A strike, should it happen, will not be announced before a news conference tentatively scheduled for Feb. 4, said Kevin Kodish, a spokesman for the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties. Striking faculty would likely be barred from campus offices.
Faculty have worked without a contract since June 30. Battling over wages, health insurance and work rules in a four-year contract, the two sides remain about $86 million apart. The rank and file voted in September to authorize a strike.
"[The state] is not really negotiating with us," Kodish said. "They just say no, no, no. . . . Of 42 contract articles, only one has been agreed to by all sides."
The state's contingency plan calls for students to report to class as usual, said Tom Gluck, a spokesman for the State System of Higher Education, who was unruffled by the union's decision to leave campus.
"These actions do not change the fiscal reality facing our universities," Gluck said.
The system enrolls more than 101,000 students. The other schools are Bloomsburg, California, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg and Slippery Rock. It does not include Pennsylvania State, Temple, or Lincoln Universities or the University of Pittsburgh.
The system recently patched a $40 million budget hole with cost-cutting and tuition hikes of 9 percent and 5 percent in the last two years.
It now wants faculty to accept a two-year wage freeze and greater use of part-time professors. In addition, faculty would be asked for the first time to contribute 10 percent of their health insurance premiums.
The faculty union has asked, in part, for salary increases of about 3 percent in the second, third and fourth years. Salaries now range from $38,269 to $89,907.
The new union office is at 120 N. Church St. in West Chester.
Contact staff writer Matt Blanchard at 610-313-8120 or mblanchard@phillynews.com.
