Temple faculty, administration reach tentative agreement on five-year contract

Temple University’s faculty union and administration have reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract that includes a $10,000 across-the-board raise for full-time union employees, a move meant to better help lower earners.

That amounts to a 10% raise for at least half the members in the Temple Association of University Professionals bargaining unit, said TAUP president Jeffrey Doshna.

In subsequent years through May 2028, they will receive 3% raises, according to TAUP, which represents more than 2,300 faculty, librarians, and academic professionals. There also will be a 1.5% merit pool available in each of those years. Pay for adjuncts, who teach about 40% of undergraduate courses, also will increase, union officials said.

The tentative agreement, which follows more than a year of bargaining that included 33 sessions, is subject to a vote by the union’s executive board, ratification by union members, and approval by Temple’s board of trustees.

» READ MORE: Temple faculty union calls for job security for adjuncts and non-tenure track professors in informational picket

Doshna said he is confident the executive board and union membership will approve the agreement and expects the process could be complete by the middle of October.

“We obviously did not get everything we asked for, but we are confident we have been able to make gains on a number of important issues that our members have raised with us,” Doshna said.

The median salary of non-tenure track full-time professors is about $83,000, and for those who are tenured, it is about $130,000, Doshna said. Over the life of the contract, a tenured professor on average will receive an 18% increase, while those who are nontenured will get about 23%, he said.

That timeline for approval means the agreement could be in place by the time John A. Fry takes over as president on Nov. 1. When Fry’s appointment was announced in July, he said he hoped the sides would come to an agreement soon.

“That would be the best thing for the university that doesn’t need any additional distractions or anxiety,” he said at the time.

Fry, who has led Drexel University for 14 years and before that held leadership roles at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster and the University of Pennsylvania, has not previously had to deal with faculty unions.

In March 2023, graduate student workers at Temple went on strike for six weeks.

“We’re glad to reach an agreement that is generous and works for everybody,” said Ken Kaiser, Temple’s senior vice president and chief operating officer. “It brings certainty for students and for faculty and for the board and the administration. This is one item we don’t have to worry about for four more years.”

And it’s also good for students, he said, who don’t have to worry about disruption to operations.

Kaiser declined to say how much the pact would cost the university but said “it’s a percentage increase that we will handle within the budget.”

» READ MORE: Temple grad students overwhelmingly ratify agreement, ending their six-week strike

Adjunct faculty who taught last year will receive a $500 per credit retroactive adjustment; for those who taught six credits both last fall and spring, that would mean an additional $6,000, the union said. This year, adjuncts will receive $2,250 per credit, followed by a $50 increase in each of the subsequent years of the pact.

“This is a 50% raise over the life of the contract for the adjunct minimum per credit pay,” the union said.

» READ MORE: Temple and its faculty will begin contract negotiations

Those who have worked longer will begin getting multi-semester contracts, helping toward job security, the union said.

Also fostering security, full-time non-tenure track faculty will have the expectation of ongoing employment once they have worked nine years, Doshna said.

The tentative agreement also includes expanded leave for bereavement, improved protections for academic freedom, and the addition of lactation spaces on campus for working parents, the union said.