After More Than 18 Months Without a Contract, PSU and UMass Reach a Tentative Agreement
Photo: UMass Professional Staff Union
Late in the evening on Thursday, February 12, the Professional Staff Union (PSU) bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with the UMass Amherst administration on their 2024–2027 contract. PSU represents 2,400 employees across the Amherst and Boston campuses with 1600 members at UMass Amherst. They have been negotiating their new contract with UMass administration since July 2024
The agreement closely follows huge participation in the union’s vote on No Merit Out of COLA and last week’s pickets. The main sticking point in negotiations has been UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes’ demand that employees forfeit part of their governor-approved cost-of-living adjustments to an opaque “merit-pay system,” in which merit would be determined by the UMass administration.
The statewide cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is negotiated by the governor for all state employees. COLA is not a raise. Its sole purpose is to keep salaries even with inflation. The governor has agreed to a 12.5% COLA adjustment over the three-year period from July 2024—when PSU’s contract expired—to January 2027. But Reyes had instructed the university’s bargaining team to demand that employees give up 1.25% of the governor’s COLA.
After 50+ bargaining sessions, key membership votes involving over a thousand members, and dozens of actions, the bargaining team reached what they believe is the best deal possible for PSU members.
Highlights of the agreement include:
- Full COLA for all, with no merit taken out of COLA.
- Retroactive payments for all COLAs during the life of this contract
- [Boston only] $60,000 salary floor for existing employees, effective Jan. 2027.
- [Amherst only] $200,000 economic adjustment pool distributed to members in specific job titles who earn less than $80,000.
PSU will hold a vote on a date yet to be determined on whether to ratify or reject this agreement.