NMU faculty ratify contract

MARQUETTE - Northern Michigan University faculty overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract with NMU administration today, six weeks after rejecting the initial tentative agreement.

The vote was 179 in favor and 55 opposed.

"Our negotiating team was able to quickly and effectively work with administrators to change most of the language that had concerned faculty," said Ron Sundell, president of the NMU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the faculty union. "The result is a 'win' for both sides and a validation of the collective bargaining process."

According to an NMU press release, the agreement features an across-the-board salary increase of 2 percent for the current year. There is no base salary increase for the remainder of the contract term, but there is a $700 one-time payment to each AAUP member in the second year. The contract allows for either party to reopen the wage discussion in the final two years.

Both employee and university contributions to health care will increase. The university's portion will go up by 7 percent the first year and 7.6 percent the remaining two years, with employee contributions rising at a similar rate.

Other changes include language that links tenure and promotion standards with peer institutions; a formalized conceptual framework for scholarship expectations; additional resources to support scholarship; and a departmental bylaws review process, according to the news release.

Sundell said the new contract includes language that safeguards shared governance -- the principle that faculty and administration are equal partners in deciding Northern's future -- and preserves the faculty's voice in determining bylaws, the rules by which departments operate and which govern the awarding of promotion and tenure.

The revised language also secures a new health insurance program that allows unmarried faculty to enroll household members. Dissatisfaction over those issues and others led faculty on Sept. 23 to reject a tentative agreement that union and administration representatives had negotiated over the summer, Sundell said.

The 132-107 vote marked the first time faculty at the 110-year old institution had rejected a negotiated contract.

The AAUP represents 297 fulltime professors at NMU.

The contract ratified today requires final approval by the NMU Board of Trustees.

For more on the story see Thursday's print edition of The Mining Journal.