Dec. 20, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Kathryn Morton, or 717-236-7486
Faculty and coach contracts are nearly ready for the printer after Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education ratified the documents in today’s Board of Governors meeting. State System Chancellor Frank Brogan, Board of Governors Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira, and Dr. Kenneth M. Mash, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, signed the agreements this morning at Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.
“We are glad this process is complete so our faculty and coaches can begin the new year focused on their students and doing what they do best,” Mash said. “Our next step is to determine how our future negotiations can be more constructive and efficient.”
APSCUF will post the full contracts on its website in the coming days.
Faculty and coach APSCUF members ratified their respective agreements in on-campus votes early this month.
The faculty negotiations team reached its three-year tentative agreement Oct. 21. To preserve quality education, APSCUF accepted concessions to benefits in exchange for eliminating most of the 249 changes the State System proposed in June. Also for the sake of students, APSCUF agreed to a salary package that was lower than that of other unions.
Coaches, who bargain separately, reached their tentative agreement Oct. 27. The four-year deal provides reasonable salary increases for coach members while keeping the costs of their healthcare plan affordable, APSCUF Coach Executive Leader John Gump said that day.
Negotiations for the next faculty contract will begin in August 2017. Both previous contracts expired June 30, 2015, and negotiations had been ongoing since late 2014.
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.