Wayne State University and the Wayne State Chapter of the American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers (AAUP-AFT Local 6075) – also known as the Wayne Academic Union – have agreed to a new three-year contract. Negotiators on both sides said the negotiations were respectful and professional.
Teaching and academic staff will receive across-the-board pay increases of around 12% over the three years. Members’ pay increases vary by pay grade, with lower-paid staff receiving larger increases. This year, the average increase is 5%, with average increases in the second and third years of the contract being 3.5% and 2.9% respectively.
The new contract was ratified on August 21 with a vote of 95% of union members.
“Our world-class faculty and academic staff are the reason Wayne State is able to provide a world-class academic experience to its students, and the university is making a historic investment that recognizes them for their outstanding work,” said Wayne State President Kimberly Andrews Espy, Ph.D. “This contract also underscores our commitment to providing our students with the most innovative instruction at an affordable price, and this agreement succeeds on both counts.”
Faculty and academic staff also made progress in the areas of higher salary increases for promotions, the enshrinement of the University’s flexible working program for academic staff in the contract, and an agreement to evaluate and improve the University’s performance system.
“We reached this agreement through constructive collaboration and our shared commitment to supporting world-class education and research in the heart of Detroit,” said Laurie Lauzon Clabo, Ph.D., WSU provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “In addition to making significant investments in our outstanding faculty and academic staff, we have established a productive framework for continued collaboration on important university issues. I would like to thank Senior Vice Provost Boris Baltes, who served as the university’s chief negotiator, as well as the entire negotiating teams on both sides of this process.”
The new contract runs until June 30, 2027.
“This contract values and rewards our faculty and academic staff,” said Pramod Khosla, chief negotiator for the Wayne Academic Union and professor of nutrition and food science. “We want to acknowledge that the administration’s negotiating team was receptive to our concerns and negotiated with us in good faith to reach this agreement.”
Jennifer Sheridan Moss, president of the New Wayne Academic Union and professor of classics and Latin, said, “Our members are very pleased that our outstanding negotiating team was able to negotiate a contract that reflects the hard work and dedication of our faculty and professional academic staff. In addition to fair compensation and the flexible work arrangements our academic staff deserve, the contract enshrines academic freedom, the foundation of every university. Faculty and academic staff now look forward to doing the core work of the university next week: teaching and mentoring students and creating knowledge.”
