Eastern Michigan University’s faculty members will vote on a new contract this week.
The vote results of the EMU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors are due by the end of the week.
The old contract for more than 500 tenured and tenure-track faculty expired at the end of August.
Following a five-day strike, the university and the union reached a new deal.
An EMU spokesman says administrators at the Ypsilanti school are pleased with the terms of the tentative agreement.
A union spokesman says the deal includes “significant” gains for EMU professors.
Highlights of the proposed contract:
· a raise of four percent or $4,000 in base pay in the first year of the agreement, whichever is larger. Pay increases will be as high as 7.4% for the lowest-paid faculty members.
· a 3.5 percent increase in year two, compounded on top of year one increases.
· a 3.5 percent increase in year three, compounded on top of year two and year three increases.
· The parties agreed to a salary re-opener in the fourth year of the agreement, to protect EMU-AAUP members in the event of continued inflation.
“It’s time for members to evaluate the proposed agreement and make a decision,” said Matt Kirkpatrick, associate professor of English language and literature at EMU and chair of the EMU-AAUP negotiating team.
