Admin at the table: pay more to park, get less of a raise!
2/28/2025
Dear Colleagues,
After months of getting very little of substance from the Admin bargaining team, they have summarily rejected virtually all our proposals. We urge as many members as possible to show up before the next bargaining session on Wednesday, March 5 – this will take place right outside ISC 2003 from 9:15 – 9:45. We need you to make your voices heard. Coffee and snacks provided! Read on.
Proposals Admin has Rejected
In a time of increased costs and rising economic uncertainty, we made proposals that would raise our standard of living, improve faculty and librarian retention, and enhance our working conditions consistent with both our new R1 designation and our values.
Among others, Admin has rejected the following:
- Raises that match the across-the-board parameters (12.5 percent over 3 years) set by the Governor’s office
- Longevity raises for faculty and librarians who have been here at least 10 years
- Retention raises for TT faculty after successful 4th year review
- Shortening timeline for NTT promotions and increasing of salary floors
- NTT participation in department meetings
- Stipends for Program Directors, who do this work 12 months a year (despite being on 9-month contracts)
- Credits toward a CLR for off-load teaching of independent studies
- Support for international faculty by covering visa costs
- Increasing coverage for bereavement leave
- Increasing eligibility for parental leave
- More personal days for librarians and calendar-year faculty
- Access to all-gender restrooms
Not only has Admin rejected these proposals; they have refused to provide any rationale or justification. In some cases, it’s unclear if they even looked at, let alone genuinely considered, these proposals.
Associate Lecturers
Additionally, after lengthy discussions at the table regarding Associate Lecturers (ALs), admin admitted the category is being abused. They agree that people are being hired as ALs when they should be hired as Lecturers, an abuse we believe will continue as long as ALs are cheaper and can be disposed of at will. Admin nonetheless had the Scrooge-like ingenuity to propose that ALs get a 1.8 percent raise of $100, increasing their per course rate from $5500 to $5600. This “raise” will guarantee that our Associate Lecturers continue to be the most poorly paid faculty in Boston and earn nowhere close to a living wage!
Parking + Raises
There is one thing we are certain admin does care about: raising parking fees. Although they could not find the time to give our proposals due consideration, they nonetheless found ample time to produce a convoluted parking proposal that increases rates automatically, and in perpetuity, that effectively negate the already measly and insulting raises they are proposing. Not only is this proposal offensive on its face, but it is also in violation of the ground rules that state all proposals had to be made by March 22, 2024.
Outrageously, Admin’s salary proposal offers raises that result in real wage losses for most faculty and librarians! The Governor’s office set parameters at 12.5 percent across-the-board raises over a 3-year period. Admin proposed 5.75 percent, with the remaining 6.75 percent unequally distributed through merit pools that do not include new faculty, librarians, and many NTT faculty members. (ALs are not included in across-the-board raises, or merit raises, which may be why Admin decided to throw another hundred bucks at them so they could maybe go to Costco or the movies one night per semester).
What do you think?
Impressed with Admin’s proposals? Confused by their rejection of ours? The only way we get what we need and want—and deserve—from this contract is if, in one collective voice, we demand equity, fairness, and the honoring of all of our labor!
Admin will only improve their proposals if we collectively pressure them to do so! Our strength lies in our unity! Attend our March 5 bargaining session (registration link), or show up to support us at ISC-2003 30 minutes before session starts – coffee + donuts.
Any thoughts, or suggestions, or if you want to get more involved, please just respond to this email.
In solidarity,
The FSU Core Bargaining Team
Caroline Coscia, Senior Lecturer II, Political Science
Ellen Frank, Senior Lecturer II, Economics
Maria Hegbloom, MTA Field Representative
Jessica Holden, Librarian IV, Healey Library
Keith Jones, Lecturer, Africana Studies
Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Senior Staff Member
Jason Rodriquez, Associate Professor, Sociology
Heike Schotten, Professor, Political Science
Steve Striffler, Professor, Labor Studies