BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Nearly 2,000 University of Cincinnati professors could walk off the job after union members agreed Sunday to authorize a strike.
Faculty members, who have been working since Aug. 31 without a contract, want a 3.25-percent salary hike. UC administrators have offered no increase, saying tight finances have forced them to freeze salaries.
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MAJOR ISSUES
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Salary: Professors want a 3.25-percent hike. UC has offered nothing, saying tight finances have forced a freeze.
Tenure: 12 professors were not promoted, despite departmental recommendations. UC says countless others were promoted.
Gender inequity. Professors complain female faculty are hired at lower salaries and take longer to be promoted.
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The board members of the American Association of University Professors-UC chapter (AAUP-UC) will gather today to discuss union strategy. They are to meet with UC administrators and a federal mediator Tuesday to continue negotiations.
"A "Just Community' involves decent wages and working conditions for the faculty of this university," said AAUP-UC President James Cebula, referring to UC's campaign to increase tolerance and diversity on campus. "The administration has deliberately stretched this out for reasons beyond our comprehension."
UC's faculty has gone on strike twice in recent decades. In 1993, they were off the job for five days. In 1979, they were out six days.
The strike vote comes three weeks after 850 workers in UC's Service Employees International Union-District 925 waged a one-day strike. Those office-support workers say administrators refuse to implement a pay-raise mechanism in their contract. UC administrators won't accommodate their demands because most service employee union members are women and minorities, the union contends.
UC President Joseph Steger declined comment Sunday.
But UC spokesman Greg Hand said uncertain state funding and declining enrollment contributed to the administration's decision to refuse across-the-board raises.
He accused union leaders of penalizing students in their pursuit of higher paychecks.
"The university's concern is that the unions may be trying to use the students as a bargaining chip," Mr. Hand said.
"Strikes do not alter the university's economic situation. The university gets the same amount of money from the state, students pay the same amount of tuition and the dollars available don't change just because you're on strike."
Besides a salary increase, AAUP leaders are targeting:
- Tenure. Administrators have failed to promote or tenure 12 professors in the past year despite department heads' recommendations, Mr. Cebula said. Countless other professors are promoted each year, Mr. Hand countered.
- Gender inequity. Female faculty are hired at lower salaries and take longer to be promoted.
- Domestic partner benefits. AAUP leaders want insurance coverage extended to professors' live-in partners, regardless of gender or marital status.
- Compression. Some newcomers are hired at salaries equal to professors who have worked at UC for many years.
- Inequities between faculty salaries at two- and four-year colleges.
Despite such complaints, Mr. Hand said, UC remains competitive nationally in faculty salaries.
The average faculty salary for public institutions in 1997-98 was $59,051, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
At UC, the average full-time faculty salary is $57,000, excluding benefits, Mr. Cebula said.
The AAUP-UC represents 1,900 faculty; about 750 are union members. About 250 faculty attended Sunday's meeting.
Some complained that UC is the only state school at which professors won't get raises.
Raises range this year from 3 percent at Miami University to 5 percent at Cleveland State University, Mr. Cebula said.
Others charged that UC administrators cannot claim tight finances while spending millions to build campus structures.
They also pointed to administrators' apparent ease in raising about $50 million a year for UC's endowment, which is almost $700 million.
"They have misplaced priorities," Mr. Cebula said.
But Mr. Hand said UC must improve its facilities to remain competitive. And most donors who give to the endowment specify how they want their money spent, he added.
Salaries account for about half of UC's budget. While tuition rose 5.2 percent this year, enrollment fell by more than 500 students, to about 33,500, Mr. Hand said. Only the Ohio State University has more students in the state.
