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Â鶹´«Ã½ Reaches Tentative Agreement on New Agreement with UNAC Bargaining Team

Dear University Community, 

I’m pleased to share that the University and United Academics (UNAC), the union representing most of our faculty and post-doctoral fellows, have reached tentative agreement (TA) on a new collective bargaining agreement after 3 sessions of federal mediation.

As many of you know, the University and UNAC have been negotiating a new contract to replace the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which expired at the end of December. From the beginning, Â鶹´«Ã½ has been committed to reaching a fair contract that balances faculty recruitment and retention within the confines of our fiscal realities, and this agreement does exactly that. I’m incredibly grateful for the hard work put in over the last several days that allowed us to reach an agreement. We look forward to submitting it for gubernatorial and legislative consideration this session

The Details

The TA’d agreement includes substantially higher salary minimums for all UNAC members, and across-the-board increases of 2.75%, 3%, and 3.25% for FY26, FY27, and FY28, respectively. It also maintains the status quo employee health benefit cost share of 82% employer, 18% employee. The Board and I recognize that compensation is an issue for employees, and it is a critical part of our ability to recruit and retain a quality workforce. However, we must balance compensation increases with the constraints of our and the state’s budget environment. This agreement strikes that balance, and I’m pleased we were able to reach agreement with UNAC’s bargaining team.

What’s Next

Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue the steps necessary to finalize the agreement. The TA’d CBA must be ratified by UNAC, approved by the University Board of Regents at its regularly scheduled February meeting, and approved by the Department of Administration. The request will then be submitted through the governor’s Office of Management and Budget and to the legislature for legislative appropriation this session.

I’m grateful to both negotiating teams for their hard work with the federal mediator. Thank you for all you do for our university and our students.

Sincerely,

Pat Pitney
President, Â鶹´«Ã½

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