UUP members to get increase April 1

Members of United University Professions will receive a 3.5 percent across-the-board salary increase in their April 1 paychecks, Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner announced this week.

The increase will be retroactive to Dec. 25, 1997 for calendar-year employees, retroactive to Jan. 17, 1998 for academic 10-month employees paid over 21 pay periods, and retroactive to March 5, 1998 for academic 10-month employees paid over 26 pay periods.

UUP members who are selected to receive discretionary salary increases in the first pool of money available under the recently settled contract agreement with the state will see that money in the paycheck of May 13.

The discretionary payment will be retroactive to July 1, 1997 for calendar-year employees, retroactive to Aug. 21, 1997 for academic 10-month employees paid over 21 pay periods, and retroactive to Sept. 1, 1997 for academic 10-month employees paid over 26 pay periods.

Those receiving discretionary increases, which are added to the base salary, will have the 3.5 percent increase recalculated on the new base salary, with retroactivity applied, so that "no one will lose money" because the discretionary money was paid out after the 3.5 percent increase took effect, stressed Ellen McNamara, assistant vice president for human resources.

Although some SUNY campuses will award discretionary increases in the paycheck of March 18, UB will award the increase in May to allow the university time to address the issue of salary equity for women and/or minorities in response to issues raised by the President's Task Force on Women, McNamara said.

Equity always has been one criterion for the awarding of discretionary increases, in addition to merit, but this year salary equity will be looked at more closely, she explained. Merit will remain a criterion for the award, she noted, and all employees in a UUP-represented title and on the payroll as of June 30, 1997 will be eligible for discretionary salary increases.

Data on mean and median salaries for ranks, titles and salary grades for members of the faculty and professional staff have been developed to provide a guideline for equity. The data are scheduled to be available in the departments after March 9.

McNamara pointed out that the discretionary money-totaling 1 percent of the June 30, 1997 payroll-is the first of three pools of discretionary money provided for in the contract, which runs from July 2, 1995 through July 1, 1999. For planning purposes, the three separate pools of discretionary money-a total of about $4 million across the university-will allow those responsible for making discretionary-salary increase recommendations to consider changes in an individual's salary over the three discretionary pools, McNamara said.

She added that based upon recommendations developed by the Discretionary Work Group to address salary equity, administrators are to judge the appropriate salary needed for each woman or minority in their units to achieve equity with colleagues of similar rank, and develop a plan using the total 3 percent discretionary pool. The emphasis in the evaluation, she noted, is to be on performance and accomplishment, not a formulaic adjustment.

For example, an administrator may choose to give a UUP member one award in each of the three discretionary increases, or to make the discretionary salary adjustment in only one or two of the three discretionary payments between now and July 1, 1999, McNamara said.

She also noted that, unlike in past years, there will be no minimum or maximum amounts for individual discretionary awards.

UUP members can self-nominate for the awards, and letters describing the process will be mailed to individual members next week, she added. Self-nominations are due to supervisors by March 27, with awards being distributed in the paycheck of May 13.