Contract issue still unresolved

SSA contract talks continue, fact-finder brought in

August 24, 2007 —

The administration is in the midst of talks with the Support Staff Association - which is made up of maintenance workers, secretaries and clerks - to renew its contract, which ended June 30, 2006.

According to SSA President Ann Garcia, before signing the last contact, the Faculty Association and the SSA both had caps on their medical insurance, which means the University paid a percentage up to a certain amount. Previous to their last contract, the FA's cap was higher than the SSA's. After signing the last contract, the SSA took a zero percent increase in pay in return for an increase in insurance coverage matching that of the Faculty Association's.

"At that time, the administration said the University was suffering budget problems, so a zero percent increase would be greatly appreciated," says Garcia. "We were asked to take one for the team, and we agreed."

Garcia says that the SSA was told that the Administration would not receive a pay increase.

"But, after the contract was ratified, all of the administrative professionals received pay increases," she said.

This is a point of contention between the administration and the SSA. Vice President of Administration and Business Affairs James Muladore says that while the administration did receive a pay increase, there was never a promise made to anyone that no group would receive a pay increase.

"The administration and the faculty both did receive an increase," Muladore says. "However, there was not a promise to that group that the administration would not receive a pay increase. We bargain separately from them. We look at each group [faculty, support staff, and administrative staff] separately when bargaining."

According to Muladore, the administration bargains separately from the SSA and the FA. Because of this, a different agreement was reached for the administration's contract.

"The University contributions to the FA's and the administrative staff's health insurance was at a lesser level than that for the SSA, and there was no increase in the amount of University contribution to retirement for the administrative staff and faculty, which meant there was more money for increase in wages for that group."

The negotiations are currently in the fact-finding stage, which means a third party is provided by the state to help bring the two sides together by addressing outstanding issues between the two negotiating parties.

The third party then makes a recommendation as to where said parties may end up.

President Gilbertson is pleased by the government's deployment of a fact-finder, and hopes it will help resolve the issues facing both sides.

"We are encouraged about the fact-finding stage. They deserve a contract. If fact-finding is required, that's great. We want to move forward as soon as possible," Gilbertson said.

Although there are disagreements in the negotiations, Garcia maintained that the SSA wants to maintain a strong relationship with the administration and the rest of the University.

"We don't want this to be adversarial," Garcia said. "Everyone on the support staff wants to maintain a positive relationship with the people they work with and the administration. They all see and agree that it would only be detrimental to the University to act as enemies. We can't work that way, and we don't want to work that way. Every single person on the support staff loves this institution, loves their job, and wants a good working relationship with their supervisors and the administration."

Muladore also says he is "moderately optimistic" about a quick end to the negotiations, but nevertheless would like to maintain a strong relationship with the SSA, as well as see the issue resolved quickly and in a positive manner.

"We think very highly of the support staff," Muladore says. "They do great work with the institution. We want to contract to be settled, and we want to move forward. It's unfortunate that there are some differences here, but we would like to see them resolved as soon as we can."