Sept 2021 Newsletter

FA Newsletter 9-19-21

Hello, Faculty!

IMPORTANT: There is some confusion regarding the Chancellor’s statement about 2% raises. The raises he mentioned are for the administration and non-represented, not TT, NTT, or Civil Service employees. 

This statement does NOT mean no raises for SIUC Faculty!

It sets a bar of at least 2% from which we will bargain.

At the request of the administration, the FA bargaining paused until after the September 16 Board meeting. We have resumed bargaining in earnest about raises.

In solidarity,

Anne

Statement I read to BoT on Sept 16, 2021

Many of you have met me before. I’m Anne Fletcher, President of the SIUC Faculty Association, and I’m here to talk to you about what it would mean to make Faculty at SIUC a genuine priority at this university. 

We are happy to see that the current proposed budget now includes a salary increase plan for SIUC. The rationale for the plan states that “adequate salaries for our faculty and staff are a high priority.” In light of inflation and essentially the pay reduction it has caused, “adequate” isn’t exactly inspiring language at an institution that prides itself on excellence. 

This isn’t the place to bargain salary. We return to the Interest Based Bargaining table to begin discussion of finances tomorrow. But here’s what you could do, today, to show that fair salaries for Faculty are a real priority. Faculty are grievously underpaid. Recognize the Faculty who facilitate the university’s teaching and research: we are the university’s essential employees. SIUC Faculty have gone the extra mile to help the university weather a budget crisis and, now, a public health crisis. Every day we enter the classroom, the laboratory, or the studio, we put our disciplinary expertise—and, in the confusion of a pandemic, our health— on the line. We have helped turned around SIUC’s declining enrollment. We have taken on extra work to fill gaps as colleagues have left. We can’t afford to keep losing good Faculty, and we cannot expect good people to keep working for a university that allows their real wages to erode year after year. 

Commit to put an end to the real decline in Faculty salaries, this year— and with long-range planning for the years to come. Develop a long-term plan to get SIUC Faculty caught up with inflation, with our peers at other research universities, and even with the other schools in the SIU system (as indicated by the chart provided at the conclusion of today’s Agenda).

We believe SIU can be more than “adequate.” Make Faculty a genuine priority, and you’ll take the single most important step you can toward recruiting, retaining, and motivating the Faculty we need to make SIUC the excellent university it aspires to be. 

Thank you.