State System Faculty Authorize Strike--What 's Going On? : Pittsburgh Indymedia

View article without comments

State System Faculty Authorize Strike--What's Going On?
by Kevin Mahoney Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 12:48 PM
mahoney@kutztown.edu (email address validated)

This past week, the Association of State College and University Faculty voted 95% in favor of authorizing the state Union leadership to call a strike if negotiations break down further. What are some of the issues at stake?

APSCUF, the union for all of the faculty at the 14 universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, is entering into a decisive struggle with the State System Administration. Our contract, representing the 6,000 faculty members, expired on June 30th of this year. Up until now, we have been working without a contract.

APSCUF has offered to meet in negotiations every Thurs, Fri, and Sat since last spring, but the State has only met with us a handful of times. Up until now, the State has been, at best, antagonistic toward our union negotiators and has refused to negotiate over any substantial issues of our contract. What are the issues?

ISSUES:
1) State wants to remove all caps on class size
2) State wants to remove all limits on temporary faculty
3) State wants to introduce co-pay for medical insurance, and the right to increase cost as they see fit without faculty consultation
4) State wants to freeze our wages and steps
5) State wants to guarantee management tenure and the right to appoint faculty without departmental/faculty approval
6) and so much more.

The State argues that the economic "climate is not right" and that because of budget shortfalls, the State needs roll-backs. Rendell said today that the State cannot give money to workers it does not have. Key word here? WORKERS. Check this out:

*** Management salary increases announced in January of this year were made retroactive to July of last year. Chancellor Hample received a 5.75% increase ($15,813), pushing her salary to $290,813, the highest paid state employee, earning more than the Governor of the Commonwealth. Two University Presidents received more than a 15% salary increase, while one new University Presidents salary is $200,000, up from the retiring presidents salary of $156,000 a 27% increase. The most egregious of the presidential increases amounted to a 15.3% increase in salary. Apparently management can justify those increases, while not noticing last years student tuition and (technology) fee hike of 12%. Apparently, management did not take into consideration the 3% reduction in appropriations from the State when deciding how much of a salary increase to give themselves. Now management proposes to freeze their salaries after these big salary increases last year and a 5% tuition hike. On top of all of this, the Chancellor proposes that faculty salaries be frozen for two years (2003-2004 and 2004-2005).

*** From 1998 to 2002, State System tuition and fees have risen 28.60%; the number of students has risen by 7.70%.During this period faculty have increased by only 1.20%. Administrators have increased by 8.30%.

*** The student to faculty ratio has increased by 6.4%, while the student to management ratio has declined (0.50%). That means larger class sizes for you!

*** During the period from 1997 to 2001, faculty salaries increased by 17.30% (approximately = cost of living), while management salaries increased by 28.10%.

*** Final data for 2002 are not in yet, but estimates place management salaries higher by another 5.43% (a retroactive increase back to July, 2002, was announced in January, 2003).

*** Also, according to the Chronicle of Higher Educations August 29, 2003 report of median salaries of administrators, our administrators faired pretty well.

National Median Salaries:
System CEO (chancellor) $ 158,859
Assistant to System CEO $ 72,500
SSHE Salaries:
Dr. Hample (Chancellor) = $ 291,000
Dr. Becker (Assistant) = $ 134,500

NEED TO FIGHT BACK:

While the major newspapers in PA seem content with making this struggle about money and benefits (surprise, surprise) there are more fundamental issues at stake.

PA workers have taken it on the chin over the past several years, especially after the passage of NAFTA. In most cases, workers were asked to take major cuts, give up benefits, or lose their jobs altogher. In the meantime, CEOs and management have seen their compensation and benefit packages go through the roof. According to the Keystone Research Center, "From 1990 to 2002, Pennsylvania lost 183,600 manufacturing jobs, or 19.4 percent. This loss was split almost evenly between durable and non-durable manufacturing." Yet at the same time, according to the same report, wage inequality is now at the highest level since 1979. <http://www.keystoneresearch.org/swp2003/swp_2003.html>

To underscore who's benefitting from this trend, consider the following: From 1994-1999, CEOs from PA utilities rose by 76% while wages for workers rose only 5%. Similar trends are evident in the statistics from the State System of Higher Education--Administrators earn more while teachers and university workers wages remain flat or below the rate of inflation.

But the real nitty gritty here is that we are seeing a corporate logic invade the public sector--this time, State Colleges and Universities. The State already measures "quality" at its universities on an "efficiency" model...that is, "producing" the greatest number of students with the fewest number of faculty. Not only is that in the State's official evalutation criteria, but in the course of our negotiations, Dr. Ed Becker, Assistant to the Chancellor, refered to students as "cash cows," in the context of arguing for larger and larger class-sizes.

WILL THE UNION FIGHT BACK?

That's the big question. Many of us are ready to take this fight to the wire. Nobody wants a strike...however, the question remains, if faculty, like myself, who are relatively privileged in relationship to other PA workers are unwilling to stand up and fight, it will be a major loss for workers across the Commonwealth. AFSCME, who represent all our clerical and custodial workers and staff (in addition to PennDOT workers) laid down by not fighting the State's corporate logic--buying into the "budget" as reason enough to grant the state substantial take-backs. Talk to one of these AFSCME workers and see how pissed they are. Not only does this amount to a real hit in their incomes, but it reinforces union members hopelessness.

There is a similar struggle in our union. Some of us want to organize the membership, to get rid of the paternalistic, business unionism model and stand up and fight for a fair and just contract. Not just for us, but for the over 100,000 students who attend one of the 14 State System universities. We need to educate, to bring this fight to the public, and refuse to cave into the incessant banging "THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE" into our spirit.

For more info on the issues, see our union website at http://www.apscuf.com but for a more detailed and useful website, see the website for IUP's APSCUF local website at http://www.iup-apscuf.org.

Kevin Mahoney
APSCUF--Kutztown University

add your comments

more APSCUF propaganda
by SRU student Tuesday, Oct. 07, 2003 at 1:42 PM

i'm tired of it! you claim that all you care about is quality of education, but admit it, thats not true. of course the state system of higher education doesnt care either. i believe niether of you have the student's interests at heart. both APSCUF and SSHE puts out so much propaganda how are we supposed to figure out the truth? you've had since may, may! to come to an agreement! maybe if everyone would quit antagonizing each other it wouldnt have come to this. if professors strike where does that leave students? isnt it true that you are timing your strike to cause the most problems for students? it would happen right after the deadline for refunds have passed and leave us stranded in the middle of the semester. if you get your raise that would translate to a $1600 tutition hike for us next year. SSHE is asking you to pay what? $600 a year for your health benifits? i dont have any health insurance and there are a lot of students who dont, i dont think we're going to sympathize much with you there. and what would happen to the cafeteria workers and custodians? most likely theyd be laid off, and the longer the strike lasts the worse it would get for them. where were you when our tuition went up? if you want to support AFSCME then striking is not the best way to do it. yes, we all hate judy hample and what she is doing to our universities, but this cant be the best way to handle it. lets get all the facts out in the open, including the crap that SSHE is trying to pull. if you stop with the propaganda i think youll find that students will be much more willing to take your side and fight along with you, but if we feel like we are being lied to then what other choice do we have than to try to protect ourselves?

add your comments

faculty does have student's interestes at heart
by Edinboro U Student Sunday, Oct. 12, 2003 at 6:30 PM

Edinboro University is one of the smaller Universities in the state system. We have the luxury of getting to know our faculty members on a personal basis.

I for one, truely believe the faculty has our best interest in mind.

Instead of being angry at the faculty, reroute that anger toward Judy Hample and the rest of the Administration of the PA SSHE. E-mail them, flood their offices with phone calls, send good old fashioned mail and tell them that YOU DO NOT WANT A STRIKE!

If the students remain apathetic, it only makes negotiations more difficult. This isn't just between APSCUF and Hample. It's about the students fighting for a quality education that we pay for and deserve.

Our degrees should be worth something at the end of our time spent in University. Don't let contractual obligations degrade our diplomas!

add your comments

faculty does have student's interestes at heart
by Edinboro U Student Sunday, Oct. 12, 2003 at 6:30 PM

add your comments

faculty does have student's interestes at heart
by Edinboro U Student Sunday, Oct. 12, 2003 at 6:30 PM

add your comments

teach HS
by incredulous Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003 at 3:55 PM

APSCUF is selling out its membership. The professors and students should call for the removal of current union leadership and replace them with those from the public school teacher associations.

Schoolteachers are getting better contracts then APSCUF members. And many are making more money then their professors are.

Just today the Deer Lakes School District teachers agreed on a new contract that will pay those with the most tenure $80,000 a year. This means a SSHE associate professor will be making less money then the student teacher they taught 15 years ago.

How could the APSCUF leadership allow this to happen?

In the spring of 2002 APSCUF accepted a 1-year contract extension instead of negotiating. Why? Look no further then APSCUF NEGOTIATIONS BULLENTIN #12, which states:

��.APSCUF graciously considered a contract extension for three reasons: the economic climate looked bleak, the new chancellor needed some time to acclimate herself within the System, and the political landscape was about to change with the upcoming gubernatorial election.�

Gracious? Maybe. A major tactical blunder? Definitely! Should APSCUF membership forgive their leadership for allowing the chancellor time to get a new 5-year contract and surround herself with highly paid professional negotiatiors and PR people? I don�t think so and I would think that many in the membership don�t think so either.

SSHE knows this union is weak. They know the membership won�t strike. And the 14 state universities are about to become the poorest quality system in the country.

If the current issue is quality of education why, in 2002, did union leadership withdrawn the grievance and unfair practice charge regarding the amendment to the Board of Governors Policy on Academic Degrees requiring 120 semester credit hours for Baccalaureate Degrees?

If professors want to make less money then public school teachers with a BS degree then keep your current union leadership. If not then now is the time to change. Of course, you could work on a post- bacc degree online and have high school certification in no time.

add your comments

PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center