Sep 12, 2016 2 min read

Professors at 14 state-owned universities, including California University of Pennsylvania, have overwhelming authorized their leadership to call a strike if needed during negotiations that have stalled over health-care issues.

Ninety-three percent of the members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties who voted last week were in favor of authorizing a strike, the union said Monday. More than 80 percent of the 5,500 faculty members cast votes.

“The majority of faculty clearly grasp the seriousness of the situation,” APSCUF President Kenneth M. Mash stated in a news release.

The state System of Higher Education is determined to stay at the bargaining table with APSCUF to resolve the issues and reach a contract with the union, state system spokesman Kenn Marshall said.

“While we understand the latest APCSUF vote moves the faculty union one step closer to being able to call a potential strike, we remain committed to bargaining with APSCUF to achieve an agreement that is fair to everyone,” Marshall said.

The union and state system have been in negotiations since late 2014, and the faculty has been working without a contract since June 2015. The professors earn salaries that put them in the top 10-to-15 percent of those earned nationally at public colleges, Marshall said. The average salary professors earned last year across four ranks was $99,573, he said. Professors at the top of the scale in the state system earned $126,209 last year.

The state system’s latest health-care proposal would give professors a one-time $600 payment, an amount that “would not begin to cover the thousands of dollars the plan would cost anyone who got sick and used it,” the union said last week.

The union also objects to the proposal to rely more on adjunct professors at the schools.

APSCUF members have authorized walkouts in past years, but never called a strike.

The union negotiating committee would need to approve a strike and set a date, things that could take place in a phone call, Mash said.

“A strike remains the last resort,” he said Monday.

Both sides will return to the table Friday.