University faculty takes one step closer to strike
WEST CHESTER >> Faculty and athletic coaches in the state-owned system of higher education, including West Chester and Cheyney universities, moved one step closer to a strike Thursday after the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties announced faculty members could cast votes to authorize a strike from Sept. 7-9, and athletic coaches from Sept. 14-15.
The decision, made by the union’s legislative assembly, is a move frequently made during ongoing contract negotiations and comes only days before classes across the state-owned system of higher education start next week. The union and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education both stated they hope to avoid a strike.
“Our faculty and coaches clearly feel that the State System has not negotiated fairly; they are more interested in playing games than negotiating seriously,” wrote APSCUF President Kenneth M. Mash. “It is completely unfair to our students for the State System to continue to drag this process out. Eventually, there will be a contract. We don’t know what the State System gains by continually creating distractions.”
Later on Thursday, state system officials announced they offered the union a cash payment to full-time and temporary faculty for this year, and raises the next two, but noted the offer was contingent upon cost savings. In a follow-up phone interview, state system spokesman Kenn Marshall said both tenured and tenure-track faculty would receive $600, followed by a 1 percent raise in January 2018, and another 1 percent raise in 2019 with a step increase.
Depending on the seniority of the faculty member, he or she would receive either a 5 percent or 2.5 percent raise in 2019, he said.
In response to the strike authorization vote, Marshall issued a statement via email which reads in part:
“The State System remains committed to bargaining in good faith with APSCUF in order to achieve an agreement that is fair to everyone — most important, to our students. While we recognize and appreciate the extraordinary contributions our faculty make to the success of our students and our universities, we also must take into account the serious fiscal challenges the universities are facing. Even more important, we must acknowledge the strain that rising tuition is putting on our students and their families.”
Mash, however, said the system wants to substitute credentialed faculty for graduate students and push online education. He said when it comes to funding for public education, Pennsylvania is ranked 48th.
“The State System wants to have graduate students teach, increase the use of temporary faculty, force students into distance-education courses, and cut the pay for those at the very bottom of the pay scale,” Mash wrote. “We will, if the system gives us no other option, stand up for our students, our universities, and ourselves.”
Several additional steps must take place before faculty and coaches go on strike. If a majority vote in September to authorize a strike, a 10-vote majority from the negotiations committee must approve of a strike. Then the union president notifies members of a strike date.
According to the union, full members pay 1.15 percent of their salary as their union dues; fair share members pay 1.012 percent.
WCU and Cheyney University are two of the state system’s 14 state-owned schools. Cheyney is located in Thornbury of both Delaware and Chester counties.