[T]he faculty union of the Vermont State Colleges system has reached an impasse in contract negotiations with administrators, the union announced Monday. The two parties are expected to sit down with a mediator later this week.
In negotiations, administrators had proposed an effective pay cut over the span of the contract, reductions in benefits, increased workload expectations, and weakened job security, the union says.
The union says faculty and students have borne too many of the cuts while administrators have seen their ranks swell and salaries go up.
“We do not believe that these spending priorities are in the best interest of our students or our institutions,” Lisa Cline, the president of the VSC Faculty Federation, said in a statement. “As faculty of the VSC, we want to ensure that our colleges remain a source of high-quality, affordable higher education for Vermonters.” Cline did not respond to a request for an interview.
The union says its analysis of the VSC’s budget reveals that administrative spending with the state college system is more than twice as high as administrative spending at peer institutions.
Median executive salaries in the VSC have gone up almost 9 percent over the past five years while faculty salaries have failed to keep up with inflation, the union says. Between 2015 and 2018, dollars allocated to instruction went down almost 5 percent while administrative spending rose 16 percent.
The union also claims additional layoffs are expected in December.
VSCS Chancellor Jeb Spaulding was not available for an interview, but his office said in a statement that the two sides were “close to resolving several of the remaining issues but anticipate that a mediator will be helpful in assisting them to bridge the gap.”
“I have many questions about their numbers, but instead of negotiating in the press, we believe a mediator will be helpful in moving the contract negotiations to a fair and positive conclusion,” Spaulding said in a statement.
The Vermont State Colleges includes Castleton University, Northern Vermont University, the Community College of Vermont, and Vermont Technical College.
Vermont is perennially near the bottom nationally for state support, per-student, to public higher education and the VSC’s budget woes are compounded by declining enrollments across the region. Castleton earlier this year went through a around of budget cuts to address a $1.5 million shortfall, losing a total of 26 employees – including two high-profile deans – through a mix of attrition and layoffs.