Faculty Association proposes zero-percent wage increase if CMU freezes tuition

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The Faculty Association bargaining team has announced it is willing to accept a pay freeze on the condition tuition is also frozen.

FA President Laura Frey said her organization’s goal is to reduce some of the burden felt by students and the proposal will officially be presented to the university during Thursday’s mediation session. The FA is working without a contract since its expiration on June 30.

“The students and their families are hardworking and they have faced many tuition increases (through the years) and we recognize that,” Frey said.

Frey said the university is rock-solid financially and therefore the FA’s proposal is viable.

In a statement, Frey said the FA will also propose a cost-sharing model for health care plans, no increases in promotion amounts and a cap for summer teaching income.

The FA and the university are preparing for a third mediation session nearly two weeks after the group’s contract expired June 30.

The bargaining teams will meet Thursday morning with the mediator at 9 a.m. in Ronan Hall. The board of trustees will also meet in the Bovee University Center’s Presidential Conference Room that morning at 9:30 a.m.

The FA plans to demonstrate outside the building at 8:30 a.m.

Frey said it is committed to reaching a fair contract with the university and doing so amicably.

“The administration appears to want to undermine the infrastructure of quality teaching, research and creative activities, and service endeavors currently provided to students and the community by this dedicated faculty,” Frey said in a statement.

In an emailed statement, Director of Public Relations Steve Smith said the university will have no public comment on the FA proposal.

“We look forward to Thursday’s mediation session and will continue to bargain in good faith,” Smith said.