DEVELOPING STORY: State System Hands Faculty Final Offer, Says They Are Done Negotiating

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education has handed APSCUF a final offer and said that they are done negotiating.

Negotations between the two sides ended around 8:45 p.m.

"By walking out of negotiations, the State System abandoned more than 100,000 students." —APSCUF President @kmmash

— APSCUF (@APSCUF) October 19, 2016

“The governor urged us to keep on negotiating,” APSCUF President Dr. Kenneth M. Mash said. “He was very clear about that. He personally spoke to both sides and urged us to settle this. I find it shocking that Chancellor Frank Brogan would spit in the governor’s eye like that. Through all of this, the governor has been a strong advocate for the students.”

Mash will speak live on Facebook Tuesday at 10:30 p.m.

A final decision about a strike will come at 4:59 a.m. on Wednesday.

“APSCUF is sticking by the deadline,” said Mash.

Faculty previously stated that they will strike if a deal isn’t reached by 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

The State System issued a “>release Tuesday night saying that it has offered APSCUF a new proposal that would provide raises to all permanent and temporary faculty and a healthcare package identical to what other State System employees have.

New proposal would provide raises to all permanent & temp faculty & healthcare identical to other employees https://t.co/x2rPyqkW8U

— State System (@statesystem) October 19, 2016

Negotiators from the State System and the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties have made significant progress during five days of negotiations that began Friday, including reaching tentative agreements on more than a dozen significant issues, including distance education, recruitment and retention of high-quality faculty, and professional responsibilities outside of the classroom.

“We don’t understand how APSCUF can argue that faculty members should be entitled to a better healthcare plan than our other employees,” said State System spokesman Kenn Marshall. “How can they argue that faculty members should be treated better than our university health center nurses, who provide care for our students when they become ill while away at college; that they should be treated better than our campus police and security officers, who protect our students from harm while they are away from home; or better than our other valuable campus employees, who provide a variety of vital student services?”

The full release can be viewed here.

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