By: Alvin Wilson Staff Writer
After nearly a year of debating, and just before the mediation date, WOUFT and Western’s administration have come to an agreement.
The university decided to give the union what it has been asking for: a 10 percent pay increase for non-tenure-track faculty.
“The University did indeed accept our offer as is, with non-tenure-track faculty getting five percent each year for the two year contract, which was the 10 percent we were holding out for,” said Mark Perlman, president of WOUFT. “And no other take-backs in other areas,” Perlman added.
The previous offer from the university included cuts to things such as faculty development and traveling funds, but the proposal that the university accepted gave NTT faculty their raises without the need for cuts.
According to Perlman, this is a much-needed move forward.
“WOU salaries will go up over $50,000 for the step one assistant professors, which is essential for us to be able to hire new faculty,” he said.
“But even with all of this, WOU faculty salaries will still be about 15 percent below comparable universities, so there is still progress to be made in the future to get WOU faculty salaries where they should be.”
According to Glassdoor.com, a website that compiles information about salaries, the average salary for an assistant professor at Western is $50,746. At the University of Oregon, assistant professors make $69,884, and at Oregon State University they make $87,948.
Not all of the schools in Oregon are comparable because of their size differences, but Western’s assistant professor pay is already 39 percent below the national average, according to Glassdoor.
Not all assistant professors at Western are non-tenure-track, but there are a considerable amount who are, and they will soon have a more competitive salary.
Perlman said he was happy about the success, but even happier that the negotiations are over.
“The whole bargaining team is happy to conclude bargaining, and there are a lot of good things in the new collective bargaining agreement,” he said.
He continued to say that the union had gained many new members over the course of the negotiations, but Perlman said it’s now time to think about finals week.
“The members of the bargaining team are going to get a welcome break from union activity, and need to focus on grading papers and final exams,” he said. “They did a lot of work in bargaining, and deserve a huge amount of credit.”
Perlman said on Tuesday that the deal had not been finalized by the other union members yet, but he was confident they would support it.
“The formal contract ratification vote by the union members is set for Thursday afternoon,” he said, “but I have no doubt that they will approve it.”
Contact the author at awilson15@wou.edu or on Twitter @awilsonjournal
