November 06, 2015
State System offers raises to faculty, seeks agreement on changes to health care plan
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education has offered the Association of
Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties a one-year contract that would
provide faculty with a salary increase of 2.5 percent or 5 percent or a one-time cash
payment equivalent to 2.5 percent of their salary, based on their placement on the
salary schedule.
The counter proposal presented at the bargaining table today also asks APSCUF to agree
to changes to the health care plan that covers its members that would be identical
to those announced earlier this week for State System managers and administrators,
university health center nurses and campus police officers and security guards. APSCUF,
which represents faculty at the 14 State System universities, earlier had proposed
a one-year agreement that included the raises, but no provisions for health care cost
savings.
The health care plan changes, which would take effect in January, would reduce the
overall cost of the plan for the System to help keep the universities affordable to
students and their families, while providing current employees access to the same
health care services they have now.
The proposal calls for faculty—like all other State System employees covered by the
health care plan—to contribute from about $3 to $14 more every two-week pay period
toward the cost of their health insurance premium, depending on their level of coverage.
Other plan adjustments, including new deductible and co-insurance requirements for
some medical services and higher prescription drug co-payments, would affect employees
based on how much they use the plan.
The changes would more closely align the System’s health care plan with those offered
by other colleges and universities in Pennsylvania and across the nation.
“We are committed to keeping tuition as low as possible, which has become increasingly
challenging as many of our costs, including those for employee health care and pensions,
have continued to rise well in excess of the normal rate of inflation,” said Chancellor
Frank T. Brogan.
“These changes will help us to control a portion of those costs, which, in turn, will
help ensure our students have continued access to high-quality, high-value educational
opportunities,” Mr. Brogan continued. “At the same time, our employees will continue
to have access to a comprehensive package of health care coverage for themselves and
their families, at only modestly higher rates.”
The proposal presented today to the nearly 5,500-member faculty union echoes agreements
between the State System and the Office of Professional Employees International Healthcare
Pennsylvania (OPIEU), which represents about 85 university health center nurses; and
the Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA), which represents approximately
225 campus police and security officers. Members of both of those unions also will
receive raises as part of their agreements.
The System would save $9 million a year if APSCUF agrees to the health care plan revisions.
The changes already announced for the other approximately 1,800 System employees,
including those not represented by any of the State System’s seven labor unions, will
save the System about $3.5 million annually. The combined savings will essentially
offset the cost of the wage and salary increases employees will receive, helping to
alleviate the financial stress under which the universities are operating.
“We must continue to look for ways not only to ensure our universities remain affordable
to students and their families, but also that the institutions themselves remain viable
into the future,” Mr. Brogan said. “The revisions to the health care plan, and the
savings they will produce, will help address both of those issues, but much more still
needs to be done.”
State support to the State System has declined steadily over the last decade, requiring
the universities to make a variety of spending cuts to balance their budgets and hold
down costs. Over the last 10 years the universities have trimmed an estimated $300
million from their combined operating budgets, doing so by implementing various strategies,
including collaborative purchasing, investing in more cost-efficient energy systems,
automating some processes and services, reducing staffing levels, deferring some maintenance
work and sharing a broad ranges of administrative services.
Even with those efforts, however, some costs, including employee health care and pensions,
have continued to rise. Several other revisions have been made to the employee health
care plan in recent years to help slow those annual cost increases.
The State System has been studying additional possible changes to the plan over the
past year, working with its health care provider on revisions that will both lower
the cost of coverage and continue to provide a level of benefits to employees that
will be extremely competitive in the higher education market, all without having any
effect on the student learning experience or reducing other important services. In
addition to producing cost savings for the System, the changes were designed so as
to minimize the financial impact on employees.
If APSCUF agrees to these most recent revisions, all employees covered by the System-administered
health care plan would share the same benefits package and the same cost structure.
The savings the changes would produce would be added to the approximately $2.7 million
in higher costs the System will avoid this year as the result of recent collective
bargaining agreements reached between the Commonwealth and the American Federation
of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the System and the State College
and University Professional Association (SCUPA), whose members receive their health
care coverage through the Pennsylvania Employee Benefits Trust Fund. Those two unions
combined represent about 4,100 State System employees.
The State System and APSCUF have been negotiating toward a new contract for nearly
a year. Faculty are continuing to work under the terms of the most recent collective
bargaining agreement, which expired June 30, 2015.
All of the System’s other labor unions already have agreed to new contracts, mostly
one-year agreements that run through June 30, 2016. All include a combination of raises
and/or cash payments and provisions that provide for health care-related cost savings.
Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher
education in the Commonwealth, with about 107,000 degree-seeking students and thousands
more who are enrolled in certificate and other career-development programs. Collectively,
the 14 universities that comprise the State System offer more than 2,300 degree and
certificate programs in more than 530 academic areas. Nearly 520,000 State System
university alumni live in Pennsylvania.
The State System universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg,
Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery
Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The universities also operate
branch campuses in Oil City (Clarion), Freeport and Punxsutawney (IUP), and Clearfield
(Lock Haven), and offer classes and programs at several regional centers, including
the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and in Center City in Philadelphia.