1. Salary raises: we really wanted a big raise the first year, the really wanted 0% the first year, we got 0% the first year. But in exchange for that, we got slightly higher raises the next few years.
2. A HUGE achievement was getting them to agree to a system where you eventually are eligible to apply for 3 year contracts. Going into the last day of negotiations 5/12, the problem was they wanted you to serve 10 CONSECUTIVE semesters to do be eligible. After LOTS of back and forth, we got them to agree to 10 semesters over 6 years, so if you took a semester or two off, you would not lose this time served. We asked for lowering the requirement to 8 semesters but that was a non-starter. Really, we were lucky to get this deal, it will dramatically improve job security for many of our members. And you may get to count up to 4 semesters of service prior to the contract.
The first issue was pay raises over the next few years; I don't have the document in front of me, but they WOULD NOT budge on the 0% pay raise for 2010-11. I think it's partly because tenure track faculty have agreed to a 0% pay raise for that period, so it would cause some controversy if non-tenure track faculty got anything better than that (never mind the fact that even a 10% pay raise would not bring most of us close to the average salaries enjoyed by tenure track faculty). We did get modest pay raises for the following years-great for many members who have not enjoyed a raise in many years. Even for those of us who have enjoyed merit raises, this is a good cushion should MSU finances continue to give the administration a pretext to keep pay raises low or at 0% for non-unionized folks. I hoped for higher pay raises, but in this economic and political climate, I think we were lucky to get what we did. And if you feel you are essential and valued by the market, nothing is stopping you from trying to get a higher raise or better salary, the contract just provides a safety net.
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