February 4, 2008

State university faculty reach tentative labor agreement

Contact: Melinda Voss, (651) 296-9443, melinda.voss@so.mnscu.edu
Contact: Russ Stanton, (651) 227-8442, ext. 14, stanton@ifo.org

The Inter Faculty Organization, the union representing about 3,300 faculty members at Minnesota's seven state universities, has reached a tentative labor agreement with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

The tentative agreement would cover a two-year period ending June 30, 2009. Details of the tentative agreement will not be released until the parties have an opportunity to review the tentative agreement.

In a joint statement issued today, IFO President Nancy Black and Minnesota State Universities Chancellor James McCormick said: "We are pleased to have reached a tentative settlement that makes significant progress in improving the competitiveness of our salaries relative to peer institutions nationally and assures that our state universities will be able to continue to provide high-quality education to their students."

The Inter Faculty Organization Board of Directors will meet at the end of this week and make a recommendation to the faculty, who will vote on the agreement. It will then be forwarded to the Minnesota State College and Universities Board of Trustees and ultimately to the Legislature for approval. Dr. Black said she would encourage the IFO Board to recommend the contract to the membership.

The Bureau of Mediation Services assisted the parties in reaching tentative agreement early Sunday morning. Chancellor McCormick and Dr. Black thanked both teams for their hard work and constructive negotiations and praised the Minnesota Legislature for providing the funding to support higher education that made the settlement possible.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system comprises 32 state universities, community colleges, technical colleges and combined community and technical colleges located on 53 campuses across the state. The system serves approximately 242,000 students annually in credit-based courses and another 140,000 in non-credit courses.