United Academics Talking Points | Fall 2024

OUR COMMITMENTS: WE STAND FIRM, WE STAND TOGETHER

What we need:

1. Salary increases for all faculty, including increases to minimum salary levels, and

2. Fair treatment and job protection for Lecturers, and

3. Protection of tenure, and protection of high-quality health insurance coverage

The administration will feign limited resources, and they will continue to attempt to divide tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty.

We will not engage with the notion that improvements for the Lecturer track must be coupled with the erosion of tenure. This is false. We will not allow divide-and-conquer tactics at the bargaining table. We are negotiating with the administration, not each other.

SALARY INCREASES FOR ALL FACULTY

●      Current salaries do not reflect inflation or cost of living increases.

●      Current salaries do not reflect increased workloads due to understaffing and increased enrollments. 

Our contract must:

●      Recover real value of compensation lost to inflation

●      Raise minimum salaries to pay a living wage

FAIR TREATMENT FOR LECTURERS

●      The minimum salary for full-time Lecturers is $47,500- not a living wage in Chittenden County.

●      Starting salaries for Lecturers are lower than they have been in six years, adjusted for inflation.

●      One-third of UVM faculty are Lecturers; Lecturers teach 60% of the student credit hours.

●      Lecturers do not have equitable access to benefits- there is a 2-year waiting period for retirement savings, and a 4-year waiting period to access a semester-long  parental leave 

●      Lecturers do not have job security, no matter how long they’ve worked at UVM.

Our contract must:

●      Replace an outmoded  system that treats lecturers as second-class faculty, with fewer opportunities for promotion, shorter contracts,  and fewer benefits than every other faculty type at UVM

●      Substantially increase Lecturer minimum salaries

PROTECTION OF TENURE, PROTECTION OF HEALTH BENEFITS

●      Reject the administration’s attempts to erode tenure

●      Protect our high-quality health insurance plan, while exploring options for future savings as premiums continue to increase dramatically