Temple Association of University Professionals voted 447 to 22 yesterday to ratify a contract that has something for everyone, but notably, significant gains for the university's ever-increasing number of nontenure-track faculty.

Nontenure-track faculty make up 39 percent of the full-time faculty unit, says Arthur Hochner, TAUP president. They totaled 489 at the end of June in a unit of 1,100. Ten years ago, they were just 18 percent of the total unit.

One of the biggest improvements was an increase in Temple-matched nontenure-track pension contributions to 3 percent, 4 percent and 4.5 percent in the first three years of their participation in the plan. This, in a city where "unions are fighting hard not to have their pensions gouged," says Hochner, also served as chief negotiator.

The contract provides improved rights for nontenure-track faculty in regard to notification of nonrenewal and improved procedures for appointment, reappointment and promotion in rank, including rights for those with five years or more of service.

In pre-negotiation surveying, TAUP learned that there was great interest on the part of all members in "work-life balance" benefits. The university and union agreed to policies that provide flexibility for young families. For tenured and tenure-track faculty who have a new child under age 5 in their family, the policy allows them to not teach for a semester at full pay, but still maintain their research and advising duties. Since the nontenure-track faculty don't do research and advising, their work-balance benefit is the right to ask for courseload flexibility for one semester.

Other  the improvements for this unit of 1,100 faculty, librarians and academic professionals were:

• salary increases of from 3 percent to 4 percent in the second, third and fourth years of the contract, which covers a period from July 1, 2008 to October 15, 2012;
• increases in salary minima, averaging 5 percent to 10 percent, effective July 1 of next year;
• increases in summer pay and overload pay;
• no change in the percentages of employee contributions to health and dental insurance plans.
  

"We got them to drop their pay-for-performance scheme, which was a huge victory because it was a major objective of the university," says Hochner.

Temple's Board of Trustees is scheduled to sign off on the contract Sept. 24. To learn more about the agreement, go to http://www.taup.org/.