Two days of negotiations between the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) failed to achieve any significant progress after the faculty union presented a new proposal that would be more expensive than its earlier package that had been on the table since August.

The union’s latest proposal could end up costing the State System as much as $118 million in new costs over the next four years – about $18 million more than the total cost of APSCUF’s earlier proposal. The System is offering a package that would increase costs by about $32 million over four years.

APSCUF is still seeking raises in all four years of a new contract – including retroactive raises for junior faculty this year – and wants the State System to continue to pay the full cost of its members’ health insurance. It also is seeking additional healthcare benefits beyond what its members already receive.

The State System is asking the faculty union to agree to a one-year wage freeze for all of its members – as other unions representing State System employees already have done. State System executives, administrators and managers also are not getting raises this year.

The State System’s current proposal to APSCUF includes salary increases in the second, third and fourth years of the contract. State System faculty salaries currently rank in the top 10 percent among similar public institutions nationally.

Faculty, beginning in the second year of the new contract, also would be required to pay 10 percent of their health insurance premiums. Based on anticipated rates, faculty would pay approximately $28 a month for single coverage and $75 a month for a family plan.

The union has offered only to have some of its members – those with families – pay a much smaller portion of their insurance premiums beginning in 2005-06 – and then only if the System’s healthcare costs increased by at least 30 percent in the previous two years, not counting the cost of prescription drugs. Under the union’s proposal, faculty with covered dependents would contribute about $15 a month to their healthcare insurance premiums, regardless of how much they increased, and only if the two-year trigger were met.

Other unions representing State System employees earlier this year agreed to a premium-sharing plan in order to help preserve their healthcare benefits in the face of rapidly rising costs. The cost of providing healthcare insurance to System employees increase by 12 percent this year and is projected to increase by another 20 percent next year.

A recent survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that nationwide 92 percent of all workers with family healthcare coverage contribute to the cost of premiums. The average required contribution is $201 a month.

In addition to basic healthcare coverage, faculty also receive dental, vision and prescription drug coverage for themselves and their families.

With more than 104,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 375,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.