Salary Raises and Associate Lecturers

4/18/2023

Dear FSU Members, 

Greetings from the Contract Action Team – the FSU committee that mobilizes our members during bargaining. 

As the Core Bargaining Team recently informed us, the Massachusetts legislature is expected to fund an 8% salary increase for all state employees, plus an extra $500 for every full-time bargaining unit member to distribute in some fashion – with the idea that we extend our current contract by one year to get this needed raise to state employees relatively quickly, then negotiate the next 3-year successor contract (2024-2027) next year. 

This sounds simple.  There is one potential complication, however, depending on what the Administration proposes.  In the prior round of bargaining (for the 2020-2023 contract), the Administration would not extend percentage raises to Associate Lecturers who are paid the per course minimum even though, we assume, the state funds those increases with the money they send the university for raises for all state employees.  Admin insisted that Associate Lecturers be excluded from that raise, and that any increase in the per-course minimum be negotiated separately; as a result, we bargained to increase the rate from an abysmal $5000 per course to (an ever-so-slightly) less abysmal $5350.  If included in the one-year 8% raise for all state employees, the per course rate would jump from $5350 to $5778 – a number still far too low, but nonetheless moving in the right direction.  We want the Administration to include Associate Lecturers in the 8% raise, but past practice suggests they will do otherwise. 

This issue is significant because Associate Lecturers are the lowest paid and most vulnerable faculty on campus. They are also incredibly important, given that they are teaching at least 340 courses this semester and are the fastest growing category of faculty at UMB.  Associate Lecturers are integral to the education UMB provides and their low wages have become central to the university’s financial calculus. They should be included in the 8% raise, as the state intends.

The Core Bargaining Team has not yet received a salary proposal from the Administration, but we wanted to flag this important issue – even as we remain hopeful that the Administration will do the right thing and extend this raise to all UMB employees.

Sincerely,

The Contract Action Team*

*[The Contract Action Team, or CAT, is an FSU committee that supports the Core Bargaining Team.   To join, please email: FSU@umb.edu]