By: Alvin Wilson Staffwriter
Tensions have risen between Western’s administration and the faculty union, Western Oregon University Federation of Teachers (WOUFT), over negotiations for equitable pay to non-tenure track (NTT) instructional staff.
Non-tenure track faculty members are either full-time or part-time, and are usually given teaching contracts on a term-by term basis.
The disagreement began when Western’s administration offered to give NTT instructional staff a pay increase of two percent per year, which WOUFT thought was too low.
“The administration wanted to lowball them. They offered them two percent a year, which is pathetic,” said Dr. Mark Perlman, philosophy professor and President of WOUFT.
“We told [administration] three months ago that whatever the average for tenure track faculty is, the non-tenure tracks have to get that also—so 10 percent.”
As the negotiations stand, tenure track instructional staff will get an annual pay increase of five percent per year over the next two years, totaling 10 percent by 2018.
After nearly a year of negotiating, the budget is set at giving NTT instructional staff a pay increase of five percent this year, then two percent next year for a total of seven percent by 2018.
“They offered us four percent. Then they made it six. Then, in December, they said ‘Okay, how about seven?’ And we said, ‘What part of ten did you not understand?’” said Perlman.
Dr. Bryan Dutton, biology professor and Bargaining Team Chair for WOUFT, agrees with Perlman about the need to pay all professors equitably.
“I’m just really concerned for my non-tenure track colleagues,” said Dutton. “In my area, which is biology, we have several non-tenure tracks. They teach, they work as hard, if not harder than every other faculty member.”
But Dutton said that their salaries don’t reflect that.
“Our non-tenure track colleagues are among the poorest paid faculty,” he said.
According to Chronicle Data, a website that compiles information about professor salaries, the average NTT instructor at Western makes an average of $38,133, which is more than $10,000 less than the national average.
“We’ve been having failed searches,” said Perlman. “Last year I think there were five of them. We were ready to hire someone, and when we picked who we wanted they turned us down.”
“All of those were over money,” he said. “They look at the salary at Western, and it’s just pathetically low.”
On the university’s side of the negotiations, however, things aren’t so simple.
Western’s operating revenue has been in decline, even with the budget increase they received this year. This means the school has less money to cover expenses.
In order to buffer the university from the cost of unexpected problems, administration tries to keep the operating revenue above 15 percent. It is expected to reach 15 percent this year.
“To have that safety net against what the unforeseen circumstances are in the future, we need this 15 percent fund balance,” said Dr. Stephen Scheck, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Western.
Scheck said he understands the important role that NTT staff play at the university, and wishes he could offer more money.
“The university absolutely wishes we could give more,” he said, “but we can’t print our own money, and we can’t make a risky assumption that the state will come to our rescue.”
Western will spend an estimated $1.4 million on faculty salary increases this year, according to Eric Yahnke, Vice President of Finance and Administration at Western.
Yahnke said that offering even a three percent additional raise for NTT staff could be irresponsible.
“It’s really easy for a conversation to get focused on this $210,000,” said Yahnke. “But there is risk in offering salary increases that range from seven to 16 percent per faculty and a $1.4 million cost increase in one year.”
However, WOUFT still wants a 10 percent overall salary increase for NTT staff, and they believe it is attainable with current school funds.
“They could settle for what we’ve asked them for for $210,000 more than their current offer,” Perlman said. “Out of a budget that pays, like, $45 million for salaries, $210,000 is ridiculously low.”
Perlman doesn’t agree with the administration’s reason for paying NTT staff less.
“They say, ‘Well, we’re looking to safeguard the future health of the university.’ But we’ve seen the budget,” he said. “We know all these little pockets where they’ve got money squirrelled away for pet projects. They have the $210,000, they just want to spend it on other things.”
The next step for WOUFT is legal mediation, which is scheduled for Feb. 29 and March 7.
According to Perlman, there is a possibility of a faculty strike if mediation doesn’t resolve things.
“If they don’t make a movement in our direction, then—I mean, the next thing that happens is mediation, which we’ve already called for … And then, after the 30-day cooling off period, management can just impose their last offer. And you either take it or go on strike.”
“We don’t want to do that,” he said. “I mean; I just want to do philosophy.”
Perlman noted that there is no possibility of a strike occurring this term; he said that the earliest it could happen would be at the end of April.
“If worse comes to worst, we would have to find a way to make sure that [students] get what they need,” Perlman said. “I can only guess that students would have to make up the days […] They’re not going to lose money, they’re not going to not get taught. Students don’t have to worry, we’re going to do everything we can to settle.”
Provost Scheck said that if WOU sees an increase in enrollment, WOUFT may be granted its request.
“There’s a lot of unmet value that we would love to give to the faculty, and we talk about growing enrollment so we can do more,” he said. “If we had the same enrollment that we did three or four years ago, we’d have four million more dollars to play with.”
