Pennsylvania university system and union negotiations fall apart, set Oct. 30 strike deadline
Marathon bargaining between the state university system and the union representing faculty members fell apart Wednesday evening as union negotiators ended talks and scheduled an Oct. 30 strike date.
The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties made the decision after days of talks resulted in an offer of a near-12 percent pay increase tied to health-care changes -- a deal that the union said was “essentially what they started with, reworded.”
“Our negotiations team is convinced that the State System leadership wants a strike,” said APSCUF President Kenneth M. Mash. “What else could possibly explain the fact that they would continue to put on the table proposals that my members will find incendiary?”
But State System spokesman Kenn Marshall said the offer -- amounting to $159 million in raises over the life of the contract -- is comparable to that agreed to earlier this year by the State System and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2016/09/21/State-system-and-union-negotiations-fall-apart-set-Oct-30-strike-deadline/stories/201609210212
Cross-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group.
