State System of Higher Education Board of Governors Chair Cynthia Shapira and Dr. Kenneth Mash, the president of APSCUF, the faculty union at the state-owned universities, yesterday signed a new four-year collective bargaining agreement. Once it returns from the printer, the document will be distributed to union members in the coming semester, and it will also be made available online.
In remarks to the board at the quarterly meeting, Mash saluted the contract negotiators for engaging in what he called “an honest attempt to start a new day of collaboration” between the union and the State System.
Mash characterized the previous relationship between the union and the State System as “toxic” and while he said the new culture is better, he said “the ice remains thin”. He said some schools have embraced the changes, but he’s disheartened by reports from other campuses that decisions that impact academic quality have been made with little or no consultation with APSCUF.
Other decisions that impact people’s lives, he claimed, have been made with an air of callousness, and there have been willful violations of the collective bargaining agreement.
Mash warned the board that unless some universities change the way they do business, the entire State System Redesign will fail.
The new faculty contract runs through June 30th, 2023. The Board did not announce any ratification news on the recently-negotiated APSCUF coaches contract.
In another development, the Board of Governors yesterday signed a side letter offering an early-retirement incentive for APSCUF faculty union members, in an effort to trim the size of the workforce. The incentive for retirement-eligible full-time faculty is an offer to extend payments for unused sick days from a maximum of 50 to 125. In order for it to take effect, at least 200 faculty members must agree to retire on or before August 14th. They must decide by March 2nd and if the total is less than 200, they can rescind their early retirement notice on or before April 10th.
APSCUF President Ken Mash said the offer might not be enough to entice members to retire, and said some union members fear that there will be layoffs if the State System does not get 200 takers.
