Dear Colleagues,
Please see the following updated information on the 2020 Salary Compression from statewide President, Mr. Fred Kowal:
Dear Colleagues,
The NYS/SUNY/UUP executive-level committee has completed the 2020 Integrated Guidelines for distribution of the 2020 0.5% salary pools to address salary compression. The committee’s work on these guidelines included exhaustive review of the 2019 results and of the extensive member input we received, and jointly negotiated updates to the guidelines to address issues identified in the committee’s review.
By and large, our review of the 2019 process confirmed that, overall, the 2019 methodology worked as intended. Thus, much continues unchanged for 2020. Updates to the 2020 guidelines that were agreed to are either designed to clarify directions to ensure that all campuses are conducting the analyses as intended or to address particular issues of mutual concern to improve the integrity of the analyses. UUP’s ongoing goal though out this process was and remains ensuring that the salary analysis at every campus is done as accurately as possible, given the variation in employee positions across our campuses.
You will find two documents attached to this e-mail. The first, a three-page summary of the 2020 salary compression .guidelines, which is intended for general distribution to your membership, contains a general description of the process plus additional information about what is new for 2020. The second twenty-three page document is the final negotiated 2020 . Integrated Guidelines. As was the case last year, the guidelines are intended for your review and to assist you in answering individual members’ questions. In your message to your chapter’s members, advise them to contact your chapter office if they have questions. It is intended that – except in the most complex of circumstances, you or your LRS will answer member questions. If a question comes to you that is beyond the information contained in the 2020 Guidelines, contact my office.
This has been and continues to be a complex and time-consuming process, both at the executive level and at each campus. To ensure that the compression analyses are correct and that campuses have sufficient time to make required distribution decisions — including the extent to which the 0.5% DSI pool may be used to more rapidly remediate identified compression — the parties are currently discussing an agreement to extend the timeline for processing both the 2020 DSI and salary compression increases. While the dates for distribution are not yet finalized, at this time we anticipate that distribution of both the 2020 DSI and salary compression pools will occur for the tech and comprehensive campuses in February and for the university center and academic medical centers in March. We will provide you with updated information on this as soon as we have it. Regardless of date of payment, both salary compression adjustments and DSI will be retroactive to July or September depending on obligation.
This process is both historic and challenging for all of us. On the one hand, it is remarkable that UUP is partnering with SUNY to begin to address the long-standing issue of salary compression. On the other hand, the process is complex and will require continuing review and analysis. But that is how progress occurs, with small but not insignificant steps.
In Solidarity,
Fred