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Faculty Association calls Wendler's salary plan a flop

Daily Egyptian

The Faculty Association is describing Chancellor Walter Wendler's 15 percent salary increase proposal as a flop with misleading numbers, but the administration holds that this proposal offers the type of flexibility necessary to deal with an unstable state economy.

Wendler announced the administration's plan for an increase up to 15 percent Friday, as negotiations were still in session and the union prepared for three days of voting that could give Faculty Association President Morteza Daneshdoost and union leadership members the ability to call a faculty strike at their discretion.

Wendler's proposal would guarantee a 1 percent salary increase for fiscal years '04, '05 and '06. Any other salary increases would be dependent on state appropriations. The Illinois Board of Higher Education typically sets aside a portion of money earmarked for salary increases in a proposal to the state. Wendler is depending on the IBHE to make those proposals and for the state to adopt them in order for SIUC's faculty to receive the increase.

For the current '03 fiscal year, the proposal calls for no salary increases. Beginning in '04, the plan calls for a one percent increase and then any other increases depending on the state. The proposal cites an example of a 2+1+1 IBHE plan, which the board has not released but is expected to float to the state in December. If that plan passes through all the obstacles and makes its way to higher education budgets, here's what it will mean for faculty salaries at SIUC:

The state will allocate money allowing for a two percent increase in salaries. The state will fund another one percent for increases if the University agrees to match it with an internal one percent. If this proposal pans out, the faculty would receive a five percent raise, two percent that is funded internally and three percent that is funded by state monies set aside for faculty salaries.

Wendler said he cited no plans for the subsequent two years because he cannot begin to predict what will happen to the state's economy. And he recognizes that he can't even predict what will happen with next year's budget ,although preliminary figures are beginning to surface. The state's financial forecasters for the legislative branch are expected to announce today that the state is down substantially from last year.

The state did not fund any increase for this fiscal year because of a mid-year recission, but Wendler said he is confident relying on state figures for his proposal because the state has recognized that increasing faculty salaries at public universities is a top priority.

"Not doing it for one year is one thing," he said. "Not doing it two or three years is another thing."

The proposal the faculty bring to the table is a 21 percent increase during three years beginning this year, as opposed to the administration's plan that offers no increase for the current year. The faculty's proposal is calling for a 7 percent increase for fiscal years '03, '04 and '05. Faculty Association spokesman James Kelly said the administration has the money to fund this type of increase, although he said it was not the job of the association to figure out how to do it.

The cost to the University for every one percent raise for faculty salaries, including union and non-union members, is $600,000, Wendler said. The cost to fund the faculty's proposal would be 4.2 million per year, bringing the total to 12.6 million for all three years. Wendler said it would be impossible for the University to find that type of money in the budget.

The administration's plan would cost the University at least $600,000 per year for three years. Although, if the state passes Wendler's example of a 2+1+1 plan or something similar to this, the University would have to provide 2 percent internally, which would cost about $1.2 million per year for three years, an amount Wendler believes the University can afford with money from the tuition increase.

The faculty remains unsatisfied with this proposal, however, because any possible increases above one percent rest in limbo with the state's economy and IBHE proposals.

"If they want us to negotiate with IBHE, we'll negotiate with them," Kelly said. "We want to negotiate with the people who run this University."

The difference between Wendler's plan this year and the language regarding salary in previous faculty contracts is the uncertainty of the plan. Last's year's contract called for a six percent increase, when at the time the state had passed a 3+2+1 plan. Wendler said he cannot offer a similar concrete plan this year, with the state seeing its toughest budget times in more than a decade.

"We are in tough times," he said. "That is the bottom line and that was the offer."

The faculty and administration will be back at the bargaining table Friday.

Reporter Molly Parker can be reached at mparker@dailyegyptian.com

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