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More than 95% of members in Portland State University’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors voted Tuesday to ratify a new contract with the university.
The 1,172-member union approved the contract with more than 70% of members participating in the vote, says David Kinsella, the PSU-AAUP vice president for collective bargaining. Negotiations had proven fraught at times over the 10 months of bargaining, and the approval helped PSU narrowly dodge what could have been the first faculty strike in university history.
“We’re certainly happy,” Kinsella says. “It was a long, arduous, and often contentious negotiating round, more so than in recent past rounds. So we’re all a bit relieved, but it’s a good contract.”
Kinsella says the union entered an impasse with PSU over two outstanding issues: cost-of-living adjustments in the first year of the contract, and layoff protections. The university and the union reached agreements on both.
The new contract ensures a 5% cost-of-living adjustment on the first $75,000 of pay, a 1.5% adjustment on the next $25,000, and 0.5% on the next $50,000. (Guaranteed adjustments extend beyond the first year of the contract, at different rates.)
The contract will also provide nontenure-track faculty and academic professionals longer layoff notices. It also requires layoff notices for all types of faculty if the layoffs are caused by a reduction or elimination of a department at the university. Kinsella says that longer times will ensure the university tries to place those laid off in alternative appointments and, in a worst-case scenario, buys more time for a job search.
“Academic jobs are hard to get, and to lose one can be pretty devastating,” Kinsella says. “To have a longer period of time to figure out how to land on your feet is a good thing.”
While the union’s mostly pleased with its contract, Kinsella and other leaders have expressed concern that PSU has proceeded with its decision to lay off 17 nontenure-track faculty. Days after reaching a tentative agreement, members learned PSU’s projected budget deficit for its education and general fund this year was $3.1 million less than forecasted.
Kinsella says the cost savings from those 17 layoffs was $2.2 million. PSU’s AAUP is teaming up with the university’s Faculty Senate to ask for those reserves to be redirected to rehiring some of those 17 faculty members. “To see the budget deficit forecast reduced by more than the annual savings of the laid-off faculty was a bit of a disappointment,” he says.
PSU spokeswoman Katy Swordfisk says the university anticipates more money than its projections forecast, which she attributes to “stronger-than-expected investment earnings as a result of fluctuating market returns, which are hard to predict a year in advance.”
But Swordfisk says PSU, which is experiencing a loss in state revenue because of declining enrollment, is still operating with a $14.9 million deficit this year. Next year, she says the university will operate at a $13 million loss despite cuts, including the layoffs of those 17 nontenure-track faculty.
She adds: “While these actions are expected to generate savings, they do not impact this year’s financials, as employees affected by the layoffs remain under contract through June 15.”