Updates to faculty layoff plan and other stuff

[LeatherHawk]

This hasn't been voted on yet and I honestly don't see the conditions being met to get the 3% back ever,

SALARY DEFERRAL PROPOSAL
UPI and the Administration agree to the following provisions:
1. Starting July 1, 2016 (FY'17),
a. UPI members agree to:
i. rescind the previously agreed upon 1% salary increase for FY’17
ii. reduce base salaries by 3% for both FY’17 and FY’18
b. the University agrees to restore base salaries to their FY’16 amount for FY’19
2. The 3% base salary reduction for FY’17 and FY’18 will be considered a deferral, and
will be paid back in equal amounts in FY’19 and FY’20 if both of the following
conditions (a. and b.) are met:
a. The FY’16 GRF budget is at least 60% of the FY’15 GRF budget.
b. In FY’19 the University-wide Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) enrollment and
GRF (State Appropriation) equals 90% of their FY’15 levels. Specifically,
the FTE enrollment must be 8,950 or greater and the GRF budget must be
$46,300,000 or greater.
3. If both of the conditions listed in #2 are not met by the 10th day of the Fall 2018
semester (FY’19) and by the passing of the FY’19 General Revenue Funds budget,
this agreement sunsets, and the deferred monies will not be repaid.
4. UPI members with an FY’16 annual salary of $40,000 or less are exempt from the
salary deferral section (1.a.ii) of this agreement.
5. ASPs will have the option of taking the equivalent number of unpaid leave days in
lieu of the deferral arrangement outlined above. The decision to opt for furlough
days, rather than salary deferral, must be made by July 1, 2016, and will be in effect
through June 30, 2018.
6. UPI members will have the opportunity to voluntarily defer more of their salary than
required by this agreement (or, in the case of ASPs, take more than the required
furlough days). However, as with the basic deferral described in 1.a.ii, the voluntary
deferral will not be repaid unless the conditions stipulated in 2.a. and 2.b. are met.
7. If an employee signs, prior to July 1, 2016, an irrevocable election agreement to retire
prior to June 30, 2018 the employee will be exempt from conditions listed in sections
1.a.i and 1.a.ii of this agreement. If an employee signs, prior to July 1, 2017, an
April 15, 2016 Draft
irrevocable election agreement to retire prior to June 30, 2019 the employee will be exempted from the salary deferral conditions in section 1.a.ii of this agreement in FY’18 and will be eligible for repayment during FY’19 under the terms listed in #2 above.
8. Additionally, the University agrees to the following considerations for FY’17 and FY’18:
a. If 1.a.i above is approved by the UPI membership: terminal/compassionate care leave will be increased from 10 to 15 days.
b. If 1.a.ii above is approved by the UPI membership: one course of tutored study per faculty member per academic year would be waived, notice of non-retention for Unit B Senior Associate Faculty will be extended from one month to nine months, and procedures will be investigated for alleviating the annual leave cap during the academic year which will be reset on September 1st of each year.
_________________________________ _______________________________
Dr. Kathleen Neumann Dr. William Thompson
Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Chapter President
Western Illinois University UPI-WIU
_________________________________ _______________________________
Date Date

[sealhall74]

So the moral is this:

If you are counting dimes from paycheck to paycheck like I did early in my career, you are better off making $40K than $41K.

[Tere North]

This hasn't been voted on yet and I honestly don't see the conditions being met to get the 3% back ever,

SALARY DEFERRAL PROPOSAL
UPI and the Administration agree to the following provisions:
1. Starting July 1, 2016 (FY'17),
a. UPI members agree to:
i. rescind the previously agreed upon 1% salary increase for FY’17
ii. reduce base salaries by 3% for both FY’17 and FY’18

8. Additionally, the University agrees to the following considerations for FY’17 and FY’18:
a. If 1.a.i above is approved by the UPI membership: terminal/compassionate care leave will be increased from 10 to 15 days.
b. If 1.a.ii above is approved by the UPI membership: one course of tutored study per faculty member per academic year would be waived, notice of non-retention for Unit B Senior Associate Faculty will be extended from one month to nine months, and procedures will be investigated for alleviating the annual leave cap during the academic year which will be reset on September 1st of each year.

So, we'll take a pay cut IF we get more days off AND we teach less.

On a related note, Learned today at faculty at Northeastern Illinois University, like their non-faculty counterparts, are taking 1 furlough day each week, effectively a 20% weekly pay cut, with no added benefits.

[Leatherneck10]

This hasn't been voted on yet and I honestly don't see the conditions being met to get the 3% back ever,

SALARY DEFERRAL PROPOSAL
UPI and the Administration agree to the following provisions:
1. Starting July 1, 2016 (FY'17),
a. UPI members agree to:
i. rescind the previously agreed upon 1% salary increase for FY’17
ii. reduce base salaries by 3% for both FY’17 and FY’18

8. Additionally, the University agrees to the following considerations for FY’17 and FY’18:
a. If 1.a.i above is approved by the UPI membership: terminal/compassionate care leave will be increased from 10 to 15 days.
b. If 1.a.ii above is approved by the UPI membership: one course of tutored study per faculty member per academic year would be waived, notice of non-retention for Unit B Senior Associate Faculty will be extended from one month to nine months, and procedures will be investigated for alleviating the annual leave cap during the academic year which will be reset on September 1st of each year.

So, we'll take a pay cut IF we get more days off AND we teach less.

On a related note, Learned today at faculty at Northeastern Illinois University, like their non-faculty counterparts, are taking 1 furlough day each week, effectively a 20% weekly pay cut, with no added benefits.

-----------------

Yes, Tere I'll give back- in my case ~$4200 a year- in exchange for a few extra days off on the off chance I'm caring for a dying child/spouse/parent. Are you seriously that callous?

[LeatherHawk]

This hasn't been voted on yet and I honestly don't see the conditions being met to get the 3% back ever,

SALARY DEFERRAL PROPOSAL
UPI and the Administration agree to the following provisions:
1. Starting July 1, 2016 (FY'17),
a. UPI members agree to:
i. rescind the previously agreed upon 1% salary increase for FY’17
ii. reduce base salaries by 3% for both FY’17 and FY’18

8. Additionally, the University agrees to the following considerations for FY’17 and FY’18:
a. If 1.a.i above is approved by the UPI membership: terminal/compassionate care leave will be increased from 10 to 15 days.
b. If 1.a.ii above is approved by the UPI membership: one course of tutored study per faculty member per academic year would be waived, notice of non-retention for Unit B Senior Associate Faculty will be extended from one month to nine months, and procedures will be investigated for alleviating the annual leave cap during the academic year which will be reset on September 1st of each year.

So, we'll take a pay cut IF we get more days off AND we teach less.

On a related note, Learned today at faculty at Northeastern Illinois University, like their non-faculty counterparts, are taking 1 furlough day each week, effectively a 20% weekly pay cut, with no added benefits.

"We" says the retiree? Glad you plan to rollback some of your pension to help WIU. I have taught 1 tutored study class in 10 years and that was to help 3 students be able to stay on track to graduate when 1 section of a class didn't make. I doubt that I will ever be impacted by what you see as a benefit. I hope I don't need to ever use terminal/compassionate care leave and see this as mainly a nice talking point with little impact on either side. Actually, both of these items probably have minimal impact on the vast majority of faculty.

[wiu712]

Saturday's Peoria Journal-Star has an article about the effect of the state budget impasse on enrollments at the state universities:

Illinois Risks Brain Drain as University Students Look Elsewhere
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -elsewhere

I am starting to think that Rauner is not one bit worried about the large number of Illinois high school students who are choosing to attend an out-of-state college. The resulting declining enrollments in Illinois would allow him to justify closing some of the state universities.

[Leatherneck10]

This hasn't been voted on yet and I honestly don't see the conditions being met to get the 3% back ever,

SALARY DEFERRAL PROPOSAL
UPI and the Administration agree to the following provisions:
1. Starting July 1, 2016 (FY'17),
a. UPI members agree to:
i. rescind the previously agreed upon 1% salary increase for FY’17
ii. reduce base salaries by 3% for both FY’17 and FY’18

8. Additionally, the University agrees to the following considerations for FY’17 and FY’18:
a. If 1.a.i above is approved by the UPI membership: terminal/compassionate care leave will be increased from 10 to 15 days.
b. If 1.a.ii above is approved by the UPI membership: one course of tutored study per faculty member per academic year would be waived, notice of non-retention for Unit B Senior Associate Faculty will be extended from one month to nine months, and procedures will be investigated for alleviating the annual leave cap during the academic year which will be reset on September 1st of each year.

So, we'll take a pay cut IF we get more days off AND we teach less.

On a related note, Learned today at faculty at Northeastern Illinois University, like their non-faculty counterparts, are taking 1 furlough day each week, effectively a 20% weekly pay cut, with no added benefits.

"We" says the retiree? Glad you plan to rollback some of your pension to help WIU. I have taught 1 tutored study class in 10 years and that was to help 3 students be able to stay on track to graduate when 1 section of a class didn't make. I doubt that I will ever be impacted by what you see as a benefit. I hope I don't need to ever use terminal/compassionate care leave and see this as mainly a nice talking point with little impact on either side. Actually, both of these items probably have minimal impact on the vast majority of faculty.

-----------

Let's not forget that she made six figures ($101,304 in FY 12) in her final years at WIU to, essentially, play SurveyMonkey. If she took the 2.2% retirement, with 30 years of work, her starting pension would have likely been in the vicinity of 65K. With that guaranteed 3% compounding raise each year she's now up to mid 70s a year, and not paying a penny of Illinois income tax on it.

And who has the sweet deal now?

[sealhall74]

Wow! If I am Rauner, I would start taxing retirees and stop giving away public tax dollars to kids to go to private schools, especially the ones with the huge endowments. Leave that latter education avenue up to the feds if they want to go there.

[leatherface]

The salary proposal noted by LeatherHawk doesn't look all that bad- to me. Always some give and take. Now, let's see if the labor union members vote for it. Still very disappointed in the WIU faculty for waiting so long to realize students and staff shouldn't take the bullet while they think they are immune to sacrifices. Other state university faculty stepped up to the line much earlier. Has left a sour taste in my mouth for them.When my wife and I get our next department chair request -as alums- for a donation to each department, we will likely remind them of their lack of sensitivity to student and staff needs during this crises.

I do think SealHall has a point.There's some huge changes coming to Illinois higher Education, and WIU needs to be alert to that, and not try to keep things as they were, but as they are headed.

[Tere North]

Let's not forget that she made six figures ($101,304 in FY 12) in her final years at WIU to, essentially, play SurveyMonkey. If she took the 2.2% retirement, with 30 years of work, her starting pension would have likely been in the vicinity of 65K. With that guaranteed 3% compounding raise each year she's now up to mid 70s a year, and not paying a penny of Illinois income tax on it.

And who has the sweet deal now?

Ok, and 14 year of teaching in Ag, with 10 of those involving unpaid summer work managing the beef unit so I could use it to teach, and the bull test over holidays with no break. My supplemental income for all worked out to 16 cents/hour. During that time, I did not get the pay increase that comes from promotion to associate professor because of a union cost cutting decision, resulting in a permanent pay reduction. In student services, those surveys, which were NOT Survey Monkey, afforded students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to gain insight on programs, support research, and provide the administration data for decision making. Nor was that the only thing I was doing, with lots of research time spent writing reports, including the NCAA report. In technology, the surveys continue, but the focus was improving technology services including the WIU website. All that said, I never worked less than 60 hours a week, and gave all I had for 28 years.

It was my frustration, after 14 years, with all the survey/assessment data the administration had not leading to change, but instead, spinning the data to make everything look good and ignoring the need for change that led to my leaving in 2012. Much of the enrollment and retention issues we have now were looming then, and had leadership taken note and accepted rather than denying the writing on the wall, I think Western would be much more like SIU Edwardsville in thriving, not just trying to exist. And yes, I do believe retirement income should be taxed! I suggested it long ago as a partial solution, but the legislature fears that taking retirement income, including social security, which likewise is not subject to Illinois state tax, would lead to more retirees leaving the state.