Contract talks between Harper College and its faculty union have stalled, college trustees and union leaders said.
The college’s board of trustees approved a tentative budget Tuesday that would provide an unspecified pay increase at least equal to the 4.6 percent faculty members received last year. But union leaders want more money, and they fear the union’s members must bear higher health insurance costs.
“[The college] has not responded to the latest faculty salary proposal,” union spokesman Andrew Wilson told the board Tuesday night. Wilson would not be specific about that request.
College officials and the union, known as the Faculty Senate, last met June 19.
The faculty’s proposed “appropriate salary enhancements” would keep Harper competitive with other community colleges, Wilson said.
Union secretary Jim Edstrom said Wednesday his group did not want to comment on its pay and benefit request. He also would not comment on whether the contract dispute could lead to a strike.
Pay raises over the last three years were 4.2 percent, 4.4 percent and 4.6 percent under the current contract, which expires this summer.
The college’s offer for the next three years would give the faculty bigger raises, said Judy Thorson, vice president of administrative services. Full-time faculty salaries range from $35,000 to $90,286. Faculty members are eligible for overtime pay.
Because of 51 retirements, the proposed budget shows the payroll shrinking by $456,000 to $36 million in the proposed 2003 budget. But the college will pay $1.1 million more for benefits, up to $6.9 million.
Thorson said health-care costs are a sticking point in the negotiations.
Total employee health-care costs for the college are $5.8 million and are expected to climb to $9 million by 2004.
The college wants its employees to pay more for their health insurance. Under the current plan, employees have an annual $100 deductible. After the deductible is paid, doctor and hospital bills are covered 100 percent with no co-pay, Thorson said.
Thorson said a medical insurance change would affect all of the college’s 700 full-time employees. The faculty union, which represents 206 professors and associate professors, is the sole labor group that opposes the change in health insurance, she said.
The proposed budget is $173 million, up 22 percent from last year, Thorson said. The increase is due to building projects. The board is expected to adopt the budget in September.
