Dear MSP Members,

I want to give you a brief bargaining update. But first I would like you to take just one minute to contact the Governor. All higher education units within the MTA are coordinating a weekly call-in or email to the Governor, urging him to provide a fair contract.So right now, please call (toll free 888-870-7770) – or email (Go to www.mass.gov; then click “contact us” at the bottom of the page. In the middle of the page, click the link to the “Governor’s contact form.”) – and let Governor Patrick know that “public higher education employees deserve fair and equitable contracts. We will not stand for more pay cuts.”

Last week, the joint MSP/FSU bargaining team met with the administration to present three of our core issues.

1. Salary: We presented the case for three years of 5.8% each year. For the first year, we argued for a 3.8% cost of living increase, based on last year’s 3.8% increase for the northeast region, according to the Department of Labor. Two percent would be for merit. For the next two years, we proposed that faculty be given the true cost of living increase (whether it be 3.8, or 4, or 2.7), with merit making up the remainder. This fits with our goal of no pay cuts and assures that no unit member receives less than a cost of living raise before merit is distributed.

2. Dan Clawson, our former president and head of the sabbatical committee, presented the case for an improved sabbatical benefit (the option of a full year at 80% pay) plus a more flexible benefit (allowing our members to take partial sabbaticals off of the normal every six-year cycle). He presented compelling evidence from our sabbatical leave survey in which 80.1% of the 452 of you who responded indicated that you would want to take the full year at 80% pay option if it were available..

3. Sharon Domier, bargaining team member and librarian, presented the case for two types of retirement policies: a clear post-retirement hiring policy and a phased retirement system. Your team believes that this is a true “win-win” proposition where our members and the university both gain greater flexibility.

This week, we expect to get the administration’s formal response to these proposals, and then we will present on our other bargaining proposals, including our demand to hire 150 faculty over the course of the coming three year contract, and our proposal to have the university pay both tuition and fees for our members’ dependents who attend UMass.

We meet again this Friday and I will report back early next week.

MSP President