UArts faculty ratify first contract in school’s history

Faculty at the University of the Arts by a near unanimous vote ratified a new contract, which runs through June 2026, the union announced Wednesday.

It’s the first faculty contract in the school’s nearly 150-year history.

Nearly 90% of the 300 faculty members voted, and of those, 99% voted yes, according to the United Academics of Philadelphia (UAP), AFT Local 9608, the union that UArts faculty joined in 2020. The university’s board of trustees approved the agreement earlier this week.

» READ MORE: UArts faculty reach tentative agreement on first contract in school’s history

The faculty and administration announced last week that they had reached a tentative agreement that will, on average, give full-time faculty 11% increases in the first year and part-time faculty 13%. It followed an eight-hour bargaining session and came as faculty union members, a majority of them adjuncts, were preparing to take a strike authorization vote the next day.

“This contract will realize double-digit raises for most faculty at UArts ...,” Daniel Pieczkolon, president of the union, said in a statement. “Eighty-five percent of UArts faculty are part-time and have worked at rates well below nearby schools, without benefits or long-term contracts. This is a step in the right direction after three years of stalling from UArts administrators.”

» READ MORE: University of the Arts faculty in Philadelphia have voted to unionize

The new contract comes after three years of bargaining and over 70 bargaining sessions, the union said. Members voted in November 2020 to unionize, and, over the next few years, held multiple demonstrations and informational pickets, calling to attention the lengthy negotiations. On average, a first union contract takes about 15 months to reach, while UArts’ pact took more than twice that.

Under the pact, the new minimum for part-time faculty will be $1,275 per credit, while some had been getting as little as $450, the union had said. Close to 40% of part-time faculty will make at least $5,000 per three-credit course, up from about $3,500 in the past.

Adjuncts who taught in the fall also will receive a $250 signing bonus.

The new minimum for full-time faculty will be $57,850, up from $51,000, with the average pay for full-time faculty at $70,000, the union said.

Among other highlights were a $200 health-care stipend for part-time faculty with seniority, and the addition of three nonvoting faculty representatives to the board of trustees and one to the president’s council.

“I commend both negotiating teams for their dedicated work, day in and day out, that brought us to a tentative agreement,” university President Kerry Walk, who has made reaching an agreement a priority since arriving on the job six months ago, said last week when the tentative pact was reached. “It is heartening to see the two sides come together to uphold UArts’ academic excellence across the visual, performing, and creative arts.”