Faculty and coaches are now even closer to their new contracts after union members at state-owned universities voted this week to ratify their respective tentative agreements.
94 percent of APSCUF members who voted were in favor of the deal. Of coach members who voted, 100 percent were in favor.
After the members voted earlier this week, APSCUF tallied ballots today in their Harrisburg office. Now that this step is complete, the documents will go to Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors for approval. The State System has not announced a meeting date for this action yet.
The full contracts will be posted on APSCUF’s website after the ratification is complete.
“Our faculty and coaches look forward to the State System Board of Governors completing the ratification process,” APSCUF President Dr. Kenneth M. Mash said. “Our faculty and coaches relish the opportunity to educate our students without the distraction of a contract dispute. APSCUF will continue to advocate for quality public higher education because our students deserve it and because of the vast benefits our universities provide to all Pennsylvanians.”
The faculty negotiations team reached their three-year tentative agreement on Oct. 21. To preserve quality education, APSCUF accepted concessions to benefits in exchange for eliminating most of the 249 changes the State System proposed in June. APSCUF also agreed to a salary package that was lower than that of other unions for the sake of the students.
Coaches bargain separately and they reached their tentative agreement on Oct. 27. The coaches four-year deal provides reasonable salary increases for coach members while keeping the costs of their healthcare plan affordable, explained APSCUF Coach Executive Leader, John Gump.
Both previous contracts expired June 30, 2015, and negotiations had been ongoing since late 2014.
APSCUF represents around 5,500 faculty and coaches at the State System universities in Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania.
