SIU faculty union accepts contract, averts strike

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Members of the Southern Illinois University faculty union here on Friday narrowly ratified a four-year contract proposal, ending one year of heated contract talks, campus picketing and threats of a strike.

Of the union's 400 members, 202 members voted to accept the proposal, while 73 voted to reject it, said Morteza Daneshdoost, president of the union.

The vote was close. Union rules require more than 50 percent of the group's members to vote yes for a ratification to pass, Daneshdoost said. Still, he proclaimed the new contract a victory for the faculty.

"We have avoided a strike and have advanced the cause of higher education in Illinois," said Daneshdoost as he announced the ratification.

Faculty at the university's Edwardsville campus and at its medical and law schools are not represented by the union and are unaffected by the vote.

The chancellor of the Carbondale campus, Walter Wendler, said the vote "marks a new beginning" at the 22,000-student school.

The proposal includes a 7.5 percent raise over the final three years of the contract, but does not address many of the professors' non-economic demands, such as more say in hiring and granting tenure decision on the Carbondale campus.

Still, the union's 45-member governing panel had recommended members accept the plan after members indicated in a straw poll that most supported the proposal.

Union leaders had threatened to strike as early as Feb. 3 if progress on a contract hadn't been made by then.

Union leaders at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston also reached an agreement with administrators Friday that ended talk of a strike there.

EIU union members will vote on the four-year proposal next week, said David Radavich, president of the EIU faculty union. He declined to specify whether the pact included raises for the professors.

Public university professors in Illinois average about $66,000 per year.