After almost 18 months of negotiation, I am pleased to announce that the PSU-AAUP has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with USNH. We are proud of the contract we negotiated, especially in this difficult bargaining climate. There were many changes negotiated across several articles, but I want to briefly highlight some of the changes that were negotiated:
- Workload – the new contract will protect the right of programs to offer occasional low-enrolled upper-level and graduate courses necessary to retain majors, and it guarantees that the Credit Release Calculator cannot be unilaterally changed without the agreement of faculty.
- Salary – faculty in the bargaining unit will receive a 1.5% raise into their base salary and $1000 cash (non-base) immediately upon ratification, followed by 2% raises into their base salary in July of 2022, 2023, and 2024, with another $1000 cash (non-base) in 2024. Additionally, we were able to increase the minimum salary for Assistant Professors by 4%. Additionally, the pay for overload courses was increased by 10%.
- Benefits – we will move to the same healthcare plan that the rest of USNH is on and retirement matching for current faculty will go from 10% to 9% (and 8% for faculty hired after July 2022).
- Retrenchment – the new contract will include language to make decision-making around program-curtailment more transparent and to involve the organs of shared governance.
- P&T – the new contract clarifies several details of the P&T process and will require P&T committees to include two members from outside the AU.
The fully updated text of the contract will be available soon for AAUP members to review. Next week, the Ratification Team will announce details of the ratification process that will include a Zoom meeting for AAUP members on February 16, 5-6:30, where the Negotiating Team will discuss changes. The Ratification Team will be led by Anne Jung Matthews, and includes Nic Helms, Jennifer Kamorowski, Rebecca Noel, and Alice Pearman.
Thanks for your patience throughout this very long process, and special thanks to the AAUP members whose work on research teams and the Executive Committee provided important support for the bargaining process. Most of all, thanks to Scott Coykendall, Lead Negotiator, and to all the members of the Negotiating Team: Liz Ahl, Michael Davidson, Gary Goodnough, Kimberly Livingstone, Barbara McCahan, and Justin Wright. We look forward to ratifying the contract soon!
Solidarity,
Nic Helms, PSU-AAUP President
