Since NTFC won our first contract in the spring of 2016, there has been a dramatic increase in the rate at which average salaries have risen, as shown in the timeline above.

While most of us are happy to see our paychecks increase no matter the reason, it’s also important to understand why and how these increases occur. In this first post of three, we take a look at Minimums in Article VIII of our contract–the part that’s all about wages.

Salary Minimums

Before NTFC won our first contract in 2016, there was no set minimum salary for full-time, non-tenure track faculty (NTT’s). Some non-tenure track faculty made as little as $30,000 a year, a salary on which it was nearly impossible to support a family, manage student debt, or take-on mortgages and car payments, much less support their professional development needs like traveling to conferences or buying new books for research. Furthermore, most NTT’s knew that at other universities nearby, like the University of Illinois at Chicago, unionized NTT’s were guaranteed minimum salaries that were already much higher than $30,000 a year.

When our union formed in 2014, this salary security was something our members cared deeply about. We fought hard in our first round of contract negotiations to ensure that NTT’s would be guaranteed a minimum salary that showed the value of their work and allowed them a decent living. Our 2016 strike victory gave us our first contract, and this gave us legally binding guarantees that our members would be paid at least a certain amount per year, even if the university was in financial hardship. This is part of the reason that, in the above graph, average salaries increased so dramatically from 2016 to 2017–we as a union helped to make this happen! As long as we have our union, we will have the opportunity to renegotiate what this minimum value is from contract to contract, and who it effects.

In our current contract, the minimum salary is $45,000 a year from August 16th, 2019 to August 15th, 2023. Effective August 16th, 2023, this value will go up to $47,500 a year. This means that, if you are a 100% full-time NTT at this university, the administration must be paying you at least $45,000 a year at the time of this post. If you’re not getting at least this amount, you should contact us immediately.

More On Wages Soon!

We’ve been able to address a lot of the issues relating to wages that our members face in the past few years. This has been a part of the reason why our average salaries have gone up so much–together, we’ve made it happen! Salary minimums, raises, compression funds, and more. Stay tuned to our website for part two of our All About Wages series, in which we’ll explain our contract’s language about compression adjustments to salaries.

Our members have overwhelmingly voted to ratify our Tentative Agreement with the administration. When we organize, we win!

Important, positive changes will begin taking place this fall. If you have specific questions about what’s new in the contract, please reach out to us here. We will also be giving a rundown of our new contract at our General Membership Meeting, orientation, and our Welcome Back Party this fall! 

A full copy of the contract will be up on the website soon.

We are proud to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement on the full contract for August 2019 to August 2023.

After more than a dozen bargaining sessions, meeting weekly, we have reached an agreement addressing all the priorities we heard from our members.

Among other things, the agreement guarantees:

• Merit pools for every year of the contract
• Merit pools include a minimum pay increase
• Increases to the pay-floor
• Professional development funds for every single person every year of the contract
• Compression raise for those who have been employed at least 5 years
• Solidifies current promotion structures in the collective bargaining agreement
• A one-time signing bonus to alleviate increases to health insurance in the first year
• Multi-year contracts for the professorial track, and those outside the professorial track retain the 1+1 rolling benefit
• Process for gaining access to the library after retirement
• Improved union rights to data about our unit and presentation time at new faculty orientation
• Departments will have to publicize workloads for full time positions, so it’s clear that extra work requires extra pay

In the coming days, you will have the opportunity to review the full contract language in order to vote on whether you think the union should ratify the contract.

This would not have been possible without your commitment to showing up at bargaining sessions, communicating your priorities to Stewards, and the Call-the-Provost action this week. NTFC is an entirely member-run union, so this win belongs to everyone who committed their time to making it possible.

After sidebar sessions between lead negotiators last week, the 12th session once again began with the University’s Bargaining Team presenting their counter on the final three articles: Article VIII: Wages, Article XVIII: Dues Deduction, and Article XXVII: Duration.

So, we are still discussing Pay + Length of the Contract.

We were disappointed in their initial offer, but positive movement was made during the session. At one point, it actually looked as if we were headed towards a final tentative agreement. In fact, we were so close that both bargaining teams agreed to stay late in order to make this happen.

However, despite all of the movement made from both sides, when their bargaining team called the Provost’s Office, they said the university will not fund a merit salary increase for Specialized Faculty higher than 2%.

Because of a likely 1% increase in health insurance costs, and a definite 2% increase in cost of living, many NTFC members would effectively receive a pay cut without at least a 3% salary increase.  

During the Rauner budget impasse, the Provost’s Office might have been able to claim hardship in order to justify this stance. But, as has been recently reported, the University of Illinois System just received “the biggest increase in operating funds, 4.6 percent, in nearly two decades.”

Why is the university asking its Specialized Faculty to effectively take a pay cut when it has been allocated a budget that President Killeen himself called “a very significant number” ?

If this is a question you’d like answered, come to the next bargaining session.

Next Session:
Friday, June 21st
9:00am – 12:00pm (you can arrive and leave at-will)
Room 1001 of Khan Annex in Huff Hall, 1206 S 4th St in Champaign, IL.

Until then, we will be contacting members to gather feedback. But, if you are reading this and have specific questions about where the numbers currently stand, or about how to get involved in bargaining in any way, you should contact our Lead Negotiator, Kay Emmert ake153[@]hotmail.com. You can also reach out to us through our website.

#NTFC_Contract2 #UnionStrong

The session began with the University’s Bargaining Team presenting their counter on the final three articles: Article VIII: Wages, Article XVIII: Dues Deduction, and Article XXVII: Duration.

This means, essentially, that we are discussing Pay + Length of the Contract.

After midweek sidebars, both sides came in optimistic that we might finish negotiating this session. Although this didn’t occur, we are still optimistic about the possibility of reaching agreement soon, as they are now bringing solid numbers to the table.  

However, there are clear conflicts between our members’ priorities and what their team is willing to give. Here are just some of the items we are now trying to weigh as we negotiate:

• Yearly Salary Raises
• Increases to the Salary Floor
• Raises Attached to Promotion
• Salary Compression Solutions
• Professional Development Funding

How would you prioritize the above list? Your salary might well be determined next week. Attend the session so that you have a say in your pay.

Next Session:
Date: June 7th

Due to some scheduling issues, the time and place are currently under discussion. They will be determined and announced via out website and social media by 7pm on Wednesday, June 5th.   

Contact our Lead Negotiator, Kay Emmert ake153[@]hotmail.com with any questions you have.