What if the Board of Directors of your company came to you and said. “You know what we just don’t have any money right now.” You might say, “well these are tough times and I understand, I don’t need a raise and in fact I will help you lower our healthcare costs. I will research all the companies and get us a good deal.”
A couple months go by and you receive an awesome health care offer that would save the company over $4 million dollars! You feel pretty proud. You go to the board and tell them. (all the while thinking, “Isn’t this their job to do? I was hired to teach”) They think that is great, they buy into the system. It should save money for everyone right, since you pay 15% of your premium, you might even pay less? Well no, now the company wants you to pay 21% of your premium and offer you a lower coverage tiered system.
It’s bad, but you want to keep your job, not go on strike and well frankly you are used to being kicked in the head. But then your boss says, you are not getting a raise for 5 years. Huh, 5 years? That’s crazy! Increase health insurance and no raise for 5 years?
Now it looks a bit ugly. But here is the real kicker. At the 11th hour of contract negotiations the offer is increased. You would be offered a 2.5% “bonus” (2.5% of salary or around $1400-$1900 for people with 10+ years at the company) based on revenue streams for the year. The bonus would be paid over 12 months. It would not be added to base pay, therefore it does not help retirement or build your base salary. That looks even worse. Then in years 3, 4, and 5 the “bonus” would drop to 2% unless revenue went up substantially and if it really went up, you might get as high as a 4% “bonus.” Gee thanks!
What do you suppose this person’s job is? A sales person obviously. No, an academic. A University Professor. Long Island University’s Board of Director’s wants to tie in “bonus” wages to sales of credit hours instead of giving any raises. To top it off, it is the combined revenue of two different campuses, one in Brooklyn and one on Long Island. Completely different staff operates the two universities; C.W.Post looses money annually and it has a different union for their staff and faculty. We have completely separate contracts.
But let’s look at all the ways the university can create revenue anyway. Johnny applies to LIU for college despite a 3rd grade reading level and 1st grade math level. Admit him! Revenue. Suzy goes to her adviser. Suzy wants to take 12 credit hours because she knows that is all she can handle. But Suzy’s adviser convinces here to take 18 telling her “she can handle it.” Suzy signs ups, is quickly overwhelmed, drops out but, but guess what? We got her money! Revenue. Oh but wait, we want more of Suzy’s money so perhaps we can just pass her even though she never came to class. This will entice her to return and spend more money. Revenue. The contract is not only unfair to faculty it is unfair to students, and that is a huge concern. Can you have a university without faculty? Well if it were possible, LIU would figure out a way to do it. Want numbers? check out liuff.org
Should we just suck it up, take the pay reduction and be happy we have jobs? I would love to hear comments.
How many paid man hours – by all involved – have been “spent” in these negotiations? That money could have been used for a rational settlement.
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They have been negotiating all summer, except when the administration cancelled because we would not take their offer of 0.
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Great points on the students and how LIU accepts anyone and passes anyone.
However, you failed to mention the nepotism that overtakes LIU. The Provost has numerous “positions” filled with her relatives, most notable her son-in law and daughter, using the old they’re qualified excuse. LIU needs to stop hiring so-called “qualified” candidates and start hiring the best candidate, individuals that can actually help the school..
There is an overwhelming amount of administrative poistions that are useless. There is an assistant to every assistant at every department. Everywhere I look, someone is getting promoted to a “new” position.
Why should the faculty agree to pay freezes when such unethical practices are happening so blatantly right in front of their eyes. Not to mention the incompetent President, David Steinberg, who has failed to generate any donations and managed to bankrupt a few LIU campuses already.
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I didn’t need to. You said it very well.
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My daughter started CW Post today. One class lasted 10 mins and her other class was cancelled due to her teacher being on strike. While I agree that teachers do deserve an increase in their salaries what about the parents who paid for tuition in excess of $33000 for the year or the students who had to take out loans to attend school. This does not include paying to dorm, food, books and health insurance.
This should have been settled prior to the start of the semester.
Again I think teachers are amazing and my ranting is solely pointed towards the school and their administrators.
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Chris I could not agree with you more. We agreed to no raise, but not for a full 5 years, especially with the increase in our health care costs, despite finding a new plan for the University that saves them millions of dollars.
More than anything we object to the Presidents $645,000 salary especially when in all the years he has been there he has done nothing for fund raising. How many university presidents make that kind of money? The so-called scholarships are actually funded by the students tuition. Because the school lacks an endowment it runs almost entirely off tuition. Faculty salaries are a tiny % of tuition, yet administrative overhead is over 55%. We want the university to exercise fiscal responsibility and not put all the pressure on students and their families.
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Thank you so much for your response. As many families have experienced less hours at work or no work at all we are in desperate need for more aid for our daughter. All we hear from financial aid is take out another loan..really and who exactly is going to repay this loan? It would be amazing for the administration to do just as you have said..fund raise. The Long Island campus is amazing. They can hold a fair of some sort, utilize the equestrian trails, they have the Tillies center where concerts can be held to benefit the student body. All there needs to be done and have someone in charge to actually plan all fundraising activities and take hold of the reins as they say. There is so much potential and it is not being utilized.
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You are completely right! C.W. Post Campus is beautiful with an incredible supply of cultural events. It is a fantastic resource for all of Long Island, and of course a great school.
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