After months of negotiations, Eastern Michigan University and the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract for roughly 700 EMU faculty members.
EMU President Susan Martin said in a statement she appreciates the efforts of both bargaining teams for their hard work and collaboration in reaching the agreement.
“Their work reflects our faculty’s and administration’s commitment to put students first and to ensure a great start to the new academic year,” Martin said.
The new contract will provide a salary increase of two percent for each year of the contract, as well as an increase in the promotion increment from associate to full professor, from $6,000 to $7,250. Faculty members who have been full professors for at least 10 years will be eligible to apply for a salary adjustment using the same standards.
The contract also includes increased support and incentives for faculty research and some changes to the faculty healthcare plans.
Under the new contract faculty members have the option to choose a PPO, HMO or health savings account healthcare plan with the same coverage they currently receive, but with changes to the method of payment.
EMU’s AAUP President Susan Moeller said in a statement she was pleased an agreement was reached that will benefit faculty, students and the university.
“These negotiations were conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with both sides committed to doing what was best for the university,” Moeller said. “The fact that we completed negotiations two weeks before the expiration of the [current] contract is indicative of the cooperation that was present throughout the bargaining process.”
The new contract will be voted on by AAUP members at their Sept. 5 meeting, and will then be voted on by EMU’s Board of Regents at their regular Sept. 18 meeting.
EMU Provost Kim Schatzel said in a statement the negotiation teams have worked hard to build a new sense of trust and partnership between faculty and administration.
“Eastern’s continuing growth and success is based on working together to identify solutions to the challenges facing all universities,” Schatzel said. “I am proud of both negotiating teams for their focused effort to address these challenges in ways that allow our university to continue to provide a high quality educational experience for our students, and to provide a highly supportive environment to attract, retain and develop our outstanding faculty.”
