How much is enough for these greedy public sector employees? In Pennsylvania, tax dollars pay the faculty of 14 public universities an average of nearly $100,000 — not including a generous benefits package.
They were even in line for a juicy raise.
But it wasn’t big enough for these greedy professors. So they’re sending a message for taxpayers: We demand more, and we’re willing to hold university students’ education ransom to get it.
Faculty at 14 Pennsylvania state universities went on strike Wednesday morning, affecting more than 100,000 students, after contract negotiations between the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the faculty union broken down.
The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties announced on its website that its members went on strike at 5 a.m. because the raise the state offered — between 2.5% and 5% per faculty member — was insulting. The union represents more than 5,000 faculty and coaches across the state demanded a staggering 12 percent raise, Fox43 Harrisburg reported.
“We are headed to the picket lines, but even on the picket lines, our phones will be on, should the State System decide it doesn’t want to abandon its students,” APSCUF President Kenneth M. Mash said in a statement.
Around the state, faculty members walked picket lines in the early morning darkness, chanting and carrying red signs declaring “On Strike.”
The union said late Tuesday night that the state had presented it its last, best offer and was done negotiating.
“State System faculty are among the highest paid in the nation, ranking in the top 10 to 15 percent among their peers at similar public colleges and universities. The average total earnings of a full-time faculty member at a System university last year was just under $100,000, not including benefits,” Fox43 reported.
The state said overnight its latest proposal would provide raises to all permanent and temporary faculty members and a health care package identical to what other system employees have. In an effort to reach an agreement, the state said it withdrew several proposals including one that would have required full-time temporary faculty to teach an additional class each semester.
“By removing many of the more contentious issues from the table, we have demonstrated our willingness to participate in the normal give-and-take of negotiations,” State System spokesman Kenn Marshall said Tuesday.
“These are difficult times for our universities. If APSCUF won’t agree to share more of the costs for their own health care — like everyone else has — it will threaten our ability to keep tuition affordable for students,” Marshall said. “We have made significant progress since Friday, and were hopeful we could get to an agreement by now. It is unfortunate — especially for our students — that we have gotten to this point.”
This is the first strike in the system’s 34-year history.
The union includes faculty from Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities of Pennsylvania. State-related schools —Penn State, Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh and Lincoln University — are not affected.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Some public sector workers make below average wages. In a good economy those jobs are considered unattractive. In recent years cops, firefighters, EMS workers, city workers in Detroit got their pensions slashed in half. On the federal level, military and civilian retirees had their pensions drastically reduced. I never worked in the public sector. I know folks who did. To me it seems like a lousy career. Unqualified people who have political ties rise to the top, while the hard workers go no where. I do agree that those who make over $100,000 shouldn’t complain.
here’s what MOST people are obviously Not aware of, particularly IN PENN..There’s been an IMAM, or Islamic Org. who for the past 6 to 8 years, has been BUYING UP after FORCING OUT of the AREAS, one by one, the people who Frequented a Certain Area, School, Church, or Business, THEY PURPOSELY run them OUT of Biz, or AREA, or They Make it impossible for them to STAY, their Parish’s Lost their Faithful followers, their Businesses lost their Clients, & their Schools Lost their STUDENTS. ALL PLANNED, ALL ORCHESTRATED, ALL ORGANIZED, FOR ONE GOAL. TO begin to TAKE OVER All SCHOOLS, & they ARE teaching, ONLY ISLAMIC STUDIES, don’t believe me? Look it up, IF GOOGLE still has it online, or if no other GOV. ENTITY has removed it by now..This is not only True in PA, But in every STATE, TOWN, & City where they’ve been able to “GRADUALLY” become the NEW MAJORITY. Just look to either last year or year prior, to Google, again IF it’s still online?? Where at a School Board Meeting in NEW JERSEY of ALL places, there was a School Board Meeting called for by Muslim, ISLAMIC “PARENTS” & Activists” Who Wanted, NO, Demanded their OWN HOLIDAYS be PUT ON THE CALENDARS for the ENTIRE SCHOOL & SCHOOL SYSTEM in that PARTICULAR AREA. When they were VOTED NO, One took to the Microphone & STATED, in HER GARB, Face NOT COVERED, But still traditional GARB, that THEY WERE NO LONGER THE “MINORITY as evidenced By the LARGE GROUP that was inside & OUTSIDE”, & SOON She also STATED ON OPEN MIC, “WE WILL BE THE “MAJORITY” & We’ll be back. This was either last year or I believe less than 2 years ago..Yet, of course, the MEDIA/PRESS Whores did NOT cover it, unless it was for a few short Seconds. Same with the TOWN COUNCILS Now across OUR COUNTRY, that ARE TOTALLY Made UP OF Islamic MEMBERS, As there are again, gradually becoming more & more a common trait across OUR ENTIRE NATION. Look to the analogy of the Poor Frogs, who by it being such a GRADUAL BOILING PROCESS, They do NOT realize until it’s TOO LATE, that they are DONE FOR..This HAS been the SAME REAL LIFE SCENARIO that’s been gradually playing out all over OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY. The True #’s of those FLOWN IN then Bused around all over OUR COUNTRY, & NOT TO “ASSIMILATE” but to further the TRANSFORMATION, are Much larger #’s than ANY that’ve been REPORTED OR RECORDED..This is the TRUTH..Just as the MILLIONS more IMPORTED ILLEGALS are HERE for an Entirely Different Purpose, that IS, as NEW DEM VOTERS, But those of the “REFUGEES?”, they are HERE & BROUGHT IN, for an entirely DIFFERENT PURPOSE, BTW with NO Voter ID requirements & SO much already has come out that PROVES VOTER FRAUD on the DEM SIDE..although again, as USUAL, Nothing to SEE HERE either, Just another TARMAC MEETING between LYNCH & SLICK WILLY, NO EMAILS But those Of YOGA & You know, NOTHING IMPORTANT, & of course WIKI LEAKS has been CUT OFF, because they didn’t want to INTERFERE With OUR ELECTION, BY LETTING US BE TOLD & SEE the TRUTHS, that this GOV, ESTABLISHMENT, OR MEDIA/PRESS Whores would EVER REPORT OR Allow us to know of..SO MUCH TO HIDE, SO MUCH Corruption, LIES, Cover UPS, & if all else fails, CUT THEIR INTERNET, or you know, MAKE THEM DISAPPEAR, One way..or Another..Come on, SHE should’ve been IN JAIL a LONG TIME AGO..as is the TRUTH about the ONE IN NOW..& from ALL “SIDES” after all, the Corruption is Far, Wide, Deep & Extremely HUGE! Both of LOCAL, Homeland as well as MANY “FOREIGN USURPERS” who all want a PIECE of what’s LEFT of the former US OF A..Nothing UNITED, except for those TRYING & DOING ANYTHING & EVERYTHING, Legal or NOT, against ONE MAN TRYING TO SAVE AN ENTIRE NATION, against the largest COORDINATED, ORCHESTRATED “ESTABLISHMENT” Ever, against ONE, who’s USING HIS “OWN” MONEY..trying to HELP WE, the PRO-AMERICA…”AMERICANS”..
Watch the Agenda films by Curtis Bowers. What has happened was willful and carefully planned. The muslims were brought in by the communists to destroy America’s morals and destroy the American family. Watch the films.
TO CURTIS BOWERS…I COULD NOT AGREE WITH SO MUCH..AND THE MUSLIMS WERE BOUUGHT IN BY THE COMMUNISTS TO DESTROY THIS COUNTRY..and american people morals and values.and this government is very corrupt also..and the gov let hillary be dissmissed on all the very bad things she has done..and the president gave her a pardon..or you say a green card..to let her go all of the very bad things she has done.64 thousand top secret documents, the clinton foundation, and benghazi report,and the ireland was given by our gov to make 4 new hospitals and was gave 400 million dollars.and somehow 90 percent ended up missing.for the children with cancer,m.d. and diabetes and a lot of other bad deszies..and a lot of those top secret documents was changed to minor things..and yet they let her run for president..thats terrrible and illeagle..she should be indeted and incarerated..forever..i want the people in the u.s.a. to work as a team and vote for donald trump..because he will put this country back into order..witch will be hard to do.but i have faith in him to do it..SO PEOPLE LETS WORK AS A TEAM AND VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP.so he can get this country back into order..because this country is in a major termoil..and also fire all of those people in the white house..because they are not doing there job right at all..because they are all doing nothing at all.FIRE ALL OF THEM.and put good men and ladys that have good morals and values..IN THE WHITE HOUSE..and thats what its going to take fire all of them.and put this country back into order…ric
THEY SHOULD BE HAPPY THEY HAVE A JOB. I TAUGHT MYSELF AND MADE A GOOD BUCK AND LIVE COMFORTABLY WHAT DO THEY THINK THEY DESERVE FOR WORKING LESS THAT 40 HOURS A WEEK LIKE OUR LOCAL SCHOOLS
Most of the Professors are overpaid. They are also unable to find jobs in the Public Sector with a Doctorate in History. The only reason that they are employed is that the require LIBERAL ARTS CLASSES. Then after graduation students with debt must pay off these LOANS. SAD. This is not to say that there are many staff in Higher Education that should be paid a fair wage.
Fire the bastards, they are worthless Socialist, open border, Globalists spewing Lefty bullshit, creating a generation of dumbass snowflake morons that forget to include facts and common sense in any equation. Fire the worthless bastards!
Truer words were never spoken !!!
There is a saying: “Those who can -do. Those who can’t – teach.”
True teachers and professors who love their profession work hard to educate their students, often sacrificing their time and resources to help those who need it, Those who are in there for the money are not true teachers, usually over-bloated, arrogant SOBs who should not be teaching at all. Look for those teachers who often use their own money to provide poor students with school supplies. There are many out there – I’ve met a lot of them.
Hear! Hear! TruChristian, Well and truly spoken. I always worked, and attended college at night, and found many of these wonderful people scattered everywhere I went; I refer to them as ‘Natural Born’ Teachers…True Mentors. I attended several campuses of The University of Wisconsin: UW-C Janesville, UW-C Fond du Lac, and UW-Whitewater, did some correspondence work at the University of Nebraska, among others. And everywhere I went, I found people who gave generously of their time, skipped lunch periods in order to help someone, and did other things. There’s another saying: ‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear’. And my favorite quote from Sir Isaac Newton, as he’s being congratulated for his invention of The Calculus: ‘If we see farther, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants’.
Well spoken and I could not agree more.
So when Social Security recipients will receive a whopping 0.3% cost of living increase for 2017, PA State college and university professors are insulted that they are offered only a 2.5% to 5.0% salary increase. The offered raise is between 800% and 1600% more than Social Security recipients raise! Asking for a 12% raise is 4000% above SS recipients raise. If the professors are going on strike, the students should sue their professors and their union for the amount of their tuition that they lose because of the strike.
we on social security got 0% non raise for 2016, in 2017 we git 3 tenth`s of 1% whoopee!! unions are too greedy. this comes from a retired union worker.
I would be happy with a 2.5 percent pay raise this year. It’s hard to feel sympathy for those making more than I do and probably working far less.
My suggestion for those getting paid by the TAXPAYERS!!
Every day they are NOT doing their job, the offered pay raise is cut by 1%, When that offered raise expires, you start cutting their EXORBITANT salaries by 1% per day for each day they are not doing their job.
Considering their student most likely could not pass an eighth grade exam from the 1800’s.
They should just fire the greedy politicians and professors. Tell the students to show up and have field day until suitable replacements can be found.
On the news yesterday they stated for every $ the government gives universities the salary of professors goes up by 3 $.
WHY? Are colleges today instatutes of education or socialist brain wain washing facilities?
For the LOVE of money is the root of all evil
Keep them on permanent strike (jobless)! The students will suffer a little, but they will survive. They need to teach these bullies a lesson, that thanks to oboma, they are even lucky to have a job, esp. a high paying one at that! Let them be forced to foreclose on their house and get their cars repossessed!
Amazing, the greed of the liberal left. They teach communism/socialism/globalism and they want more money for themselves to continue to do so. I say let them stay on the picket line until they drop……union jerks are selfish, arrogant, worthless morons and they deserve what they bring on themselves.
Just fire them! Universities are nothing but a money pit and a huge waste of time.
It’s time for those that have fiduciary obligations to stand up to this greed. In all of our public educational systems today there are layer upon layers of higher paid non teaching positions that need to be streamlined. There are many overpaid teaching positions as well that have not moved the ball forward from an educational standpoint. There had been very little correlation between money spent and improved education. The real answer is hand the budget over to these unions and let them decide how to make it work, and if needed see if they can continue to go to the public asking for more and continue to recieve the same or less.
Professionals having to go on strike to get a raise, speaks for itself, they’re worthless! This is why 40% of university graduates can’t construct whole sentences. I’m sure better instructors can be found, who will preform better, for less money. Trump 2016.
That is what happens when you give public service employees the right to unionize. Give them a deadline to return to work and fire them if they do not return just like it was done with the FAA controllers. Hire new people that start from scratch.
Get rid of the union & tenure. It should never have been allowed to become what it is.
Yeah why don’t people on social security and our veterans picket since their raises are smaller than that. Plus Obama took what 1.2 billion from the veterans and gave it to Muslim refugees doesn’t sound right to me but that’s our government and these professors should be happy th ed y have a job. And by the way they are teaching liberalism instead of democracy. Out student’s are coming out of college now a days thinking everthing should be giving to them forgetting that their parents and grandparents worked hard for what they have. And I worked over 30 year to get what hi have and I’m tried of giving more to a government who gives it away instead of taking care of our veterans and seniors.
Hey… they should get .3% raise like the Social Security raise this year and see how that feels… We didn’t even get a raise last year..
PA & the whole nation suffers alone for such actions by professors.
No schools or colleges= No professors IE Unemployment right
Have Fun Profs being Unemployed.
A great time to get rid of your tenured BS artists!
These College professors exhibit the true greedy socialistic view of 95% of the world revolves around them. Musssshh the despicable union rep. Inciting to screw your children out of an education and blaming then blaming the education soundds EXACTLY LIKE THE GREEDY HILLARY CREW. He only wants to line his own pockets. The professors should be FIRED. I’m sure there are many professorswho would be grateful to earn $100,000.00 per year. JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF SELF-ENTITLEMENT ATTITUDE THEY ARE TEACHING THE LIBERAL OUT OF CONTROL YOUNG ADULTS OF
TODAY.
The Pennsylvania State University system is not well regarded for excellence in education. In my opinion, it should be shut down as an unnecessary expense to the taxpayers.