Response To AAUP Assertion That UNH Administration Cut Off Talks
February 6, 2008
Below is a statement issued Feb. 1 by Candace Corvey, UNH's chief negotiator
for the AAUP faculty contract negotiations:
The president of the AAUP has recently made public statements suggesting that
the university is unwilling to negotiate and is solely responsible for the
current impasse. Further, AAUP has been quoted in the press describing the
gap between the parties as only $500,000. It is important that the facts of
the matter be made clear.
Both parties reluctantly began to plan the steps to execute a mutual public
declaration of impasse in early January. Although impasse seemed unavoidable
as the formal steps commenced, the university initiated an 11th hour effort
to resolve the differences. This last round of informal discussions ended when
the university was told by the AAUP that there was no point in talking further
if we were not willing to meet the AAUP's hard-and-fast demand for a particular
salary increase. We could not, in good conscience, meet that demand, and impasse
was mutually declared. We regret the negotiations were not successful, but
they did not conclude due to any lack of willingness on the university's part
to bargain in good faith.
With regard to the gap between us, there are significant differences in the
positions of the two sides on three major aspects of the contract: salary,
processes for determining merit and equity increases, and benefits. The salary
gap between us over a two-year period is a total of $1.08 million, and over
a three-year period it is $1.3 million. The merit/equity process disagreement
is not trivial, and multiple efforts by the administration to offer creative
solutions have failed. With regard to benefits, the AAUP position of no benefits
changes - a position it has declined to adjust throughout the entire course
of negotiations - is substantially distant from the university's proposal that
the union accept benefits changes already in place for all other employees,
with associated mitigation additions to salary.
The university is ready to return to the negotiating table at any time the
AAUP is willing to make new substantive proposals to close the gap that still
remains on the issues of salary, processes for determining merit and equity
increases, and benefits. In fact, the gap is still significant and the university
remains ready to engage in the serious negotiations - rather than public posturing
- necessary to reach resolution.
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