APSCUF faculty members and coaches at Pennsylvania’s 14 state-operated universities voted to accept new four-year contract agreements with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).A tentative pact reached July 2 barely prevented a threat to walkout by the professors. According to the Daily Local News, each of the professors were scheduled to receive an immediate $1,750 cash bonus, “followed by raises of three percent in the second and third years of the contract and four percent in the fourth year.” A total of 3,871 faculty members or 77.3 percent of those eligible, took part in the election. The final tally shows 2,699 (69.7 percent) voted for ratification, while 1,172 (30.3 percent) opposed the pact. The last contract ratification vote in 2004 yielded similar results when 72 percent voted to ratify; 28 percent voted not to. Over 75 percent of eligible coaches participated in the ratification vote, and the pact was ratified by a 200-7 margin. Campus voting was conducted on the campuses from Oct. 1-4. The final contract was agreed to on Oct. 9, 2007.
“The faculty vote indicates acceptance of the terms of this agreement,” said state APSCUF President Pat Heilman. “Faculty weighed the pros and the cons of this agreement and decided the pros outweighed the cons.”
“The coaches’ contract, their third, is a solid one, providing sound raises and some monetary acknowledgement of some coaches’ longevity with their universities,” Heilman said. “The language on compensatory time, a new addition to this contract, assures coaches will be remunerated for all of the extra hours they put in assisting our student-athletes.”
Even though the vote was final and the contract for PASSHE- APSCUF will run through June 30, 2011, Clifford Johnston, APSCUF-WCU President said there are still some technical issues that need to be worked out.
“The vote was the closest it’s ever been, and even though we have come to an agreement there are still some technical changes that need to be worked out,” Johnston explained.
Johnston said that they are working on the changes but the contract will be for four years.
It seemed as though the contract was taking a little longer than expected to be signed and come to an equal agreement. “There was some discrepancy on the wording in the contract regarding salaries, but students have nothing to worry about,” Johnston said.
Since the contract will last until 2011, students should not worry about the cancellation of their classes or if the same thing should happen to damage their path to graduation.
Numerous students plan to graduate in the spring ’08 and if there had been strike it would have affected not only the faculty but commencement may have been held back for several WCU students.
Katie Barbian, a fourth-year student at WCU, was almost affected by the strike as her summer classes she thought may be taken away from her.
“I had a certain amount of credits I needed to fill and classes that I had to take, and I was very nervous when I thought there was going to be a strike because it would have held me back from graduating,” Barbian said. “I also live out of state so I would have to pay even more for my tuition.”
This agreement that has finally been reached is an improvement over the last contract and students can rest assure in hopes that things will be looking up for the next four years.
Megan Careless is a fourth year student majoring in liberal studies with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at MC591446@wcupa.edu.