FAM-T Bargaining, Day 16: What Management Thinks You’re Worth

1.4% pay increase for faculty, on average, per year. That’s only a 5.9% pay increase over the course of the contract.

That’s management’s compensation proposal, presented at today’s FAM-T bargaining session. This sharply contrasts with FAM’s pay proposal, which calls for 29% over the course of the contract¹—an average of 7% per year including the raise at ratification—to help faculty keep up with the rising cost of living.

Management’s proposal devalues faculty, suggesting that we’re worth only 1.25% annually (after an initial raise of just 2% after signing the contract). To add insult to injury, they would offer a merit raise pool only if the Board of Trustees decides to include it in any given year. Management’s offer locks in inequality and would lower living standards for all faculty, reducing compensation even below recent trendlines. 

Here’s what else management’s compensation proposal includes:

• 2% raise upon signing the contract — then 1.25% on July 1, 2024 and each year thereafter through July 2026.
• Minimum faculty salary of only $50,000. 
• Promotional increases would be set at just $5,000 for any promotion—significantly lower than current practice.
• Overload pay of $1,025 per credit.
• Winter and summer term pay of 3% per credit with a max of $20,000 for Oxford faculty, but only $7,500 for regional faculty.
• The administration would reserve the right to withhold any pay raises in case of financial exigency, but has not defined either the circumstances under which financial exigency would be declared or the procedures that would be used to determine that financial exigency exists.

The university also proposed their benefits package—offering the same benefits as other Miami employees. These benefits could be changed at any time by management, without negotiation with the union. 

In addition to compensation and benefits, negotiations today also focused on a range of counter-proposals on both sides, including Discipline & Discharge; Faculty Evaluations; Appointment, Renewal, & Promotion of Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty; Health, Safety, & Security; and Union Access to Information & Facilities. We’re making progress toward agreement on these issues, and continue to hold to our values on progressive discipline and faculty rights.

If you’re outraged by management’s devaluation of faculty (we’re worth only 1.25% per year?!), come out to the Budget Symposium this Monday, April 22 (3:30pm, Benton 102)! Wear your FAM tee or something red and show management what you’re actually worth! 

1. _{The figure of 5.9% in the first paragraph and the figure of 29% in the second paragraph are both slightly corrected from the first version of the post, where they read 5.75% and 26.5% respectively because of a compounding error.} ↩︎