel’s statement, “While PASSHE continues to claim they are negotiating in good faith, it took them more than a year to offer their first proposal,” published in the Aug. 31 Kutztown Patriot article.
“This is not true,” said Marshall.
“Proposals were exchanged as far back as March 2015. The State System last October offered APSCUF a one-year extension of the last contract, which had expired in June 2015. The offer mirrored that already agreed to by other State System unions, and included cash payments or raises that would have taken effect on Jan. 1, 2016 in exchange for changes to the System-administered healthcare plan,” said Marshall.
“APSCUF rejected the offer and instead submitted a counterproposal that would have had its members receive the raises without any changes to its healthcare plan (even though those changes have been made for all other System employees covered by the plan, including our university health center nurses, campus police and security officers and all non-represented employees). The System repeated its offer in April; APSCUF again rejected the proposal,” said Marshall.
Marshall explained further that in late spring, “after it had become apparent that an extension was no longer practical,” the PASSHE and APSCUF began negotiating toward a long-term agreement.
Marshall said that the State System presented a comprehensive proposal to APSCUF on June 10. APSCUF provided a seven-page summary of general concepts it wanted to have included in a new contract.
“Since then, the two sides have exchanged various additional proposals and counterproposals. We did present our first monetary package as part of a long-term agreement last week, calling for faculty to receive cash payments this year and raises in each of the next two years,” he said.
Also, Marshall said there is nothing in the State System proposal that would require any student to take a course via distance education, as the union has claimed.
“It is designed to help ensure they have the opportunity to do so if they desire. The proposal would ensure that the universities are able to provide access to programs that meet student needs on-campus, off-campus, and online. It is designed to meet the needs of traditional learners and adult learners and is articulated in the State System’s Strategic Plan 2020: Rising to the Challenge. Distance education has changed with emerging technologies. The State System’s proposal is to modernize the antiquated language in the CBA, much of which is more than a decade old,” said Marshall.
Marshall said it was important to reiterate that the upcoming strike authorization vote is not a vote for a strike itself. “The union leadership would have to make that decision at a later date.”
At Move-In Day at KU, APSCUF-Kutztown faculty handed out a letter about contract negotiations to KU students and parents. APSCUF faculty have been working more than 400 days without a contract.
The APSCUF letter cited that PASSHE proposals include increasing the teaching load of temporary faculty by 25 percent without an increase in compensation and removing the faculty role in many aspects of decision making about course content and delivery.
“These and other PASSHE proposals shortsightedly aim to balance the budget at the expense of quality education. They would affect not only current students, but also alumni, as the proposals, if implemented, will do great harm to our universities’ reputations,” states the APSCUF letter. “The strike that we are making every effort to avoid is preferable to permitting the institutions to which the faculties of APSCUF have dedicated their careers to be reduced to mere training grounds for workers.”
PASSHE tells a different story.
The State System presented to APSCUF on Aug. 25 a proposal that would provide a cash payment to all full-time permanent and temporary faculty this year and raises in each of the following two years-all contingent on cost savings, according to a PASSHE release.
Another proposal is to implement the same healthcare plan design changes for faculty that were applied in January to other State System employees. Also, the workload for temporary faculty would be redefined.
In the release, Marshall states, “All full-time faculty are currently responsible for teaching the equivalent of four courses each semester and for conducting research and providing service to the university. The State System is proposing that temporary full-time faculty teach one additional course per semester. In exchange, research and service would be eliminated from their workload.”
“This will enable temporary faculty to focus on their core purpose-providing excellent instruction to our students,” said Marshall. “Redefining the workload of temporary faculty is intended to both produce overall cost savings for the universities and help ensure students have access to the courses they need to graduate on time.”
According to the PASSHE release, part-time, temporary faculty would continue to be paid on a prorated basis for the number of courses they teach.
“While the proposal would reduce the amount paid per course as a result of eliminating the requirement for research and service, the rate would continue to be well above the average amount paid by other colleges and universities in the region and nation.”
Also, temporary faculty who teach at least four courses per semester would continue to be eligible to receive the same package of healthcare coverage as regular, full-time faculty.
In a PASSHE release, Marshall stated that faculty salaries continue to rank in the top 10 to 15 percent among their peers nationally.
“While we are proud that our faculty are compensated so well, we also acknowledge that rising tuition is putting a strain on students and their families. We need to work together to control our costs in order to keep a State System university education affordable,” said Marshall.
