UArts faculty reach tentative agreement on first contract in school’s history

Faculty and the administration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia have reached a tentative agreement after more than three years of negotiation on the first contract in the school’s nearly 150-year history.

The agreement comes after an eight-hour negotiating session Sunday and as faculty prepared to take a strike authorization vote on Monday.

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

» READ MORE: How summer class is different for a UArts adjunct, who is also helping negotiate his union’s first contract

If ratified, the new agreement would be retroactive until Jan. 1 and expire in August 2026.

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 amount of time. Job security, wages, and health care were among the main issues.

Daniel Pieczkolon, president of United Academics of Philadelphia, said some of the issues of pay disparity among the union’s 300 members — the majority of them adjuncts — were difficult to work through and it wasn’t until Walk arrived that there was support from the president’s office to really get a deal done.

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

“Kerry was more willing to work with us,” said Pieczkolon, an adjunct professor at Arcadia University.

Pieczkolon said the union is pleased with the result.

“We’re feeling really good about where the faculty are at right now,” he said.

Contract negotiations for a separate 100-member staff union at the University of the Arts continue.

The new agreement increases compensation for faculty, and institutes a step system for pay. There were wide-ranging salary differences among professors teaching studio and lecture courses, among disciplines and programs, according to the union.

Under the new pact, on average, full-time faculty would see 11% increases in the first year, and part-time faculty would get 13%. The new minimum for part-time faculty would be $1,275 per credit, while some had been getting as little as $450, the union said. Close to 40% of part-time faculty would make at least $5,000 per three-credit course, up from about $3,500 in the past.

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

The new minimum for full-time faculty would 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. Also, the university said the new agreement would improve the promotion process for assistant professors and the reappointment process for full-time faculty.

The agreement is subject to ratification by faculty, which is expected to occur in the next week, and a vote by the school’s board of trustees around the same time.

“Every detail in this contract was negotiated diligently and meticulously and is a reflection of our institution’s commitment to meeting the needs of our faculty and community at large,” board chair Judson Aaron said in a statement.