University of Alaska Anchorage students walking outside UAA Student Union. The administration and the union representing representing nearly 1,100 faculty and postdoctoral fellows have reached a tentative agreement. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The University of Alaska administration and the union representing nearly 1,100 faculty and postdoctoral fellows have reached a tentative agreement for a new three-year contract.
The deal announced on Wednesday includes across-the-board salary increases each year and a boost to minimum salaries.
“I think we have a very fair and balanced contract,” University President Pat Pitney said Thursday. “We are so interdependent in moving this institution forward. Faculty obviously are integral to our research and our enrollment priorities. The contract provides increases, provides a path, you know, a three-year horizon for faculty, but also allows us to keep our fiscal stability. That is so critically important for the ongoing connection with our students and our communities.”
Under the tentative agreement, healthcare benefits would remain the same, with 82% of the costs covered by the employer and 18% by the employee.
“From an administration standpoint, we were trying to get a little bit of relief in our health care benefit side,” Pitney added. “We didn’t get that. But I think overall it’s a great contract and we appreciate the closure.”
The United Academics Local 4996 union membership opted to take the lower salary increases, in order to continue the same costs share benefit, UNAC bargaining team member Jerry Babcock said. Babcock is a professor with the department of justice at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“Of course it’s not everything we wanted,” Babcock said. “I don’t believe that it’s reflective of the value of our bargaining unit members, 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.”
Babcock said the union conducted surveys with the membership throughout the negotiations to best represent their interests. They also opted to keep what’s known as a “me-too clause,” where if the university grants higher raises with other union groups, those raises would apply to UNAC members as well.
“For us and our members, we believe that’s a win,” he said.
After a mutually declared impasse announced in December, both parties requested a federal mediator to assist with the negotiations. The bargaining teams reached agreement after two sessions with the mediator this month.
Part of the bargaining deadlock was centered around compensation and benefits.
The union had pointed to members struggling with high cost of living, with rising inflation, housing costs, and stagnant salaries. They had proposed raising wages by 4%, 4.5% and 5% annually over the next three years, while the university administration has proposed 2.75%, 3% and 3% increases.
Under the tentative agreement, salaries would be increased by 2.75%, 3%, and 3.25% over the next three years.
“Even at our higher starting point, we weren’t addressing the issue of the increase in consumer price index in Alaska over the last six years,” Babcock said, referring to rising inflation and cost of living. “That hasn’t been addressed yet in our salary increases, and it’s unfortunate that we’re not in a place where the university administration is willing to address that for our members.”
But he said the union feels the health care split is a fair compromise, as well as boosting salary minimums. “The increases were 15% for our post doctoral fellows and 10% for all the other ranks,” he said, referring to assistant, associate and full professors. “It’s a good starting place.”
Overall, he said the federal mediator was helpful in getting to this tentative agreement.
“We feel like this is the best that we can do with the current university administration’s positions on getting our members something, and getting them something in time for the Legislature to approve it in this session,” he said.
The new contract would extend through Dec. 31, 2027. The total additional cost over the three years is estimated at $21 million.
The tentative agreement will be put to a vote by UNAC membership before being submitted for approval by the university board of regents. Then it will be submitted along with the university’s budget request to the governor’s Office of Management and Budget and to the Legislature for appropriation this session.
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