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FSCJ faculty avoid impasse, reach two-year deal to raise annual base pay for professors & instructor
Times-Union
By Denise Smith Amos
Florida State College at Jacksonville and the union representing its full-time instructors reached a tentative two-year deal that raises annual base pay for professors and other instructors beginning this December and again next August.
The deal, if approved, would boost base pay by $750 a year and add a 2.5 percent raise onto that, first in early December for current employees and January for new employees, then again in August 2015.
The raises are not retroactive, but full-time employees could see extra money in their paychecks before the holiday break. The contract does not cover adjunct professors, who received a 2.5 percent raise this school year.
Judith Bilsky, FSCJ’s vice president, said she believes faculty should get a raise but it should also be mindful of uncertainties in FSCJ’s revenue picture.
Half of the school’s revenue is set by state leaders and half consists of tuition revenues. Enrollment is down 7.5 percent compared to this time last year, she said.
“That’s significant for a college this size,” she said.
FSCJ serves more than 52,000 students with 403 full-time faculty and fewer than 300 part-time faculty. About seven years ago, the college had about 70,000 students.
In a recession, colleges like FSCJ experience increased enrollment because workers seek more skills and credentials. But as the economy improves, some students return to full-time work instead of courses.
Dr. John Woodward, faculty senate president, said he hopes most faculty approve the new deal, even though it leaves their average pay trailing behind peers’ at other colleges.
“We are still several thousand dollars under the faculty average for colleges our size in the state,” he said. “Hopefully, two years from now we’ll be able to significantly improve that.”
The average PhD at FSCJ earns $55,306 a year, which is $9,490 lower than average at four comparable Florida colleges, the union said. An instructor with a master’s degree earns $51,672 a year, or $4,335 lower than at comparable colleges, and instructors with bachelor’s degrees earn $46,521 at FSCJ, or $8,923 less than at other colleges.
Instructors with associate’s degrees at FSCJ earn $50,899 on average, about $858 more than counterparts at other colleges, the union said.
FSCJ officials disagree about these wage comparisons, saying instructors at those other schools work a longer school year. FSCJ’s work year is 180 days, while Maimi-Dade’s is 197 days, said Mike Grogan, an attorney on FSCJ’s negotiating team.
About two thirds of FSCJ’s faculty work an extra semester each year or take on extra class loads and so earn more than those salary comparisons reflect, he added.
Faculty members have said they have to work longer or teach extra classes to support their families. They pointed out that earlier this year, some FSCJ administrators received a 2.5 percent raise, but others received much more.
That is because of job changes or consolidations, Bilsky said; those raises did not cost FSCJ extra money but the faculty pay raises will.
The school is trying to hire more full-time faculty and employ fewer part-time and adjunct instructors, she said.
Earlier this year the faculty union had asked for a 3 percent pay hike, then more recently a $2,000 and plus 2.5 percent raise. David Houston, a writing instructor in FSCJ’s North Campus, said he would have liked a raise closer to those numbers.
He said of the new contract deal, “I guess I can get my head around that.”
He said it was more important to him that the new agreement removes old contract language that had restricted if and when faculty could seek arbitration for certain disputes.
“That’s a big deal. It’s something we’ve wanted for a long time,” he said.
The new contract proposal will go before FSCJ’s board of trustees in early December and before the full-time faculty for ratification in the next two weeks. The union represents about half the faculty, but all faculty members can vote on the contract.
Denise Amos: (904) 359-4083