Nov. 18, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Kathryn Morton, or 717-236-7486
Faculty members and coaches at state-owned universities will vote Monday through Wednesday, Dec. 5–7, on whether to ratify their respective tentative contract agreements. The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties will tally votes Thursday, Dec. 8, in its Harrisburg office.
APSCUF will release contract details after the documents are ratified by both its members and Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
The faculty negotiations team reached its three-year tentative agreement Oct. 21. To preserve quality education, APSCUF accepted concessions to salary and 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.
After several weeks of lawyers finalizing language, delegates from all 14 campuses met Nov. 16 via a special legislative assembly conference call and voted 89-7 to recommend the tentative agreement move forward to membership for ratification.
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. APSCUF’s executive council voted today to move the tentative agreement forward to coach membership for ratification.
If a majority of members vote in favor of ratifying their respective contracts, the documents go to the State System’s Board of Governors for approval.
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.