ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Tuesday is make or break for contract negotiations between Oakland University and the faculty union.
Both sides say Sunday's meeting ended in a stalemate on salary increases, which threatens to stall the start of the fall semester on Wednesday.
Connor McGuffin said he wants life at Oakland University to be back to business. The second year biology major said the sooner classes start, the sooner students are a step closer to fulfilling their professional dreams. For him, it's becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
"I do generally hope that the classes start on time because the professors who are here to teach and love to teach, that's why they did all they did to get there," he said.
However, the faculty union and the university can not come to an agreement on a new contract.
"I can kind of see it going both ways because I understand valuable teaching is and education is," McGuffin said.
"But I also see how on a financial scale how reasonable... I don't know it could be tough for a university to fund all that," he continued.
7 News Detroit learned there was some movement on a few issues at Sunday's meeting. However, there's still no movement on salary increases.
After Sunday's meeting, Oakland University released a statement saying, in part, "The faculty union rejected the University’s economic package of a total increase of 21% over five years, which includes an increase of 16% to base salaries over five years plus an additional 1% in one-time bonus payments."
The statement continued, "In contrast, the faculty union insists upon an economic package of a total increase of 30% over five years, which is neither feasible nor sustainable."
In response to that statement, Dr. Jennifer Lucarelli told 7 News Detroit, "I'm not quite sure that those numbers are an accurate representation of what the faculty union is asking for. I also don't think it's necessarily an accurate portrayal of what the university offering."
Lucarelli, an associate professor in health sciences said, the bottom line is the faculty union wants to keep salaries on pace with the current cost of living.
"The data shows that we're paid, on average, about 25% less than other faculty across the nation at our similar rank and institution," she explained.
Lucarelli said the two parties actually aren't that far apart in negotiating. She said the union is asking for the following increases:
Year 1 – 4%
Year 2 – 3.75%
Year 3 – 3.5%
Years 4 – 3.25%
Year 5 – 3.25%
That a 17.75% increase over 5 years.
"It's in our opinion that the university could afford those salary increases for faculty. They're just choosing different priorities with regard to their total budget," Lucarelli explained.
After the meeting Sunday, the university said it "remains committed to finalizing a new agreement in time for the Fall semester to start as planned Sept. 4."
Today, interim provost Kevin Corcoran added, "We look forward to tomorrow's discussion to see if we can come to an agreement."
