Carpenter optimistic about future salary negotiations

In a telephone interview Wednesday Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System (NSCS), weighed in on the Aug. 13 Nebraska Supreme Court opinion that affirmed the State College Education Association’s (SCEA) salary increase offer.

“Obviously we believed it would go the other way, but it did not and we will comply with the decision. We are working with union reps to do so as quickly as possible,” Carpenter said.

Faculty members of Chadron, Wayne, and Peru state colleges have been working under and receiving the pay agreed upon in the previous 2007 to 2009 contract.

The back pay will take some time to be appropriately calculated, and there are numerous variables to track depending on whether faculty took on extra courses, or taught during a summer session.

“It’s a lot more difficult than people think,” Carpenter said.

The back pay will be disbursed in a lump sum including interest at an agreed upon rate. Carpenter could not estimate a payment date.

Carpenter said the pay increase should soon be applied to active pay checks.

When The Eagle asked in September 2009 what the expenditures for the litigation processes were, Carpenter put the total costs so far between $50,000 and $100,000.

On Wednesday, Carpenter placed the total cost of litigation at “$80,000 to $85,000 tops.”

Despite the outcome at the Supreme Court, Carpenter said he did not anticipate difficulty during the negotiations for the 2011-2013 biennium beginning in October.

According to the Supreme Court opinion, one source of disagreement was the Board’s break from the precedent considering the faculty ranks a single job class. Professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and instructor were always taken as a single job classification in raise considerations.

The Board and SCEA’s past practice was to negotiate increases across the faculty salary classifications.

The opinion states, “The Board did not offer any evidence in support of changing this practice.”

Carpenter said of the upcoming negotiations, “There certainly won’t be any tension from our side.

“Everybody was professional. The [SCEA] did what thought was right, and the Board did what we thought was right. We will continue to operate in good faith as we always have.”