Update on UA bargaining — faculty salary offer

Dear colleagues,

The University of Oregon and United Academics met in mediation on Friday, March 21, to continue negotiations on a successor contract. UA presented a counteroffer on salary. In an effort to move us toward an agreement, the university has responded with a counterproposal before our next mediation session on Thursday, March 27. Key changes in the university's latest salary offer: 

  • Fiscal year (FY) 2027 increases
    • Earlier increase effective date of September 16, 2026 (previously January 1, 2027).
    • Additional investment in the TTF merit pool with changes to the Tenure Reduction Program (see below).
  • Additional 2% increase to the FY2027 tenure-related merit pool in exchange for ending new enrollments in the Tenure Reduction Program (TRP) later this year.
    • Current enrollees of TRP would be unaffected.
    • Those eligible for TRP would have the opportunity to enroll until September 15, 2025.
    • This brings the merit pool in FY27 for tenure-related faculty to 5%.
    • This proposal honors current commitments to retiring tenured faculty while investing future savings from the program directly into TTF salaries.
  • Career salary floor increase – 18% increase (previously 13.5%) to the Career Instructor salary floor for a new floor of $52K (up from the current floor of $44K). 

All other terms are unchanged: 

  • One-time payment – one-time ratification* payment - $1,850 (prorated for FTE) for all active bargaining unit faculty members.
  • FY2025 increase – 4% increase to base salary for all active bargaining unit TTF, Career, Pro Tem, Visiting, and Retired faculty upon ratification.*
  • FY2026 increase – 3% merit increase pool for TTF and Career faculty effective January 1, 2026.
  • Post-tenure/continuous employment review increases – 8% for meeting expectations in the first six-year review after promotion to highest rank.
  • Career faculty differential – a new 8% floor rank differential for Career faculty to offset compression from increased salary floors.
  • Limited Duration faculty increases – 2% in both FY2026 and FY2027 (excludes Postdoctoral Scholars who are on their own salary schedule). 

Please refer to the Human Resources website for more details about the university’s latest faculty salary offer compared to that of United Academics. 

This is a difficult negotiation given the significant budget challenges facing the university, but the UO is trying to work creatively and in partnership with UA to invest in our faculty. As we continue negotiations this week during an all-day mediation session on Thursday, March 27, we are committed to reaching agreement. 

Sincerely, 

Christopher P. Long 
Provost and Senior Vice President 

Mark Schmelz 
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer 

* If ratification takes place on or before the 15th of a month, the increase will be applied back to the 1st of the ratification month, if ratification takes place after the 15th of a month, the increase will be applied the 1st of the month following ratification.