Deal or No Deal

[February 27th, 2008]

Portland State University’s 1,060 full-time faculty members are ramping up efforts to win public support in their 11-month battle with administrators for higher salaries (see “Class War,” WW, Jan. 9, 2008).

“The perception of the work we do and the reality are very, very different,” says Randy Blazak, a tenured associate professor of sociology, explaining the need for more visibility.

The profs’ increasingly public campaign comes on the heels of a tentative two-year agreement reached last week between PSU and its other faculty union, the one representing the university’s 1,200 part-time teachers.

That deal, brokered after 10 months of negotiations, raised wages 5 percent from $676 to $710 per credit hour. For those part-time teachers —represented by the American Federation of Teachers —top salaries also increased 5 percent, from $13,520 to $14,200.

PSU’s full-time, tenured and adjunct faculty, represented by the local chapter of the Association of University Professors, want an across-the-board salary increase but can’t discuss details. PSU’s top-ranking professors are low-paid compared with their counterparts at peer institutions. Their average annual salary of $61,500 is $5,000 below their counterparts at Oregon State University, and $7,400 below University of Oregon.

Averages are even lower for adjunct and associate profs who make up most of the full-time faculty. At a rally earlier this month in the Park Blocks, more than 100 full-time professors turned up the volume on their critique of the administration’s proposals so far.

It’s about to get louder.

On March 7, professors wearing red T-shirts with slogans from their union will attend an Oregon University System meeting to show support for their cause.

And unless their contract—which expired last June—is renewed before then, professors will also be rallying outside PSU’s annual fundraiser at the Oregon Convention Center on April 1. There’s now talk of a strike, which would be a first at PSU.

University officials can’t comment on the ongoing mediation except to say another session will be held March 6.

Some professors are optimistic last week’s deal with the part-time faculty signals an appropriate contract is on the horizon for the full-time faculty. “When people begin talking about a strike,” says Michael Flower, a tenured professor and developmental biologist, “that’s difficult for me to imagine…. It puts students in the middle.”