On Jan. 7, in the face of the continuing erosion of the national economy, diminishing state tax revenues and rescission of state appropriations, Temple withdrew its October 2008 economic proposal to TAUP. The two sides had been in negotiations since June 2008, and while they had reached agreement on most non-economic issues, they had remained apart on economic issues and on TAUP’s insistence on the imposition of agency fees on all bargaining unit members.


In a Jan. 15 letter to the university community, President Ann Weaver Hart outlined the university’s plan to address the serious budget challenges in the years ahead. In addition to measures already taken to address the state’s initial appropriation rescission (hiring freeze, suspension of non-essential out-of-state travel and cancellation of a 2 percent inflation adjustment for non-compensation budget lines), President Hart announced a salary freeze for all non-bargaining employees through the 2009-10 fiscal year and the beginning of a planning process to reduce 2009-10 operating expenses by five percent ($40 million).


On Jan. 16, the university presented a revised economic proposal to TAUP’s president and chief negotiator, Arthur Hochner. The new proposal responded to the deteriorating national economic climate and declining state revenues. While the new proposal retained salary increases of approximately 3.85 percent for TAUP bargaining unit members for the current fiscal year, it also contained a salary freeze for the 2009-10 fiscal year similar to the freeze imposed on non-bargaining university employees. The proposal also called for 2 percent salary increases in each of the next three fiscal years, with added salary increases available to bargaining unit members in accordance with the existing “increased compensation” provision.


On Feb. 3, TAUP responded with a counterproposal that included a contract term of 20½ months, through June 2010. The TAUP proposal included a fixed salary increase of $2,100 for each bargaining unit member this fiscal year, along with a 1 percent merit pool and a provision that half of any restoration in the state’s appropriation to Temple would go to further salary increases (even though TAUP contract costs are less than one-seventh of the university’s total operating costs). For the 2009-10 fiscal year, TAUP rejected the notion of a salary freeze and demanded a 1 percent merit pool along with the provision that one-half of any restored state appropriation be earmarked for added TAUP salary increases. TAUP remained steadfast in its demand that Temple agree to require all bargaining unit members to pay agency fees to TAUP.


On Feb. 9, Temple presented TAUP with its latest revised proposal. This proposal adheres to Temple’s desire for a long-term agreement, to avoid the distractions and uncertainties that accompany protracted negotiations. Including the current year, which is two-thirds over, it covers five years and ends on Oct. 15, 2013. The proposal includes increases in salary minima at the assistant professor, associate professor and professor levels. It also provides for the same annual base salary increases as Temple’s Jan. 16 offer, with a significant addition that addresses the potential for a national economic recovery before the end of the contract. Temple has proposed that for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 fiscal years, the base salary increases of 2 percent will be increased to 2.5 percent or 3 percent if the adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as reported by the Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis grows at an annual rate of 3 percent or higher.


“Recognizing that all indices will pose some risks that they will not correlate with the financial health of the university and its ability to meet increased contractual costs in the future, we have proposed using the GDP as a trigger for supplemental salary increases for several reasons,” said University Counsel George Moore, a member of the university’s negotiating team. “First, it is an independent, well-recognized indicator of economic well-being. Second, over the past 15 years, it has exhibited a strong correlation to the relative size of increases in the university’s state appropriation. Changes in GDP are fair predictors of future availability of additional unrestricted revenues — state appropriations — and is not susceptible to claims of manipulation.”


TAUP has criticized GDP as an indicator, but has not suggested another that will correlate with the financial well-being of the university.


Temple’s latest contract proposal also provides for a continuation of the 7 percent promotional increase present in the last contract and calls for increases in minimum summer session compensation and minimum overload teaching rates over the life of the contract. An important component of Temple’s proposal remains $850,000 in increased compensation to approximately 11 percent of the bargaining unit faculty this fiscal year, as well as payouts of $100,000 or more in each of the other four years of the contract term. Temple also proposed increasing summer research grant stipends to $7,000 and supplementing prestigious fellowship awards with university pay to bring the faculty member’s compensation to 100 percent of base pay for the year in which the fellowship is taken.


The full text of Temple’s latest offer is available at www.temple.edu/hr/faculty/LatestTAUPBargainingNews.html.


“This year our proposed contract would give approximately 3.85 percent in total increases to the TAUP bargaining unit,” said Vice President for Human Resources Deborah Hartnett, another member of the university’s negotiating team. “We believe this is fair and reasonable in a year when most people around the country aren’t getting anything.”


The second major issue separating the two sides is called ‘agency fee’ or ‘fair share,’ which would require that all those in the bargaining unit — faculty, librarians and academic professionals — who choose not to join the union nonetheless have a substantial percentage of standard dues deducted from their paychecks each month. Agency fee payers are not considered union members and do not get to vote on union matters. The university is opposed to mandating an agency fee; its position is that paying union dues is a matter of individual choice. Under the contract negotiated in 2004, the university agreed it would deduct the agency fee if the union obtained 70 percent membership as of Nov. 1 of each year. As of Nov. 1, 2008, TAUP had approximately 58 percent union membership.


“Our ultimate goal is to ratify a fair and reasonable contract as soon as possible for as long as possible,” said Moore. “We are hopeful that the TAUP leadership will devote its time and energies at the bargaining table.”