THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

THE FACULTY

July 31, 1998

FOOTNOTES

U. of Mass. Union Agrees to Tie Higher Pay to Post-Tenure Reviews

Post-tenure review is still open for debate at the University of Massachusetts, but its link to faculty salaries is a done deal.

The faculty union, an affiliate of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, last week ratified a three-year contract that calls for continued bargaining in February over whether, and how, to implement post-tenure reviews on the Amherst and Boston campuses. But the new contract already stipulates that bigger raises are contingent upon the union's agreeing to institute the reviews: If the faculty union agrees, professors would receive a salary increase of 15 per cent over the next three years. They get only half that much if the union rejects post-tenure reviews.

John Kingston, an associate professor of linguistics and a member of the bargaining team for the union, described the administration's tactic as a "carrot."

While "there is great unease among a large segment of the faculty about post-tenure reviews," he said, many professors were not afraid of such reviews and wanted the bigger raises.

The union won improvements for some part-timers. The new contract requires the university to provide health and retirement benefits to part-timers who teach at least two courses each semester and who have belonged to the union for at least a year. That provision affects about 75 people -- a little more than half of the part-timers, most of whom work on the Boston campus.

The contract also requires both sides to study the use of non-tenure-track faculty members.