TheState System of Higher Education announced today that it has offered to extend the terms of the recently expired contract with the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) through December 31.

The contract extension would allow negotiations between the System and its faculty union to continue without the threat of a strike, assuring the more than 95,000 students at the 14 state-owned universities their classes would not be interrupted during the upcoming Fall semester.

The proposal to extend the contract with the approximately 5,500 professors at the State System universities was transmitted by letter Thursday to the faculty’s chief negotiator.

The latest contract between the System and APSCUF expired June 30. Despite the lack of a new agreement, the state-owned universities will open and classes will begin as scheduled on all campuses.

Most of the State System campuses will start classes the week of August 30. The Fall Semester will have begun on all campuses by September 8.

Negotiations between the System and faculty union are scheduled to resume August 25.

The State System has taken significant steps toward achieving a contract settlement since the last round of negotiations concluded in late July. Negotiators last week delivered a new proposal to APSCUF that would grant salary increases of up to 16.5 percent over three years.

The proposal now in APSCUF’s hands would provide all faculty general pay increases of 2 percent each year in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 and 2.5 percent in 2001-2002.

Eligible faculty on any of the seven steps of the current pay scale also would receive, in addition to the 2 percent general pay increase, an annual service increment of 5 percent for the 1999-2000 academic year. A new 15-step salary schedule, which would provide eligible faculty annual service increments of approximately 2.5 percent at each step, would be implemented in the second year of the contract. Faculty eligible for the annual service increments in each of the three years of the contract would receive a combined increase of 16.5 percent under this proposal.

Those faculty at the top of the new pay scale and not eligible for the service increments would receive, in addition to the general pay increases, cash payments of 2.5 percent in each of the second and third years of the contract.

The latest APSCUF proposal submitted in July would increase the base salary of every faculty member by at least 17.5 percent over four years – 4 percent in 1999-2000, 4.25 percent each in 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 and 5 percent in 2002-2003.

APSCUF also is seeking to continue the 5 percent annual service increment, which provides automatic pay increases based on years of service, throughout the life of the next contract. These automatic pay increases are in addition to the general pay increases listed above and would result in some faculty members being eligible to receive combined increases totaling as much as 37.5 percent over four years.

State System faculty salaries already are very competitive when compared with those paid by comparable public institutions, both nationally and in the northeast, where salaries tend to be higher than in the rest of the country. The average nine-month salary for full-time faculty at all ranks as of Fall 1998 was $59,428. The average nine-month salary for full-time instructors – the lowest of four faculty ranks – was $34,085, while the average nine-month salary for full-time professors – the highest rank – was $76,255.

Faculty members also receive a generous package of medical and other benefits and may choose from three separate retirement plans.

Additional information on negotiations is available at the State System website at: http:\\www.sshechan.edu. Click on “What’s New,” then “Collective Bargaining Information,” then “APSCUF-Faculty.”

The 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. Nearly 350,000 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 and the University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.