Ewu Finds Financial Land Mine 1995 Contract Promises $300,000 Bonus To Teachers

Eastern Washington University administrators have uncovered a financial land mine that may penalize the school for its recent success in enrolling more students.

But teachers at the Cheney-based university said Friday that a $300,000 bonus promised to them under a 1995 contract is fair reward for helping Eastern recover from its enrollment and financial woes.

“Student numbers have gone up and we feel that we are due this increase,” said chemistry professor Jeff Corkill, who serves as president of the United Faculty of Eastern labor union.

The UFE is demanding that administrators honor a clause in the 4-year-old contract that promises a “productivity” pay raise when enrollment jumps 2 percent or more in a year.

But Stephen Jordan, Eastern’s first-year president, said the university is rejecting the pay hike because it should only kick in after student numbers leap above the all-time high enrollment of 1994 - an event that has yet to happen.

“I hope we can work this out amicably,” Jordan said.

Both sides pledged in a joint statement to continue to seek a compromise.

However, Corkill expects he will have to file a union grievance after teachers get their first paycheck of the year Jan. 25. The UFE contract calls for authentic productivity raises to be paid Jan. 1.

Jordan said that the pay raise would cripple Eastern’s lean budget, take money from student programs and hike salaries of teachers who already are paid more than their peers at other Washington universities. Since there are fewer students than in 1995, he added, faculty are not teaching more classes and productivity pay should not be paid.

Corkill said Jordan has overlooked a few details. First, the legally binding contract makes no mention of a 1995 base line for calculating enrollment for “productivity” raises. Second, U.S. Department of Education figures show that Eastern teachers are not paid more than their peers; and finally, teaching loads have increased because Eastern has eliminated 100 full-time faculty positions since 1994 to adjust for a downturn in enrollment.

If anything, Corkill says, teachers are working harder. The student-to-faculty ratio has risen from 16-to-1 to 21-to-1, and teachers have helped the admissions office drum up interest in Eastern with off-campus speeches and demonstrations at area high schools.

Annual faculty salaries at Eastern range from $38,600 to $55,400.

Corkill said that half the estimated $300,000 pay raise would go to the 300 faculty at Eastern. Under the contract, teachers are required to return the other half to the university for library books and other needs.

Poor management, cuts in marketing and low morale among employees accelerated Eastern’s declining student enrollment from 1994 to 1997, when the school hit bottom with 7,182 full-time students.

Enrollment grew 4 percent in fall 1998 to 7,516 students, far exceeding the 2 percent increase required for a productivity pay raise.

The UFE contract has surprised Jordan before. Last July, he learned that the contract required Eastern to give teachers any pay raise that is approved by the Legislature, even if no money is provided by the state. Jordan covered that $419,000 pay raise by collecting unspent money from several departments.

Although the union contract predates Jordan, it was approved by four of the current nine members of Eastern’s board of trustees. A state assistant attorney general also reviewed wording of the document.

Jordan, who earns $135,000 per year, has a bonus clause in his employment contract. The clause allows the board to pay the president up to $25,000 annually if he achieves at least one of a dozen things, including inspiring campus morale, reorganizing the university, improving student services, enhancing the endowment, renegotiating the UFE contract and increasing student enrollment.

Jordan’s contract lists no base year for measuring an increase in student enrollment.

This sidebar appeared with the story: POSSIBLE ACTION A union grievance may be filed after teachers get their first paycheck of the year Jan. 25. The contract with EWU teachers calls for authentic productivity raises to be paid Jan. 1.