TO THE PARENTS OF OUR STUDENTS:

 

            As you may know, the State System of Higher Education (SSHE) management and the union (APSCUF) of state university faculty are in the process of negotiating a new contract.  Faculty at the 14 state universities have been teaching without a contract since June 30, 2003.   We, the faculty of West Chester University, are asking for your help in bringing these negotiations to a close.  You can help immensely by communicating your concerns to the Board of Governors, the Governor, and/or the Chancellor’s Office.  (Link to snail mail and email addresses).  We do not need a signed contract to delay or cancel a strike; we need earnest and good faith negotiations by state management.

 

            We want you to know that we have been doing, and will continue to do everything we can to avoid a strike.    This union has been in existence for over a quarter of a century, and we have NEVER gone out on strike.  But sometimes there is just no other choice.

 

            Faculty began working in earnest on a renewal of the contract in June of 2002.  The faculty negotiating team proposed to meet with the management negotiating team on 61 days.  Management accepted only 17 of those days.  Some days no members of the management negotiating team appeared.  On other days they stayed for only a few hours.  This is no way to resolve contractual issues.  Management’s refusal to discuss the areas of difference is leading to an impasse that can only result in a strike.  We’re beginning to suspect that that is exactly what they want.

 

            On September 3rd, 2003, Dr. Becker stayed no more than a few minutes and said the issues were not “ripe for resolution” and that faculty needed to take the next step – a strike authorization vote.  He advised faculty to “have fun” doing so.  He refused to meet with the faculty team until October 3.   A strike authorization vote was conducted on September 29th and 30th on all 14 SSHE campuses.  The faculty overwhelmingly voted to authorize the state union official to call a strike if necessary.

 

            On October 3rd, there was no progress at the table.  APSCUF is willing to permit mediators to recommend fact finding; state management has yet to embrace that position.  On October 9, the Board of Governors will meet.  The Board oversees the State System and has a significant role in dictating management’s position in negotiations.  They have the power to change the climate and direction of negotiations.  The next scheduled discussions are for October 10 and October 17.  If no progress is made at these meetings, a strike is likely.

 

            The primary issues are salary, benefits, class size, and the use of temporary faculty.  Management claims that with the reductions in state appropriations, the state system must continue to cut faculty salaries and benefits.  Faculty take issue with this position and believe that there is an unacceptable waste of resources by management, and that management has grown far beyond what is necessary to effectively run the state system.  In short, the managers get more and do less, and the workers get less and do more.

 

            Our proposals are remarkably modest, and are made to ensure that students continue to get the best education we can offer.  Our students deserve no less.   

 

            Those who are in a position to resolve these issues may listen to our students and their parents.  We hope that you will share your thoughts and concerns with the Governor, the Board of Governor’s, and the Chancellor.  Please lend your voices to ours to help resolve these issues and keep us where we want to be – in the classroom!

 

                                                                        The Faculty of West Chester University

 

 

SALARY

 

 

            The increases in base salaries for faculty each year from 1996 (when state coffers were flush with monies) to 2002 have been: 0%, 2%, 3%, 3%, 2%, 3% and 1.5%.  We have failed to keep pace with inflation, and have shown great restraint in our salary proposals.   We are not a greedy bunch.

 

However, faculty are mindful of the fact that there has been an economic downturn, and that we are still in the early stages of a recovery.  For that reason, the faculty have already agreed to a 0% increase in our base salary for the first year of the contract.   To keep pace with inflation, we are asking for a mere 2.25% increase in the second year, a 3% increase in the third year, and a 3.5% increase in the final year, graduating only as the economy improves.   As was the case for the past seven years, these increases will probably not keep pace with inflation.

 

            Management argues that SSHE faculty are in the 95th percentile of faculty at public institutions of our size.  The truth is that nationwide we fall in about the 80th percentile, but why quibble?  That may be true if you consider states like Arkansas and Alabama.  A better measure of relative compensations is a comparison of faculty salaries to those of similar institutions in the region (the Northeast).  That puts WCU faculty in the 50th percentile. 

 

            Our starting salaries are simply not competitive with area universities.  We cannot compete with the salaries and reduced workloads that Penn State, University of Delaware, Temple and other universities offer applicants.  Recently, we hired a 50 year old man who had a doctorate from one of the most prestigious doctoral granting institutions in the field, twenty years of experience in the field, and two years of college teaching experience.  His starting salary?  $40,000.  Many of our students make more than that at entry level jobs requiring only a Bachelor’s Degree and no experience. 

 

 

BENEFITS

 

            Like most others, faculty have a deductible and a co-pay on their health benefits.  Management is now proposing that faculty pay a percentage of the health care premiums as well.   Management claims that health care premiums are going up, and they need to transfer the cost to the faculty.

 

            We believe that this proposal is based on the fact that the current carrier has notified management that there will be an increase in premiums next year.  Faculty have asked management to rebid the contract, and to shop around for a lower cost carrier.  Management has refused to do so and has refused to offer an explanation for their refusal.

 

 

CLASS SIZES

 

            Management believes in running the Universities like a business.  To that end, they want the ability and the authority to raise class sizes without limit.  The more students you can cram into a classroom, the more money you can save.  They fail to realize that higher education is also about the quality of that education.  It is not simply a matter of processing students through the academic ranks to graduation.  The more reasonable the class size, the more attention faculty can give to individual students, the better we can assess the student’s progress in learning, and the better we can improve their fundamental skills to prepare them for the job market.

 

            This fall at West Chester University, 381 class sections were cancelled or collapsed into larger sections.  At least 100 classes have been expanded – with one class going as high as 300 students.  At other SSHE universities it is even worse, with one class at an enrollment of 700!  These “supersections” are certainly cost-saving to the state system.  (A staffer in the Chancellor’s Office calls them “cash cows”.)  But they do no service to the students, and they can only compromise the quality of the education parents are paying for.

 

             

TEMPORARY FACULTY

 

 

At West Chester, more than a third of the faculty are temporary.  Management instituted a hiring freeze three years ago.  That meant that, with few exceptions, faculty who retired or resigned were replaced only with temporary faculty, or were not replaced at all.  As a result, we are at unprecedented highs in the number of temporary faculty on our campus. 

 

            Management wants the ability and authority to hire unlimited numbers of temporary faculty.  We object.          

 

           

 

             

WASTE 0F RESOURCES BY MANAGEMENT

 

           

            SSHE management continually refers to “harsh fiscal realities”.  The reality is that the Chancellor’s Office of the State System, for years, has utterly failed to champion the 14 state Universities in seeking adequate appropriations from the state legislature.  The result is increasing tuitions, and continuing reductions in the percentage of costs covered by state revenues.  The $40 million shortfall management decries is a result of the failure of SSHE management to make a persuasive case to the state legislature of the value of higher education.  As a result, parents pay more and more tuition to make up the shortfall.  The sad and embarrassing reality is that Pennsylvania ranks 44th out of all 50 states in per capita funding for public higher education. 

 

            The claimed $40 million shortfall is highly suspect.  It does not include the estimated $25 million in revenue that the most recent tuition increase will generate, nor does it account for an estimated $20 million in savings that will occur because of faculty retirements.  There were 200 retirements this year alone, and 900 faculty who are at retirement age or have 30 years of service will retire soon.  Many of those faculty will never be replaced.  But those who are will be replaced with a junior faculty member whose entry level wages are much less.

 

            It appears that SSHE management has money for themselves or their pet projects, but not to support the core mission of the system – education.  For example:

 

1.  In two years the Chancellor’s salary has increased from $250,000 to $291,000 (16%).  She is the highest paid public employee in the Commonwealth.  (She makes more than the governor.)  The median salary for others in her position is about $150,000.

 

 

2.  The Chancellor in two years increased her staff from 57 to 106. That’s an increase of 86%.  Keep in mind that we having hiring freezes for faculty across the system.  This reflects a super growth in the Chancellor’s Office, both in numbers of employees and in costs, with hidden costs well beyond the percentage allowed in the legislative act that authorized the creation of the State System.  Included in that growth is the newly created position of the Chancellor’s Public Relations manager, a $110,000 job.

 

3.       Approvals have been given for renovations of the Presidents’ houses on six campuses – each renovation averaging $550,000.

 

4.       State management authorized the purchase and implementation of a $100 million computer system that has yet to go up, and is ineffective wherever it has been tried; its final costs could go to $170 million.

 

5.       State management authorized the creation of an Educational Resources Group which is regarded as an expensive cooperative programs boondoggle that provides minimal services and incurs significant costs, many of which are simply charged back to the 14 campuses.

 

6.       Continued building and planning for such new buildings as stadiums and performing arts centers across the system, at a time when we can barely staff classrooms and students are being packed into large class sections.