MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors voted on Monday night to ratify the latest five-year contract proposal by a vote of 197-30. The contract does not officially go into effect until the NMU Board of Trustees votes to approve the contract.

Lesley Putman, chief negotiator for the faculty union, said in a statement, “Provided the Board of Trustees approves this agreement, we will return to pre-pandemic compensation levels. However, it is distressing that it took eight months of negotiations and mediation to achieve this.

“We are thankful for the students, members of the community and other union members in Marquette County who expressed overwhelming support for the Northern Michigan University AAUP faculty in our struggle for a fair contract.”

The union added that AAUP members look forward to having this contract approved by the NMU Board of Trustees as quickly as possible.

NMU administration on Monday released a statement.

“NMU is pleased with the outcome of today’s ratification votes on new contracts by faculty members of the NMU-AAUP bargaining unit and staff members of the AFSCME bargaining unit,” it said. “The contracts will now be brought to the Board of Trustees for final approval at a special board meeting to be held in the near future.

“A deep debt of gratitude is sincerely owed to the members of all the negotiating teams for their hard work, dedication and patience, which led to these positive outcomes.”

NMU faculty had been working without a contract since it expired on July 1.

Negotiations between faculty and administration hit a few snags along the way, including the faculty union rejecting a tentative agreement on Sept. 28. It also issued a “no confidence” vote of the NMU Board of Trustees on Oct. 15.