UPDATE | YSU faculty vote on new contract

YOUNGSTOWN

Voting for the Youngstown State University faculty union on a proposed new contract closes at 6 p.m. today. Union executives will count the votes after that and then announce an outcome.

University trustees unanimously approved the agreement last week.

The agreement includes bonuses and pay increases for faculty. The amount of the bonus would be $1,000 for full professors, $750 for associate professors, $650 for assistant professors and $500 for instructors the first year.

In the second year, there’s also a bonus based on academic rank and a 0.5 percent increase in base pay for all members. The bonuses are $1,200 for full professors, $950 for associate professors, $850 for assistant professors and $700 for instructors.

In the third year, there would be a 2 percent pay increase but no bonus.

The tentative agreement also calls for faculty to continue to pay 15 percent toward health insurance premiums but based on a sliding scale rather than a flat rate.

Extended Teaching Service will be eliminated and faculty who retire this year will receive a retirement incentive of $40,000, paid over five years.

There’s also a reduction in the cap for summer pay.

Today’s faculty meeting begins at 3:15 p.m. and is expected to wrap up by 6 p.m.