Loyola University Chicago announced Tuesday that it has reached a tentative agreement with 350 unionized full- and part-time faculty members, ending a lengthy rift that included a one-day strike by some instructors.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 organized 350 full- and part-time non-tenure-track faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences and about 10 faculty in the English Language Learning Program.
SEIU was seeking higher salaries for instructors and greater job stability.
Here is the announcement Tuesday from Loyola President Jo Ann Rooney:
Dear Loyola University Chicago community:
I am pleased to inform you that last night, Loyola University Chicago reached Tentative Agreements (TAs) with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 for three-year collective bargaining agreements with our 350 full- and part-time non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and seven faculty in the English Language Learning Program (ELLP).
Loyola’s goal from the start has been to reach fair and reasonable agreements that are consistent with our commitment to social justice and our Jesuit values. The TAs reached last night achieve this goal. The final steps in the process are for SEIU-represented CAS and ELLP faculty to vote to ratify their respective TAs beginning on Thursday, April 19, and approval by the University’s Board of Trustees in June. The union ratification process is expected to take a few days.
The TAs reflect not only Loyola’s appreciation for the many contributions of our NTT faculty but also our core mission of providing a high-quality, affordable education to all of our students. We strongly encourage all SEIU-represented NTT faculty to vote in favor of their respective agreements, which provide highly competitive compensation and enhanced job security.
If ratified by Loyola’s unionized faculty, the agreements:
- Provide significant pay increases for all SEIU-represented faculty;
- Make Loyola CAS non-tenure-track faculty among the highest paid non-tenured faculty in Chicagoland;
- Offer a 38–40 percent increase to the standard per-credit-hour rate for part-time CAS instructors;
- Provide annual raises for SEIU-represented faculty, consistent with those earned by tenured and tenure-track faculty;
- Provide greater job security and longer appointments for both full-time and part-time unionized faculty;
- Establish a new classification of part-time faculty, known as “Adjunct Instructors,” which would come with a pay raise and a two-year appointment;
- Create a professional development fund specifically for unionized faculty; and
- Are fiscally responsible, ensuring Loyola can continue to offer a high-quality, affordable education to our students.
Additional information related to the SEIU negotiations and the tentative agreements can be found at LUC.edu/bargaining.
We want to thank the bargaining teams from Loyola and SEIU for their hard work on these agreements and all of our faculty, staff, and students for their patience throughout this process. With these agreements finalized, we look forward to uniting as a campus community around our shared, core commitment to delivering a transformative educational experience for our students.
