Despite significant effort and direct involvement with leaders in negotiating the terms of a new contract, United Academics has declared an impasse. The parties will continue to mediate in pursuit of a tentative agreement on a successor contract.

We value our faculty and recognize the desire and the need for a fair contract that invests in our faculty and sustains the long-term viability of our university community. At the same time, we must also be responsible stewards of the university’s financial resources. The details of our most recent offer are below.

United Academics is proposing salary increases that total 19.25% over three years, which is more than double the average FY25 AAU annual faculty increase (3.38%).

Our offer of a one-time cash payment of $1,850 plus 4% increase in year one and 3% in years two and three (offer details here) is in line with industry norms and with agreements reached with other employee groups at the University. That said, given the significant financial pressures on the UO, our offer will still put significant financial pressure on our already-strained budget.

Key points below:

• Current total compensation for UO faculty averages 98.3% of AAU public peers, despite the fact that almost all those peers are larger, better resourced and more highly ranked. 
• Our recent and proposed annual salary increases are in line with, or slightly above, AAU public peers.
• Over the last ten years, faculty salaries have increased faster than the rate of net tuition (2.9% average annual growth). It is important to note that net tuition is our primary source of funding for salaries; increases beyond the rate of tuition are not sustainable in the long term. 
• Faculty and administrators have received the same total salary increases over the last ten years. While starting salaries for individual hires of both faculty and administrators are often influenced by market rates, annual percent salary increases have been the same for both groups over the last several years. 
• Annual proposed increases in our offer to United Academics match those recently provided to Officers of Administration (OAs) in a similar multi-year package. Fairness across the different employee groups at the UO is important: faculty and OAs represent a majority of our community and both are essential.  
• The university is currently projecting a $2.3 million deficit for this year in the E&G fund budget, due to out-of-state enrollment coming in below target, as well as rising compensation costs. 

The strength and stability of the University’s future depends on the decisions we make in the next few years. We support the right of our faculty to organize and to negotiate for increases as part of the next contract. However, those increases can only be made within the university’s financial means and cannot come at the expense of other employee groups at the UO, or at the expense of the students we are here to serve.

Our offer to United Academics:

• A one-time payment of $1,850 (prorated by FTE) for all active bargaining unit faculty members upon ratification
• A 4% increase to base salary for all active bargaining unit TTF, Career, ProTem, Visiting, and Retired faculty upon ratification
• 5% merit pool for tenure-track and tenured classification (3% merit pool and an additional 2% with changes to the Tenure Reduction Program) effective September 16, 2026
• A 3% merit increase pool for Career faculty effective September 16, 2026 
• A 18% increase to salary floors effective July 1, 2025, establishing a $52k Career instructor floor.  
• An increase to the first post-tenure/continuous employment review for meeting expectations from 4% to 8% 
• A new 8% floor rank differential for Career faculty to offset compression for increased salary floors. 
• Additional increases for Limited Duration faculty (excluding Postdoctoral Scholars) of 2% in both 2026 and 2027.