Summary of the Proposed Contract |
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Island University Faculty Federation Summary of Proposed Contract Offer September 12, 2003
· Beginning September 2004, all full-time faculty will have an 18 credit load (3/3) for each academic year. Overload will be permitted for all faculty and the rules for outside employment that are currently in effect for those on the 24 credit load (4/4) will apply to all faculty. · Effective 9/2004, no additional release time will be granted for research, scholarship or faculty development. · Release time for chairpersons will be phased out in Years 2 & 3. All faculty members elected to the position of chair beginning 9/2004 or later will receive stipends instead of release time. The stipend amount will equal a minimum of the previous stipend for that department + the overload rate multiplied by the number of release time credits currently awarded to chair in that department (usually 6 or 12). For example, suppose Professor Jones (a full professor) was elected Chair of her department in 2002, and given 6 credits release time plus a stipend of $2000 per year. If she were re-elected in 2005, she would receive $2000 + 6 x $1162 (the per credit overload rate for a full professor) for a total of $8972. Faculty members serving out a term of chair during this contract (elected beginning 2001, 2002, and 2003) will not be affected by these changes. · As with past contracts, release time and/or stipends for administrative roles such as coordinating graduate or interdisciplinary programs, participating in committees, etc. will be granted at the discretion of the administration. Such arrangements are not governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). · In lieu of the 18 credit load, librarians will be awarded an additional month of holidays per year in order (to pursue scholarly activities) with no restrictions on overload. · There is no change in the permissible workload for adjuncts.
· A 4% raise
in base salary rate will be granted in each year of the contract. A benefit trust fund will be legally established for adjuncts by the Union for the sole benefit of adjuncts. In each year, the administration will provide the benefit trust fund with $25,000 + a variable amount. The variable amount is determined by a formula agreed to by the union and administration and will result in an additional sum of about $20,000 to $25,000 each year. Thus, the administration will contribute 45-50K each year to the fund. In Year 1, the Union will contribute to the fund an amount equal to that provided by the administration. In total, the adjunct fund is expected to receive approximately $100K in Year 1, and approximately $50K in Years 2 & 3 for the benefit of the adjunct faculty. The total budget for adjunct faculty per year is in the neighborhood of five million dollars. · No deductions will be made from adjunct salaries for the days the Union was on strike.
· Raises will be 2%*, 4%, 4% in Years 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The first year raise is on top of the parity adjustment made to salaries in August, 2003 that was designed to retain parity with C. W. Post in the previous contract. · Rank Payments will be distributed yearly as a bonus, and will not accrue to base pay. The schedule of rank payments for the Year 1 is: Instructor - $225; Assistant - $300; Associate - $375; Full - $475. The pool of money available for rank payments will contain $50K + a variable amount (about 42K in Year 1). The variable amount is determined by a formula agreed to by the union and administration and will change somewhat from year to year. · Deductions
will be made from full-time members' salaries for the days the Union
was on strike. If this contract is agreed to, six days pay out of a
total of 175 instructional days will be deducted (3.4% of the new base
salary). · Minimum salaries for newly hired full-time faculty will increase by 1% each year. · Overload rates will increase by 4% per year. · The rate of reimbursement for teaching per capita courses such as independent study, tutorials, and theses will increase by 1% each year of the contract.
· The Membership as a whole must make a decision on healthcare within sixty days. The Union as a whole must choose Option A or Option B as shown below. No other options will be considered. If no decision is made, Option A will go into effect at the end of the 60 day period. · Option A - "Grandfather" in family payments All current faculty members will receive their current healthcare benefits with no change in payments or benefits for the length of the contract. All faculty members hired as of September 2004 or later, will receive health benefits for the individual at no charge. New hires (as of 9/04) will be required to pay 50% of any extra premium that accrues due to the choice to cover family members. Alternately, new hires may choose to pay 30% of their total premium. · Option B - Everyone pays 10% or less All faculty members will pay a portion of their healthcare premiums. The amount to be paid will range from 2.5% to 10% of the premium depending on the individual's salary. The table gives examples for representative salaries based on the most popular healthcare plan. Salary % of Premium
Annual Premium for Individual Coverage(Oxford = $4,243) Percentage of
Annual Salary Annual Premium for Family Coverage(Oxford = $13,156) Intermediate salaries will pay proportional percentages. Individuals with salaries greater than $100,000 will pay 10%. The cost of the premium will vary for different healthcare plans and the number of family members covered. In addition, costs to members will go up if the premiums charged to the University go up. Members are free to switch to lower cost plans during the open enrollment period each year. · New enrollment in Cigna plans will not be allowed after this year's open enrollment period. After the open enrollment period for health benefit changes in November 2003, no faculty member will be allowed to opt into the Cigna PPO or POS plans. Any member who has chosen the Cigna PPO or POS plan by the end of November 2003, will continue to have that plan available to him or her. · A joint faculty and administration committee will research options for lower cost healthcare plans. If satisfactory plans are found they will be made available to all members beginning in 2004. This could reduce costs or lower the needed increases for some members during the last 2 years of the contract.
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