Contract talks between faculty members and Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities will resume on Monday morning after a state mediator asked the faculty union to put off a strike for 24 hours. The Associated Press reported that talks had broken down late this afternoon after union negotiators rejected the latest offer from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, which represents the system’s 5,500 faculty members, had been prepared to call a strike as early as Monday but agreed to return to the bargaining table instead. The two sides have been at odds over a pay increase, as well as over the premium for health insurance that faculty members pay. A faculty walkout could affect 25,000 summer students.
The union also represents 350 nonfaculty coaches, who had also threatened to strike but reached a tentative contract agreement with the system late last week. —Karin Fischer
