Contract negotiations extended to Aug. 28 between Oakland University and faculty
ROCHESTER, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — Oakland University and its professors will continue contract negotiations in two weeks after failing to reach an agreement on Thursday.
Both sides negotiated with a state-appointed mediator present until the Aug. 15 deadline. They agreed to extend the deadline to Aug. 28; however, due to the mediator's availability, they would not be able to meet until then.
The university offered a 14.25% raise, totaling $13 million, over five years. In the first year, OU proposed a 4% merit increase plus a $1,000 lump sum payment, followed by 2% increases for the following years. Meanwhile, OU's American Association of University Professors (OU-AAUP) union is pushing for an increase totaling $21.8 million over three years, which the university says could result in raising tuition and a cut to state funding.
"OU derives virtually all its operating revenues from tuition and state appropriations. We cannot sustain operations if we do not live within these revenues," the university said in a statement.
The union argues that the university's proposed merit system and uniform workload policy would bring down wages for more than 300 faculty members.
"This not only has the effect of undermining the merit system but would result in economic bias and discrimination. The uniform workload proposal seeks to impose a one-size-fits-all model for full-time teaching in units across the institution. This constitutes a threat to disciplinary control over the work of the faculty in an effort to drive down the cost of instruction," the union said.
Union member Karen Miller told CBS News Detroit earlier this week that the faculty are trying to make up for what they lost during the pandemic.
"That's becoming very problematic," Miller said of OU's proposed contract. "We're afraid we're going to start losing professors to other institutions."