Members of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization, the union representing about 1,700 lecturers on all three campuses of the University of Michigan, have ratified a new three-year contract with the university.
LEO on Friday reported a majority vote to ratify the agreement, reached June 22 following eight months of negotiations. The new three-year contract takes effect immediately with ratification.
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The contract provides significant salary increases for all lecturers, boosts the minimum salaries on all three campuses in each year of the agreement, and addresses a number of non-economic issues that were important to lecturers.
“The changes in the contract recognize the important contributions that lecturers make within the university community,” said Sascha Matish, associate director of Academic Human Resources and lead negotiator for the university. “We will now work closely with University Human Resources and the schools and colleges to implement the terms.”
The minimum annual salary in the first year will increase to $48,000 for the Ann Arbor campus and $38,000 at Dearborn and Flint. In the third year of the agreement, the minimum LEO salary in Ann Arbor will be $51,000, and $41,000 at UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn.
The agreement also includes an equity adjustment in the first year based on years of service and first-year annual increases on all three campuses to ensure that lecturers receive at least a 3.25 or 4 percent increase in the first year.
In Ann Arbor, lecturers will receive a 2.5 percent increase in the second year and a 3 percent increase in the third year of the contract. In Dearborn and Flint, lecturers will receive an increase tied to the increase for tenure-track faculty or a minimum of 2 percent in years two and three.
The agreement includes an expansion of benefits to provide eligibility to the small number of lecturers whose fall and winter appointments average to 50 percent effort but are appointed in winter semester at less than 50 percent effort.
Spring-summer benefits coverage will be expanded and will be offered to lecturers who are in a benefits-eligible position in the winter and the following fall semester. Benefits coverage also will be offered to long-serving lecturers who elect to take an unpaid educational or scholarly activity leave for one semester.
The agreement includes a number of other issues, including an expansion of professional development funding opportunities and clarification of the appointment and performance evaluation processes for lecturers.
