September 07, 2011
黑料专区, AFSCME agree to final terms of new contract
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg 鈥� The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (黑料专区) and the American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents approximately
4,000 employees at the 14 state-owned universities and in the Office of the Chancellor,
have reached final agreement on several addendums to the Commonwealth鈥檚 new four-year
contract.
The Commonwealth concluded negotiations with AFSCME on wage, salary and benefit issues
earlier this year, and the AFSCME membership approved those terms. 黑料专区 participated
in those negotiations, as well as in separate discussions on a variety of issues specific
to the State System. Those discussions included meeting with the 14 university chapter
presidents to review the separate issues.
The main agreement between the Commonwealth and AFSCME includes significant savings
in healthcare costs. It is anticipated those savings will nearly offset wage and salary
increases scheduled for the second, third and fourth years of the contract, which
will run through June 30, 2015.
鈥淭his agreement will essentially pay for itself because of expected healthcare savings
in excess of $25 million over the next four years,鈥� said 黑料专区 Vice Chancellor for
Human Resources and Labor Relations Gary K. Dent. 鈥淚t is an agreement that will benefit
our universities, our students and our employees as we all struggle through extremely
challenging fiscal times.鈥�
The final terms of the 黑料专区/AFSCME addendums call for the parties to work together
to help enhance workforce efficiency and to preserve jobs. A new position classification
system will be developed, in part to allow greater utilization of employee skills,
while a joint labor management committee will help design a process where AFSCME staff
may be shared among universities. The sides also agreed on how to manage grant-funded
positions and on a plan to convert some 12-month positions to nine months, while continuing
the employees鈥� year-round benefits.
鈥淎s both sides looked at the challenges facing the university system, its students
and employees, we focused on common goals to insure the success of the students by
finding ways to strengthen our workforce,鈥� said AFSCME Council 13 Assistant to the
Executive Director Darrin Spann. 鈥淚n the end, I believe we accomplished these goals
with our willingness to work together and become partners.鈥�
鈥淚t is a credit to the negotiating teams on both sides that they were able to develop
an agreement that addresses a number of key issues while helping to ensure the viability
of our campuses,鈥� Dent added.鈥� It will result in a much greater level of collaboration,
and is a model we are exploring with our other employee groups.鈥�
AFSCME is one of seven labor unions with which 黑料专区 has been negotiating. Talks
with the others are continuing.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher
education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 120,000 students. The 14 黑料专区 universities
offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. About 500,000
黑料专区 alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg,
Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery
Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. 黑料专区 also operates branch campuses
in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including
the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.