Representatives of the Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine met with University of Maine System delegates Friday, continuing mediation over the contract dispute that has left faculty working without a contract for over six months.
This was the third mediation session, but the first in which both parties met in the same building. The dispute hinges on the issue of contractual pay raises. AFUM requested a 4 percent raise, which UMS met with a counteroffer of 0.5 percent, according to John Broida, the lead USM AFUM negotiator. UMS representatives declined to comment on details of the contract negotiations. According Broida, a system-wide one percent raise — double the offer from the system administration — would cost $750,000. “The untenability of raises doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Tenured faculty are eligible for a 3.5 percent raise every four years, plus an additional 3.5 percent for exceptional performance. The last contract between AFUM and UMS did not grant faculty raises.
Peggy Markson, UMS public relations manager, cited poor current and anticipated enrollment as inhibitions to faculty pay raises. “Enrollment is down and the outlook isn’t good, either,” she said.
Broida also expressed his frustration with the negotiation process. “When I got into this I thought there would be give and take,” he said. “This has been an education, though not one I like.”
Last year, the University increased its asset base by $80 million, $38 million of which is not restricted to a specific use. “Over the past ten years [UMS] never lost money,” said Ed Collom, the USM AFUM chapter president. “They’ve actually saved money. Financially speaking, they’re strong. They claim that it’s necessary as a hedge against incidental losses, like another financial crisis.”
Over the past ten years, the estimated cost of attending USM has increased at a rate of 4.35 percent year-over-year, while average compensation for professors has increased 3.19 percent year-over-year. The year-over-year increase in the consumer price index, sometimes used to measure the cost of the cost of living, was 2.5 percent during the same period. In other words, the growth in tuition cost outpaced increases in teacher compensation, which in turn outpaced inflation.
“Employees are doing more for less, and students are paying more for less,” Collom said. “It seems [the system administration’s] position is this: to give faculty a raise we must also raise tuition.”
Tracy Bigney, UMS Chief Human Resources and Organization Development Officer, disagreed with Collom. “Three-quarters of our budget is spent on salaries and compensation, so it’s not that simple,” she said. According to a 2011 University of Maine System report, tenured professors, whom AFUM represents, constitute 66.2 percent of all faculty, above the national average of 54.2 percent. Adjunct faculty only receive benefits if they work full-time, and therefore reduce the costs for the system.
In a November interview with The Free Press, Rebecca Wyke, vice chancellor for finance and administration for the University of Maine System, said salary increases were unlikely “unless we dramatically increase tuition, which nobody on the Board of Trustees wants to do.
“Without increasing tuition, I don’t see a source of income on the revenue side that would justify increased expenses,” said Wyke.
Saving money by relying on part-time faculty is not without its critics. The USM Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution supporting AFUM’s position in December, in which they condemned what they called “the current trend of tenure-track professors being replaced by part-time faculty as a cost-saving measure.”
Student Body President Chris Camire said he fears not properly rewarding professors will diminish teaching quality at USM. “Faculty who aren’t getting paid what they deserve are going to find better jobs,” he said. “It’s not right for exemplary faculty to fall on their own sword.”