Oregon Tech faculty refuse to bargain

Oregon Tech Faculty Union make unrealistic demands in face of national trends

The following is a press release from the Oregon Institute of Technology.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Oregon Tech Faculty Union make unrealistic demands in face of national trends:

In its 2021 Faculty in Higher Education Annual Report, The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) concluded, “The overall median salary increase for full-time faculty from 2019-20 to 2020-21 was 0.69%, the lowest increase since 2010.” This leaves no doubt as to why Oregon Tech Faculty Union’s salary increase demand is unrealistic.

Oregon Tech has made a significant offer in compensation that is far better than that noted in this study. Oregon Tech’s salary offer includes a 13% increase, which includes a 9.5% guaranteed across the board salary increase with the potential for faculty members to earn an additional 3.5% or possibly more based on performance and promotion. The health care offer maintains the current level of healthcare, paying 95% - 97% of costs of the plan(s). Oregon Tech already pays full time 9-month full professors on average $135,000 a year, when generous health insurance and retirement benefits are included. This is 14 percent more than what similar institutions compensate for comparable work.

Also, the CUPA-HR study noted, “The proportions of tenure-track, non-tenure-track, and adjunct faculty are relatively unchanged from last year. However, faculty of all types experienced job losses across all institutional classifications. Adjunct faculty experienced the greatest decrease in size, with a nearly 5% reduction in workforce since last year.”

Several colleges and universities are making major cutbacks in their programs and releasing faculty positions. Despite the pandemic the Oregon Tech made sure that faculty remained unaffected and were shielded by the administration from the furloughs which others at the university endured. Oregon Tech continues to ask the faculty union to consider these offers when 1 in 9 positions in higher education have been eliminated, and when universities and colleges are facing economic uncertainty.

The Faculty Union declined to negotiate today, May 1, 2021 even though then administration reserved the entire day to negotiate. It is disappointed the faculty union have chosen to take such a cavalier attitude toward the negotiations when so many students are asking for them to return to the classroom.

Source for the CUPA-HR report:
Bichsel, Jacqueline; Fuesting, Melissa; Nadel-Hawthorne, Sarah; & Schmidt, Anthony (2021, March). Faculty in Higher Education Annual Report: Key Findings, Trends, and Comprehensive Tables for TenureTrack, Non-Tenure Teaching, and Non-Tenure Research Faculty and Summary Data for Adjunct Faculty for the 2020-21 Academic Year (Research Report). CUPA-HR. Available from https://www.cupahr.org/surveys/results/.