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September 28, 1995

Faculty, staff want 6-7% increase in salary pool

Both Senate Council's budget policies committee (BPC) and Staff Association Council (SAC) have approved resolutions urging the University administration to provide relatively substantial salary-pool increases for continuing faculty and all staff in fiscal year 1997.

BPC's resolution, passed at its Sept. 15 meeting, asks for a 6 percent salary-pool increase only for faculty who will continue as employees of the University in FY 97.

"Because most faculty who retire or resign are replaced by faculty at lower salaries," the BPC resolution notes, "the increase in the amount budgeted for salaries needed to provide these pools will be less than 6 percent." SAC's resolution, approved at its Sept. 20 meeting, seeks a 7 percent salary-pool increase for all staff. SAC decided to request a larger increase than BPC because of the salary differential between faculty and staff. Faculty members generally are better paid than staff, SAC President Brian Hart noted.

Both resolutions, though, may be pointless, as the operating budget request for FY 97 that the administration submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education this week proposes a combined salary and fringe benefit pool of 2.5 percent for Pitt's School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and Services for Teens at Risk, and a 5 percent pool for the remainder of the University.

BPC's resolution urges the administration to provide salary-pool funds for a 3 percent maintenance increase for continuing faculty, a 2 percent merit increase, and a 1 percent market and equity increase.

SAC's salary-pool resolution asks for a 3 percent maintenance increase for staff, a 2 percent merit increase, and a 2 percent market and equity increase.

The market and equity increase is to bring lower-paid people who are working jobs comparable to higher-paid people up to the same level, according to Hart.

Although three months still remain in 1995, BPC and SAC decided to pass their respective salary-pool resolutions for FY 97 so that the administration will be aware of the salary desires of faculty and staff when it is preparing the University's budget.

"This is very early in the process for next year's budget," said Phil Wion, chair of BPC. "But because a request has to go to Harrisburg this week for the appropriation, we felt it was important to look at what is reasonable in light of the salary policy and make a recommendation so that it at least can be considered as the process gets underway." BPC and SAC decided to ask for a somewhat larger salary-pool increase than has been typical recently because budgetary shortfalls caused former Chancellor J. Dennis O'Connor to order a salary freeze for all University employees last April.

"Although some funds may become available for salary increases in January 1996," the BPC resolution points out, "it is expected that they will be quite small. Since last year's inflation rate was 2.7 percent, for most faculty [and staff] the current year is one in which their real salaries will have shrunk by that percentage. Our recommendation does not attempt to make up for that loss, only to insure that failure to keep up with inflation will not occur again next year." Both BPC and SAC have forwarded their salary-pool resolutions to Interim Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.

SAC also plans to send a copy of its resolution to the University Senate's planning and budgeting committee.

–Mike Sajna

Filed under: Feature,Volume 28 Issue 3

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