By Kyle Swanson, Daily News Editor
Published January 10, 2010
A significant shift in the funds used to determine faculty raises is drawing different responses from University administrators and the lecturers' union on campus.
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Documents obtained by The Michigan Daily through a Freedom of Information Act request detailed dramatic changes to the four funds used to fund pay raises for faculty, which directly impact the size of pay raises for lecturers.
The Lecturers Employment Organization — the union that represents lecturers on campus — contends the shift in funds came as a result of a grievance they filed with the University in November 2008. But University officials say the change is simply part of the University's cost-cutting strategy given the down economy.
LEO and the University were at odds last year when the union accused University administrators of moving money from faculty salary funds that would obligate the University to give larger pay raises to lecturers into faculty salary funds that would not. LEO claimed such activities constituted a breach of the University’s agreement with the union.
The University denied wrongdoing, though it eventually settled with LEO and gave lecturers a pay raise. According to a June 12, 2009 settlement agreement signed by Jeff Frumkin, senior director of academic human resources, LEO agreed to withdraw its grievance in exchange for a 1.5 percent increase to the 2007-2008 full time salary rate. A settlement signed by Ronald Dick, associate director of academic human resources, said lecturers saw an additional two-percent pay raise effective Sept. 1, 2009.
The four funds used to provide pay raises to faculty members — known as the A, B, C and D funds — each have specifically designated purposes. The A fund is used to provide merit increases — the most common pay raise — for faculty members. The B fund pays for pay raises that result from faculty promotions and retention battles with other institutions. The C and D funds are used for correcting pay inequity, rewarding faculty for special achievements and other special circumstances, as determined by a school’s dean.
While the University is obligated to give proportional raises to lecturers as given to faculty through the A and B fund, language in the University’s agreement with LEO exempts the University from providing proportional raises to lecturers that are given to faculty through the C and D funds. The D fund is also commonly known as the Super C fund.
According to figures released to the Daily after a FOIA request was filed, the amount of money allocated to the C and D funds fell dramatically from last year’s levels. In fact, while the D fund saw a 94-percent drop, the C fund was cut by 100 percent — eliminating the fund this year.
Meanwhile, the A and B fund saw significant increases as a fraction of the overall money spent on faculty pay raises, with the A fund increasing from 38 percent of the money spent on faculty raises in fiscal year 2009 to 67 percent in fiscal year 2010. The B fund rose from 21 percent of the overall amount committed in fiscal year 2009 to 30 percent in fiscal year 2010.
Adjunct Associate Business Prof. Joe Walls, who serves as the press liaison for LEO, said he believes the shift in funds occurred in response to the grievance LEO filed last year.
Walls said the shift falls in line with the numbers LEO officials were hoping to see when they originally filed the grievance.
“I’d say that sounds more like what we would expect,” he said “The B fund is for promotion and retention and the A fund is the normal quote on quote raises so we would hope to see more money in there.”
He said the shifts in funds indicated that the grievances had some basis, adding that the organization won their grievance this summer.
“We did win the grievance and someone somewhere believed that it was legitimate otherwise that wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
