Professors at Temple U. Divided Over Pay Issue

Temple University professors are split over the issue of merit pay — those in the union largely favor across-the-board wage increases, while some nonunion members back merit-pay increases instead, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Temple already has a merit-pay system in place but it’s limited to 1 percent of the salary base. Professors get 2-percent, across-the-board increases every year under the current contract, which is set to expire on October 15, according to the Inquirer. The Temple Association of University Professionals — which represents 1,250 faculty members — seeks a new contract containing an across-the-board increase of 5 percent each year for the next four years and the same 1 percent for merit raises.

But some professors, like Laurence Steinberg, a distinguished professor of psychology who is not a union member, say they think raises should go primarily to those who perform well. He told the Inquirer: “That balance is wrong. There ought to be some way the university can reward individuals who do their job better.”

Arthur Hochner, president of the union, told the newspaper that merit-pay raises are subjective and leave some people who are doing their jobs out in the cold: “There were about 50 percent of the faculty who didn’t receive merit pay at all in the previous four years.” If all raises had been based on merit, he noted, those professors would have received nothing. “If they’re doing their jobs, why can’t they keep up with the cost of living?”

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