May 10, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Kathryn Morton, or 717-236-7486
Faculty union members at state-owned universities voted this week to ratify a side-letter of agreement for phased faculty retirement. The significant majority of APSCUF faculty members who voted favored the plan. The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties does not tally results by campus; the electronic voting was anonymous.
After members voted this Tuesday through Friday, APSCUF’s nominations-and-elections committee confirmed the results. With this step complete, the document goes to Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors for approval.
APSCUF will publish the side-letter in its next collective bargaining agreement. The current contract expires June 30, 2019, and the parties have a negotiation session scheduled for next week.
“The decision to retire is one of the hardest decisions a person has to make,” APSCUF President Dr. Kenneth M. Mash said. “This is especially true of our faculty who have dedicated their careers to educate the students of the Commonwealth and who still have more to give. We are glad that our students will continue to be the beneficiaries of these professors’ talents even as they wind down their careers. We hope that the State System’s Board of Governors will also quickly ratify the agreement.”
APSCUF represents about 5,500 faculty and coaches at the State System universities: Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania.