negotiations at a school with unionized faculty

[unionized]

So as not to derail the Hires salary thread, I'm responding to something that came up there. I'm all for negotiation, but not sure how that works with a unionized faculty. In such a case salaries, benefits, and sometimes other things have already been negotiated. I realize non-salary items might still be negotiable but is there more leeway there than I would assume on salary? Does that depend on the union contract? Is it kosher to call the faculty union and ask for help? Is there anything else I should know?

[Union]

I just got a job at a unionized institution with a very strong union and I have studied the spread, retraction, and power of faculty and staff unions, so I can speak to your issues.

You would be surprised at was is negotiable versus not. Most of the "standard" things are negotiable. Salary is negotiable, to a point. The contract generally sets salary floor and ceilings, but within that, there is lots of room for negotiations. The great part is that the floor and ceiling information are generally available in the contract (online) and can help you set a range. We sociologists are generally lower paid that science folks, so we are usually nearer to the floor than the ceiling for the rank, so you probably have some room.

Similarly, start-up funds and moving expenses are generally negotiable and they will have some room to help you negotiate with that. Sometimes travel funding is negotiable, but sometimes not (depends on how they define it).

Course releases may or may not be negotiable. At some instiutions, they have a workload policy that dictates that everyone teach a set amount of courses or replaces those courses with other service or research (on grants, etc.). This makes it difficult to get course releases early on when hired, but means that there are far fewer "deadwood" older faculty who never teach and never do research or service at those instiutions. Others have a wider range of flexibility, but will likely be able to offer less in terms of course release or teching flexibility.

Benefits and salary increases likely aren't negotiable because they are set by the contract for all faculty.

If you have any other questions on what is generally negoitable, let me know and I can answer them from my experience.

For what it is worth, I would NOT recommend contacting the union president on campus right now. You don't know how bitter the relationships is between the union and the adminstration yet and I don't think you want to "stir that pot" until you get a better sense of the political environment. It could be non-issue or it could be a major issue, you just don't know yet. The chair and dean (or whoever you are negotiated with) will tell you what is negotiable and what is not and you can probably find the contract online that will tell you if they are telling you the truth or not.

[agree]

I agree. I too have a TT position at a university with a very strong union and a clear contract and was able to negotiate for what I would consider a very generous package. In some ways, the union agreement was very helpful in my negotiations because the parameters for what I could ask for in terms of salary and benefits were explicit. For example, knowing the salary limits allows you to gauge how far you can push your own requests for a salary increase. The fun part was finding those grey areas in the contract and seeing what I could negotiate. I was also very surprised to find out that the faculty in the department were more than willing to help me negotiate the contract and what some of the possible terms of negotiations might be. In short, "yes" you can negotiate just as easily with a school that has a strong union. Maybe even easier at the junior faculty level. Senior faculty level is entirely different but I assume you are asking about a new Assist. Prof. position.

[salaryinfo]

At some schools with unionized faculties (esp. those in Canada), the specific salary you'll make is dictated by a pay grid (i.e., you'll earn $65,000 your first year, $68,000 your second year, etc.). What I didn't realize when I took my job is that even if this is the case, you can argue that you should be 'bumped up' to the next year of experience (from Year 1 to Year 2 on their salary grid) based upon your experience. For example, if you did a post-doc, you can make the argument that it constitutes a couple years of experience. Or, if you have taught so many courses that it equals an extra year or two of full-time teaching, you can argue that it should bump you up a year or two. But, if you don't make the argument, they'll be happy to leave you at Salary Step #1 for your first year.