AFT pay dispute resolved

Portland State’s part-time faculty union said it is satisfied with the recent salary negotiations with the university, after an agreement was reached with PSU officials Feb. 22.

The agreement would give faculty a 5 percent tentative salary increase for the 2007-2008 academic year and another 5 percent increase the following year. Brooke Jacobson, president of the PSU part-time faculty union, said the settlement was a good one, although it wasn’t what faculty originally wanted.

“It’s certainly not what we had hoped to get. We had hoped to move closer to a livable wage,” Jacobson said. “Anyway, we feel that it is a good settlement.”

The PSU chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 3571 had been in mediation since the end of January. Mediation is one of the steps necessary before faculty can strike.

Jacobson said the mediation process had been slow up until the time of settlement.

“We felt very frustrated,” she said. “The university was not particularly responsive, so there were many delays.”

University administrators were not initially interested in talking about wages until September of this year, Jacobson said.

“And of course, our previous contract expired at the end of June,” she said.

Jacobson said the agreement came down to simply coming up with new proposals.

“We went into this last mediation session, and there had been no movement,” Jacobson said. “We made yet another proposal. The university then decided that they could live with that.”

The terms of agreement decided on were “pretty close” to AFT’s original proposal, she said.

“It’s midway between what we felt was needed and what the university wanted to offer,” Jacobson said. “So I suppose you could say we reached a compromise.”

Carol Mack, PSU’s chief negotiator, said the university is also satisfied with the collective bargaining agreement.

“I think it was a difficult negotiation session,” Mack said. “We’re pleased that we have come to a settlement that we think is fair and equitable for part-time faculty and for the university.”

Mack said the part-time faculty pay increase is contingent on whether the state legislature gives PSU all the money it had originally budgeted for it this year.

“If we don’t receive the money we had anticipated,” Mack said, “we are going to have to do some shifting around of priorities so we can meet this contract.”

It was important to make sure faculty would receive adequate pay in the future, Mack said.

“We wanted to be able to pay our adjuncts a fair increase,” she said. “We were willing to take the risk, sign the contract and find a way to give them the wages that they deserve.”

Mack also said that PSU has established a local labor-management committee that faculty and administrators can bring problems and concerns to.

“I think that that is a very good move that will allow us to communicate better in between bargaining sessions,” Mack said.

Gary Brodowicz, chair of the PSU full-time faculty union, the PSU American Association of University Professors (AAUP), said he congratulates AFT on reaching an agreement. PSU AAUP also entered into mediation with the university in January because of an ongoing salary dispute.

In response to the AFT settlement, the AAUP is planning to move forward with their mediation plans, Brodowicz said.

“I’m looking forward to getting the university’s complete and undivided attention now.”