Ewu Faculty Ok Bargaining Agreement

Faculty at Eastern Washington University voted for a collective bargaining agreement with the university.

The tentative agreement covers grievances, pay equity and spending for research and libraries.

It does not give any general salary increases. Those are being left up to the Legislature. However, it does set minimum pay for professors. Under the contract, full professors would be guaranteed at least $40,000 a year for a 10-month school year.

The agreement now goes before the EWU Board of Trustees in two public hearings next Thursday.

Those hearings will be at 10 a.m. on the main floor lounge of Louise Anderson Hall on the Cheney campus, and at 1 p.m. on the second floor of the EWU Spokane Center downtown.

If approved, the contract would be the first of its kind involving faculty at any of the state’s six four-year colleges and universities.

The faculty approved the contract in two votes.

In the first, members of the United Faculty of Eastern voted 92-3 in favor of the contract.

UFE has 110 members and is the bargaining agent for the 434 full-time faculty members.

A separate advisory vote involving all faculty came out 187-87 in favor of the contract.