YSU union stands by its math
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
The Youngstown State University faculty union stands by its calculations of the amount the university’s last, best contract offer will cost members.
“You’ll recall that the administration claimed last week that the contract they offered would cost faculty only about $1,000 a year, and they accused me of lying when I said that the costs would be $5,000 [to] $10,000 for a typical faculty member over the life of the contract,” Sherry Linkon, spokeswoman for the union, said in a statement.
Last week, the university presented what in termed its last, best offer to the faculty union. It called for no pay increases in the first two years of the contract with a 2 percent increase in base salary the third and last contract year.
The union rejected the offer and initially announced it would strike last week, but a few hours later canceled those plans and said it wanted to resume negotiations. That allowed classes to start Monday and financial-aid payments, which had been delayed, to be distributed.
The two sides are to meet Friday, but the university said it’s not willing to spend more money than what’s outlined in its last, best offer.
YSU’s offer also calls for a reduction in pay for summer school, from 3.75 percent of a faculty member’s nine-month salary per credit hour to 3 percent of their nine-month salary per credit hour.
The salary minimums are $75,674 for professors, $64,215 for associate professors, $51,238 for assistant professors and $38,689 for instructors.
The university didn’t respond to the union’s latest statement, but last week pointed out that the average faculty salary is $72,213. Salaries range from $39,832 to $161,321, the university said last week.
It said that this summer, 53 faculty members were paid between $15,000 and $20,000 for summer school; 26 were paid between $20,000 and $25,000; 13 were paid $25,000 to $30,000; and seven were paid more than $30,000.
Linkon said the provost’s office sent department chairmen on Friday a “scenario calculator” in the form of a spreadsheet into which a faculty member can enter their salary, whether they get single or family health insurance and how many hours they teach in summer.
She said the calculator leaves out higher co-pays and deductibles and removal of the cap on prescriptions. That’s estimated at just more than $300 per year, according to the administration’s consultant, the union said.
“It also ignores inflation and the cut in pay for sabbaticals and distance learning,” Linkon said in the statement. “In other words, the calculator the administration is offering us is incomplete.”
But the figures it generates suggest that many faculty will lose $4,000 to $5,000 per year, she said.
The union had estimated $5,000 to $10,000 over three years, “much more than the administration’s estimate of $1,000.”
With inflation, which the union calculates at 3 percent, “our estimate is clearly much closer to the mark than what the administration has given you,” the union’s statement said.
The university’s last, best offer calls for an increase in faculty members’ contributions for health insurance.
Members currently pay 1.5 percent of a monthly salary for the family health-care plan. Under the new proposal, the average faculty member would contribute 10 percent in year one, and 12 percent and 15 percent in years two and three for health care. The percentage is higher for employees who earn more.