Faculty at university campuses in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system overwhelmingly ratified a two-year contract Wednesday.
Faculty will receive raises totaling 6.24 percent through next July 1, according to Inter Faculty Organization fact sheets. That includes 1.35 percent across-the-board increase retroactive to July 1, step increases in both years of the contract, and a lump-sum payment of $2,400 next July 1 for faculty at the top of their pay scale. The contract also provides longevity premiums for faculty who hit 10, 20 and 30 years of service and early retirement incentives.
Following the pattern set by other state employee unions, health-insurance changes are minimal. However, MnSCU will contribute $100 more ? for a total of $600 ? to the health reimbursement accounts that faculty use to offset out-of-pocket medical costs.
The contract covers 3,100 faculty members at Bemidji State University; Metropolitan State University, St. Paul; Minnesota State University-Mankato; Minnesota State University-Moorhead; St. Cloud State University; Southwest State University, Marshall; and Winona State University.
Faculty at all seven campuses voted to ratify; the overall approval rate was 94.2 percent, IFO said. The contract next must be approved by the MnSCU board of trustees and the Legislature.
Though salaries in the contract clearly improve, only time will tell whether they make the campuses more competitive nationally, said Russ Stanton, IFO's director of communications.
Faculty salaries at the seven campuses rank only at the 60th percentile nationally, said IFO president Nancy Black, far short of MnSCU's own goal of the 80th percentile.
"We won't know until April how much we went up compared to others," Stanton said. "We're trying to move up on a moving target. It appears we're probably gaining, but I don't see it as a dramatic gain."
Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly. E-mail him at advocate@stpaulunions.org and visit the Assembly's website, www.stpaulunions.org
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Faculty at university campuses in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system overwhelmingly ratified a two-year contract Wednesday.
Faculty will receive raises totaling 6.24 percent through next July 1, according to Inter Faculty Organization fact sheets. That includes 1.35 percent across-the-board increase retroactive to July 1, step increases in both years of the contract, and a lump-sum payment of $2,400 next July 1 for faculty at the top of their pay scale. The contract also provides longevity premiums for faculty who hit 10, 20 and 30 years of service and early retirement incentives.
Following the pattern set by other state employee unions, health-insurance changes are minimal. However, MnSCU will contribute $100 more ? for a total of $600 ? to the health reimbursement accounts that faculty use to offset out-of-pocket medical costs.
The contract covers 3,100 faculty members at Bemidji State University; Metropolitan State University, St. Paul; Minnesota State University-Mankato; Minnesota State University-Moorhead; St. Cloud State University; Southwest State University, Marshall; and Winona State University.
Faculty at all seven campuses voted to ratify; the overall approval rate was 94.2 percent, IFO said. The contract next must be approved by the MnSCU board of trustees and the Legislature.
Though salaries in the contract clearly improve, only time will tell whether they make the campuses more competitive nationally, said Russ Stanton, IFO’s director of communications.
Faculty salaries at the seven campuses rank only at the 60th percentile nationally, said IFO president Nancy Black, far short of MnSCU’s own goal of the 80th percentile.
“We won’t know until April how much we went up compared to others,” Stanton said. “We’re trying to move up on a moving target. It appears we’re probably gaining, but I don’t see it as a dramatic gain.”
Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly. E-mail him at advocate@stpaulunions.org and visit the Assembly’s website, www.stpaulunions.org