Today the faculty union had a bargaining session with the administration, but nothing happened on salaries because the administration still has not provided the union with the analysis discussed in the email sent out to the faculty under Provost Long’s name 2 weeks ago.
As an aside, I can understand Scholz’s desire to blame this sort of email on his provost so that he can claim the faculty’s love when he finally caves on salary – but doesn’t he understand that lying about the obvious things is not the way to build trust? FWIW there’s some relevant work by his former colleagues at Wisconsin: Building Rational Cooperation, Andreoni and Samuelson (2006).
The money graph from “Long’s” email:
This analysis shows that, when adjusted for retirement contributions, payroll deductions for health insurance, and cost of living, UO faculty total compensation is at 98.3 percent of the average of our AAU public peers. Key findings of the analysis include …
This was then used to justify the administration’s 3% a year raise proposal – far less than enough to even keep up with inflation, much less move salaries to the AAU average, a goal first proposed by President Richard Lariviere back in 2009. Scholz’s proposal would lead to a further decrease in UO compensation both in real terms and relative to the AAU, Big-10, etc.
Contrast what Scholz had Long send to the faculty with the email Lariviere had his Provost Jim Bean send out here:
From: Provost
Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 12:26 PM
To: Deans Working Group
Subject: Faculty Salaries
The Missouri article stating that UO has the lowest salaries in the AAU has caused quite a stir (we have since verified that they were correct). Low salaries were always thought of as just Oregonian. But 34 out of 34 is a whole other thing. We cannot have this. Richard’s reaction was “this is job #1.” Richard will likely have an announcement on how we are attacking this when politically feasible (after last gavel). Please communicate to your faculty that the Missouri article really got our attention. This may require disruptive solutions.
Thanks, Jim
We’re still at the bottom of the AAU – the faculty I mean – UO’s top administrators are now in the middle – but now we’ve got a President who thinks that’s where we belong:
From: “Provost Christopher P. Long” <[email protected]>Subject: UA bargaining update: Salary offer and AAU comparatorsDate: August 14, 2024 at 2:00:32 PM PDTReply-To: [email protected]
- We are fully committed to an outcome that positions UO faculty and the university for long-term success. Our core principles to advance university strategic goals, ensure operational flexibility, offer competitive total compensation, and maintain responsible financial stewardship guide our negotiations during this bargaining cycle.
- During this process, we must ensure that we are managing the institution’s long-term financial sustainability. When comparing the university to the Association of American Universities (AAU) peer compensation data, it is important to recognize that we do not have the same financial resources as those institutions. Specifically, in FY2022 (the last year comparative data was available) the UO received $86.4 million from the state whereas the average state appropriation for AAU peer institutions was $416.2 million. This means that the UO only had $3,863 of state support per student FTE, while the average AAU peer figure was $10,410. This difference equates to roughly $146.5 million per year of annual recurring state funding after adjusting for differences in enrollment size. AAU financial resources comparator data is detailed on the HR website and was shared in a previous email on March 18, 2024.
- In line with our core principle of competitive total compensation, we are working to support faculty salary increases through this negotiation process. While salary is the largest part of total compensation, the university’s retirement contributions and health insurance are important components, and they must be considered in any compensation comparison between the UO and our peer institutions.
Total compensation at the UO compared to AAU peer institutions
- Higher institutional retirement contributions at UO compared to our peers reduce the amount employees need to withhold from their pay to accumulate retirement savings.
- UO faculty members continue to pay significantly less for health insurance coverage than their AAU public peers.
- The cost of living in Eugene is lower than average at our AAU public peers.
Retirement Savings Comparison
University of Oregon
|
4.00%
|
Average at AAU peer institutions
|
7.56%
|
The value of employer contribution to UO retirement benefits continues to be higher than at most of our peer institutions. In comparing defined contribution plans (Optional Retirement Plan at UO), the maximum employer contribution to a new faculty member’s retirement plan at the UO is 12 percent while the average maximum employer contribution of our AAU public peers is 8.4 percent. This means that an employee at UO needs to deduct an average of about 3.6 percent less from their salary to establish the same level of retirement savings as an employee at a peer institution. PERS, the defined benefit pension plan available to faculty, represents an even larger compensation investment, but due to the difficulty of comparing pension benefits across institutions, we have not included a comparative analysis of the value of PERS.
Health Insurance Comparison
At the University of Oregon
TTF and Career Faculty |
1.28%
|
At average AAU public peer university
|
6.19%
|
Comparable Adjustment Factor to AAU Public Peer Institutions
|
Adjustment Factor
|
Percentage of AAU Peers after Adjustment by Factor
|
Starting point: Current UO TTF salaries
(fall 2022 data). |
|
85.7%
|
Health insurance: UO withholds 4.9% less from faculty paychecks than the average of AAU public peers.
|
Divide by 0.951
|
90.1%
|
Retirement savings: Withholding from salary is higher for AAU peer faculty by 3.6% to obtain the same contribution to a defined contribution retirement plan.
|
Divide by 0.964
|
93.5%
|
Cost of living: Based on MIT cost of living data, the cost of living for faculty at UO is approximately 95.1% of what it is at our AAU public peers.
|
Divide by 0.951
|
98.3%
|
- Jan 1, 2025: 3 percent across the board
- Jan 1, 2026: 3 percent merit pool
- Jan 1, 2027: 3 percent merit pool
Next steps in bargaining
Provost and Senior Vice President
Director of Employee and Labor Relations
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