United Academics Local 4996 members have ratified a new contract with the University of Alaska.

UNAC represents full-time faculty members across the UA system. The vote closed at midnight on Sunday, Feb. 23, with 87% approving the tentative agreement reached in January after months of negotiations and several federal mediation sessions.

The agreement’s next stop is the university’s Board of Regents and the Alaska Department of Administration before going to the Alaska Legislature for funding.

Ratification wasn’t always assured, though. According to UNAC President and UAS Mathematics Professor Jill Dumesnil, a poll conducted before mediation indicated union members would not vote for an agreement with the university’s proposed raises, which were significantly lower than UNAC’s proposal.

Mediation

Before the two sides headed into mediation on Jan. 28, Dumesnil told the Whalesong that 17 of 22 articles agreed upon were either status quo or concessions made by UNAC.

“The university has not agreed to a single sentence that the union has proposed,” she said.

During mediation, five articles of contention were settled, including the length of the agreement, faculty status, reduction in force, and compensation and benefits.

Healthcare

Article 16 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement deals with healthcare. The tentative agreement keeps healthcare costs at status quo, with cost sharing of 18% on the employees and 82% on the employer. Dumesnil said addressing healthcare was critical for UNAC members.

Bargaining team member Jerry Babcock told the Alaska Beacon after mediation that the union took lower salary increases to preserve the current healthcare cost sharing.

“I don’t believe that it’s reflective of the value of our bargaining unit members,” Babcock said, “but I do believe that it’s the best agreement we can get at this time, with the university’s priorities, in order to serve our members with their primary concerns, the first of which is no changes to health care.”

According to a 2024 report by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, healthcare costs in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau are higher than the national average and other American cities. Many Alaskans have to travel to Anchorage or Seattle for specialty care.

Alaska State House Representative Ashley Carrick (D-Fairbanks), a UA alumnus, said the healthcare issue was pressing.

“Having flat funding for healthcare is a big challenge for a lot of faculty, and I know that they advocated for that, so I’d like to see that change,” she said.

UA President Pat Pitney also acknowledged healthcare was a difficult topic.

“Like other employers around the state and nation, the Board of Regents and university leaders are continuing to grapple with rapidly increasing and unsustainable increases in healthcare costs,” she said. “As a result, even these proposals push beyond some people’s comfort level.”

Salary and the “Me-Too” Clause

In a letter released in December, UA President Pat Pitney expressed concern over the state’s fiscal environment, stating “we must balance compensation increases with the constraints of our and the state’s budget environment.”

Pitney also said UNAC’s salary request would cost $40 million more than the university’s offer. Multiple members of the union have said this is a mischaracterization because the university has promised raises to other employees through a “me too” clause. By UNAC’s estimate, the proposed salary increases to their bargaining unit would cost around $20 million.

In an email to Whalesong, UA Director of Public Affairs Jonathon Taylor said all UA bargaining units have “me-too” clauses that require the university to give members of other bargaining units the highest percentage of the salary increase negotiated. He said all university staff will get a 2.75% raise in FY26.

“That’s because 2.75% is the highest negotiated increase across all units for FY26, and the new UNAC contract matches that number. Additionally, UA has historically provided non-represented staff the same increase provided to represented employees to maintain equity, and we will do so in this case as well, giving all staff the 2.75% across-the-board increase in FY26,” Taylor explained.

Dumesnil said the university is not obligated to match the increase for other employees.

“UA is choosing to give those groups raises equivalent to those negotiated by the unions,” she told the Alaska Beacon. “While we favor all employees being treated and compensated fairly, we are neither authorized nor obligated to negotiate on behalf of employees who are not in our bargaining unit.”

Before voting started on the tentative agreement, faculty response was mixed.

“I am disappointed that proposed faculty salary increases fail to make up for losses in recent years to post-pandemic inflation and the UA budget crisis. Today, faculty effectively earn less than they did a few years ago, and this agreement does not fix that,” UAS biology professor David Tallmon wrote in a Feb. 6 email to Whalesong.

Andrea Dewees, UAS Associate Professor of Spanish and UNAC organizational vice president, stressed the bargaining team’s good work.

“I’m always immensely grateful to the negotiating team because I don’t think it’s easy to be at the table,” she said. “There’s a lot of correction that has to happen, like when they say something, we’re like, actually, that’s not true, and then you know, that’s just not a great situation to be in. So I’m always super grateful to them for taking on that burden because I think there’s an emotional burden, too.”

Dewees said the agreement was the best outcome at this juncture. In the future, she would like to see a faculty regent on the BOR.

House Bill 10 would add a faculty member to the Board of Regents. It was heard in the House State Affairs Committee on Feb. 20. Rep. Carrick and Rep. Zack Fields (D-Anchorage) sponsored the bill.

• This article originally appeared in the Whalesong, the student newspaper at the University of Alaska Southeast.