UA, faculty at odds over pay
Union has called for federal mediator
The union that represents about 40 percent of University of Alaska faculty said today contract negotiations have deadlocked over the issue of compensation.
"The university fielded a (labor negotiation) team that was unprepared, seemingly lacked authority and steadfastly refused to address the most basic bargaining issues in a responsible manner," said union President Bob Congdon in a statement circulated this morning by the Alaska Community Colleges' Federation of Teachers union.
The union has summoned the help of a federal mediator. If the mediation fails, the ACCFT members will vote on whether to strike, Congdon said.
University officials said they were bargaining in good faith and dismissed union accusations as uninformed or premature.
In this morning's statement, the union presented a study that indicated most UA faculty represented by ACCFT are paid $2,000 to $10,000 less than the national average for faculty in their field.
"We think our faculty are some of the best in the nation and should be paid accordingly," said chief union negotiator Barbara Harville. "We are behind, in some cases way behind. This makes it difficult to retain faculty."
To rectify what union members see as a pay inequity, they have proposed increasing their current $15 million contract by $3 million next year. The university has proposed a "status quo" increase of 2.6 percent, or about $400,000.
Beth Behner, University of Alaska labor negotiator, said the two parties still could agree on terms and that discussion of a strike was premature.
"We are extremely far apart," Behner said. "(But) we have another semester at the table working with the union's bargaining team."
Behner also took issue with the union salary comparisons, saying the faculty represented by the union primarily instruct vocational and lower division courses but are comparing their salaries to those at institutions with higher level programs and more qualified instructors.
"(The union) is referring to different institutions that the university would not find comparable," Behner said. "When they do the salary comparisons they want to use salaries using all types of programs, including doctoral programs."
Behner said the university has discussed the union proposal and found the actual cost would be higher that the union suggested, possibly totaling $5.5 million. Behner also disagreed with the characterization of the university negotiating team as irresponsible.
"We mutually agreed that we would start bargaining over Labor Day and since Labor Day we have been bargaining for two days every week," she said. "To say that we are not engaging in the process, I don't know what that means."
Behner said the university does not have a problem hiring or retaining faculty for vocational and lower division courses.
The ACCFT union represents about 300 of the 800 faculty at the 15 Alaska campuses. Proportionately, there are more ACCFT-represented faculty in Southeast Alaska than in other regions of the state. At Southeast campuses in Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau, which employ a total of 100 faculty members, 53 are represented by ACCFT, according to Tom Dienst, the director of human resources at UAS. Other faculty members are represented by a larger union called United Academics.
• Julia O'Malley can be reached at jomalley@juneauempire.com.