Tentative SUNY faculty contract includes raises, more prenatal care leave
Students cross the campus at Stony Brook University. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
New York State has reached a tentative contract agreement with the union representing about 42,000 State University of New York faculty members and professionals, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
The five-year agreement, which would run through July 1, 2031, includes annual salary increases as well as “common sense changes to health insurance to help control premiums, eliminate co-pays and reduce the use of out of network providers,” Hochul’s office said in a news release.
The agreement also calls for added prenatal care leave and increases in compensation such as “location pay." Frederick Kowal, president of the United University Professions, said location pay is an increase in salary for Long Island and New York City employees due to the higher cost of living in those areas.
The specifics of the agreement were not disclosed by state officials or the union Wednesday.
Kowal said the union will discuss the details publicly after the negotiating committee, which includes representatives from all SUNY campuses, have authorized a ratification vote by all members. The union is not allowed to do so before then, he said.
The committee is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday, he said. If the negotiating committee votes to proceed, the union will give briefings on campuses throughout the state, and the rank and file ratification vote by will take place after that, he said.
Kowal said in an interview that his members were pleased with the terms of the tentative agreement and glad the accord was reached before the current contract expires June 30. In previous years, negotiations often continued long after contracts expired, he said.
“We’re very pleased with the approach that Gov. Hochul’s administration took to negotiations. They were very responsible, very serious bargainers, as we were,” he said. “It’s a good contract and very fair. ... It serves SUNY well, the students we teach, the patients we treat and the research we do.”
Hochul said in a statement that the deal “is good for both the hard-working faculty and professionals of SUNY and for the taxpayers of New York State,” calling it a “fair deal” that ensures “a bright future for those pursuing a SUNY education.”
Bruce Kube, president of the roughly 6,200-member union chapter at Stony Brook Health Sciences Center, said in an email his membership is “elated” the union reached a deal with the state before the contract expired.
In a statement, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. praised Hochul “for achieving a fair contract that respects and recognizes the faculty and staff who make SUNY such an extraordinary place for our students.”
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
