Fordham University and its tenure-track faculty members have reached a contract agreement on compensation increases and changes to health benefits for tenure-track faculty following negotiations that began in mid-December. Three weeks after University President Tania Tetlow, J.D., announced a 6% increase in tuition, citing “rising demands for compensation from our employees” as a driving force behind the decision, the Faculty Senate — which represents tenure-track faculty in negotiations with the administration — voted 13-5-2 on April 21 to approve the proposal. 

The final proposal had been recommended by the Salary and Benefits Committee, and it was signed by both Tetlow and Faculty Senate Chair John Drummond. Both of the parties had deliberated over about nine to ten proposals before coming to an agreement.

The contract agreement includes a 4.5% compensation increase for the 2024 fiscal year, a 4.0% increase for the 2025 fiscal year, and a 3.5% increase for the 2026 fiscal year, though the proposal contained a “contingent reopener if the rate of inflation from the previous calendar year exceeds 3.5%.” 

Ralf Hepp, chair of the Salary and Benefits Committee, declined to comment on the specific compensation offers that were proposed at the beginning of negotiations. 

Hepp said he believes that while both the Faculty Senate and the Salary and Benefits Committee have been cognizant of the university’s budget situation, the main concern of the latter was that faculty members maintain “purchasing power,” meaning they are able to afford the same expenses, even with high inflation rates. He added that he believes nobody in either group was particularly satisfied with the agreement but referred to it as the best agreement that could be reached given the fiscal circumstances. 

The contract agreement includes a 4.5% compensation increase for the 2024 fiscal year, a 4.0% increase for the 2025 fiscal year, and a 3.5% increase for the 2026 fiscal year.

“These proposals basically ensured that the purchasing power of faculty members did increase over the contract period,” he said. “We are aware that there might be further erosion of purchasing power on faculty members in the coming years, unless inflation comes down significantly.”

Thierry Rigogne, associate professor of history and associate chair of undergraduate studies at Lincoln Center, said the current inflation rate of 6% in New York City means that faculty raises and benefits will not keep pace and thus amount to, in effect, a reduction. 

Rigogne also emphasized that the tenure-track faculty had already accepted decreases in compensation during the pandemic in order to avoid layoffs, but that those cuts will not be restored due to the new contract. 

“We feel like the administration takes credit for keeping the university going, and we had to redo our entire courses and teach from our kitchens, all while taking pay cuts,” he said of teaching during the pandemic.

“We are aware that there might be further erosion of purchasing power on faculty members in the coming years, unless inflation comes down significantly.”Ralf Hepp, chair of the Salary and Benefits Committee

Sarah Lockhart, associate professor of political science and director of international studies, echoed similar sentiments to Hepp and Rigogne. While she is unhappy that the new contract will essentially feel like a pay cut due to inflation and decreased employer health insurance contributions, she said she believes it was still the best deal the Faculty Senate and university could come to at the time and was pleased that some agreement was reached. 

“I have a lot of confidence in our Faculty Senate negotiating team, and they did a great job of keeping all of us informed about what the University was offering us, what the negotiating team thought our priorities should be, and what was realistic,” she said.

Drummond said that this discontent is an unavoidable part of the negotiation process.

“As is common enough in negotiations, neither side can say that they are happy with the result. It was a compromise in which both sides moved to a middle position,” Drummond said. 

Lockhart also expressed concern regarding the university’s ability to attract top-tier talent due to the lack of competitive compensation, calling into question its long-term sustainability.

Throughout 2022, negotiations between the university and Fordham Faculty United (FFU), the union representing adjunct and nontenure-track faculty, nearly led to a strike in January on the part of union members who demanded higher compensation and a health benefit.

Bob Howe, associate vice president for communications and special adviser to the president, explained that the university raised faculty salaries by as much as it was able to while operating within its financial constraints. He noted that the agreement will include a pay increase higher than compensation raises in the recent past due to the inflation concerns. 

“We are not aware of many institutions, particularly non-profits, that have raised wages in lockstep with the inflation rate this year,” he said. “When we say that we cannot do more, it is not because we do not value and respect the faculty. It is because we are a tuition-dependent, non-profit institution.”

The university has attributed spikes in tuition to a number of reasons, one of them being demands to compensate employees. Throughout 2022, negotiations between the university and Fordham Faculty United (FFU), the union representing adjunct and nontenure-track faculty, nearly led to a strike in January on the part of union members who demanded higher compensation and a health benefit. 

In response to the tense negotiations between the administration and FFU that lasted over a year, Tetlow said that budget constraints made it difficult to accommodate the union. In an email sent to the Fordham community on Nov. 18, the president implied that the university was unable to meet FFU’s demands because of the segmented nature of the faculty, including tenured, tenure-track, nontenure-track, full- and part-time faculty.

“Fordham has no choice but to function in that academic marketplace, however, and to stretch our compensation budget across the increasingly divided markets of our employees,” she wrote.

Cost-shares on health care plans will increase from 16.5% to 20% by 2026, meaning that nontenure-track faculty will be responsible for higher out-of-pocket costs, but not higher premiums.

Meeting minutes from the March 24 meeting with the Faculty Senate show that tenure-track faculty had been dissatisfied with earlier versions of the university’s compensation offer and “the framing of the negotiation as a trade-off.” The senate voted unanimously in favor of a motion expressing dissatisfaction with the proposed contract.

When speaking to the notion of a trade-off, Diane George, non-tenure track instructor of anthropology and co-chair of FFU, questioned why factoring in budgeting and budget costs are prioritized over decent health care coverage for faculty and ensuring they are paid a living wage.  

“This is a matter of priorities, not lack of funds,” she said. “But blaming tuition increases on our very modest wage increases is a convenient way to create division and to deflect attention from the bigger picture.” 

The agreement will make significant changes to health benefits made available to tenure-track faculty members. Cost-shares on health care plans will increase from 16.5% to 20%  by 2026, meaning that nontenure-track faculty will be responsible for higher out-of-pocket costs, but not higher premiums. 

Hepp, who has been teaching economics at Fordham since 2006, said that premiums and medical sector inflation is often higher than in the general economy. 

“The hope is that increasing cost-shares will be accompanied by a reduction or slowdown in the increase of premium costs,” he said, “And hence a containment of costs to the faculty member (and the university).”

According to Hepp, a new Health Care Advisory Committee will be convened to comprehensively address changes made to faculty members’ health benefits, including the design of its own health plan. In 2022, the university opted out of health insurance plans bought on the market and established a self-funded structure that gives it flexibility, including setting premium costs.

Hepp noted that a Medical Assistance Fund will also be eliminated in order to preserve two other programs. The fund was temporarily set up during the last contract negotiations amid a transition between health plans and is intended to assist in reimbursement of high health care costs. Hepp referred to the $250,000 fund as one of the places where his committee felt they had to give in to keep Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) and Academic Pursuit Funds. 

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HRAs, accounts with employer-contributed money that can be spent on qualifying medical expenses, will be terminated in 2026 at the university. The accounts allow individuals to save their own pretax wages for these expenses. The annual contribution to HRAs on the part of the university will decrease from $300 to $200 for individuals and $600 to $400 for families. 

According to Howe, becoming self-insured has helped the university control its costs because Fordham does not pay a profit margin to insurance companies. 

“In general, the University is prioritizing wages over some of these other benefits,” Howe said. “Giving employees the ability to make their own choices.”

Alexa Villatoro contributed additional reporting to this story.