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August 15, 2024

Faculty union rejects contract including 14.25% in raises; negotiations to continue

During a mediator-led session today, OU offered the faculty union a contract that included 14.25% in raises over five years, along with increases in travel funding and research fellowships.

The OU offer broke down as follows:

  • Year 1: 4% merit increase plus a $1,000 lump sum payment if the contract was finalized by Aug. 15
  • Year 2: 2.75% merit increase
  • Year 3: 2% merit increase, plus $300,000 allocated for market adjustments (which equates to another 0.5% in raises)
  • Year 4: 2.5% merit increase
  • Year 5: 2.5% merit increase

Additionally, in hopes of finding a sustainable deal that rewards faculty for their critical efforts, OU agreed to withdraw its proposal on how merit pay is determined and significantly modified its position on teaching workloads for special instructors. Despite that, OU-AAUP rejected the deal.

While negotiations continued through the mediator, OU-AAUP terminated negotiations late in the day. The two sides then agreed to extend the current contract through Aug. 28, which unfortunately is the first date the mediator is available to continue negotiations. When all compensation and benefit improvements are considered, OU’s offer would result in increased costs of at least $13 million over five years.

In contrast, the OU-AAUP is seeking increases totaling $21.8 million over three years. For OU to consider this package, it would have to consider raising student tuition by more than 10% per year. OU considers that unacceptable and unsustainable, as it will disadvantage our students and our ability to attract new students. Additionally, raising tuition by that amount not only would violate the state’s tuition cap, it also could result in a substantial cut to its state funding. OU derives virtually all its operating revenues from tuition and state appropriations. We cannot sustain operations if we do not live within these revenues.

Despite today’s developments, OU remains hopeful the two sides can find a pathway to a sustainable solution that does not put the institution into significant and ongoing budget deficits, require us to make drastic budget cuts, or place the financial burden on our students.

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