After months of negotiation, faculty gets new contract

After months of negotiations and stalled
efforts on both sides, Mercer's Faculty Association
and administration have negotiated
a contract for faculty. The key areas
of the agreement are the teachers' salaries,
medical costs and tenure experience
requirements.

The process to negotiate this new
contract was long and laborious. Lasting
through the summer and the majority of
the fall 2009 semester, negotiations concluded
in mid November.

The faculty negotiating team
met many times with President Donohue
and Chief Business and Financial Officer
Joseph Eapen who represented Mercer's
Board of Trustees. At several points
during the contentious negotiations, the
faculty union voted to boycott committee
meetings.

The faculty negotiating team was
lead by mathematics Professor Arthur
Schwartz and included History Professor
Craig Coenen, Chemistry Professor
Michael Dorneman and English Professor
Sharmila Sen. Schwartz has 30 years
of negotiating experience. Schwartz described
the negotiation process as "brutal"
and mentioned that 19 other issues
were on the table for negotiation in addition
to what is described in the new contract.

The new faculty contract is retroactive
as of July 1, 2009 and replaces the old contract which expired June 30, 2009. The agreement will remain in effect for four years, expiring June 30, 2013.

The key point of the negotiations focused
on faculty salaries. After negotiations,
the faculty and administration agreed that faculty would get 3.75 percent annual increase in their salaries. This increase combines with an increased overload rate, a bonus paid to faculty who teach credits beyond their usual teaching load. The new overload rate is applied retroactively
back to the beginning of summer 2009,
so faculty don't lose out on money they should have made during the negotiation process. Originally, the faculty negotiators were aiming at an overall annual increase of 4.5 percent for
salaries, but a variety of factors including America's ailing economy prevented this outcome.

The promotion system for Mercer's
faculty has also been changed somewhat.
Faculty members who are applying to be promoted from the rank of associate professor to full professor rank, must have more years of full-time teaching experience than they used to if they have an M.F.A. degree rather than a Ph.D.

As part of the negotiation agreement,
two task forces will be convened. One will
look at costs of health care. The other will revisit the qualifications needed for promotion in rank.

Medical cost for faculty was a further
concern during negotiations. Several other
New Jersey community colleges were were in
contract negotiations this year had to make
concessions where medical benefits were
concerned. Under Mercer's new agreement
Mercer's faculty members will not be paying
into their health benefits until 2013. At that time the contract is up for renegotiation and faculty hope to further postpone any cuts to their health benefits. Avoiding these cuts for the time being represents a significant achievement for Mercer's negotiation team.

Contract negotiations were not limited
to Mercer's faculty. Mercer's security
and maintenance staff, who usually negotiate
along side the faculty union, decided to
settle their contracts earlier. Mercer's faculty expressed relief and happiness at the new contract. Faculty have resumed attending committee meetings and as the end of semester approaches, they have largely caught up on the backlog of work.