UConn’s Board of Trustees has approved a tentative agreement for a five-year collective bargaining contract covering nearly 1,900 non-teaching professional employees.

Negotiating teams from UConn and the University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association (UCPEA) reached the tentative agreement for the contract late last month, and the union’s members ratified it last week by a three-quarters majority vote.

The trustees’ vote Wednesday to approve the contract means it now goes to the state General Assembly, which goes into session starting Feb. 3. That body may either approve or reject it, or it will be deemed approved if no action is taken within 30 days after it is filed.

Since 2011, UCPEA members and all UConn employees in collective bargaining units have been working under provisions of a statewide labor agreement negotiated between the state and the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC).

The new UCPEA contract would go into effect July 1 with the expiration the previous five-year SEBAC agreement.

UCPEA has members in virtually every department and work unit in the institution other than UConn Health. President Susan Herbst said in a memo to trustees that their roles range from admissions officers and residence hall directors to physicians, nurses, accountants, academic advisors, librarians, financial aid counselors, and many others.

“The proposed five-year agreement contains important new provisions and language that address several longstanding concerns shared by both the University and the union,” Herbst wrote in her memo. “The agreed-upon changes are focused on updating antiquated or ineffective systems and making strategic investments to reward excellence, increase worker productivity, and promote professional development and career advancement.”

The tentative agreement was the result of about 12 weeks of negotiations. Its most significant change is that the 35-hour work week for UCPEA employees will increase to 40 hours weekly over the life of the contract, with employee base pay increasing incrementally in each year that work hours increase.

“We are very pleased with the new contract and the support it has from our members,” said Kathleen Sanner, president of UCPEA. “This agreement will assist in continuing and expanding the collegial relationship we enjoy with the University administration. Most importantly, it will help our members to better serve the students and faculty of our great university.”

Herbst’s memo and the tentative contract are posted in the meeting’s agenda materials on the Board of Trustees site, and the final contract will be available through the Office of Faculty and Staff Labor Relations and on UCPEA’s site.

Some provisions of the new agreement include:

• General wage increases of 2 percent in the first year and 1 percent in the following four years. High-performing employees would be eligible for merit raises and/or one-time performance-based pay for extraordinary job-related achievements.
• Increasing the current work schedule by one-and-a-quarter hours per week annually beginning July 1, 2017, to reach a 40-hour work week as of July 1, 2020. To compensate for the increased work hours, employee base pay will be increased by 2.5 percent for each of the four years that the work schedule increases. Anyone hired after July 1, 2016, would start at the 40-hour standard and would not receive the 2.5 percent increases.
• Changes in procedures for using compensatory time, cashing out vacation days upon voluntary departure from the University, and serving probationary periods in new roles.
• A plan to update the outdated job classification system currently in use with more relevant and accurate titles and job descriptions, and a process for career advancement by moving from a baseline of “proficient” to levels of “advanced” and “mastery” through experience, training, and skill development.
• Increases in the funds for professional development and child care expense reimbursements, changes to the payments provided when an employee is laid off due to a reduction of the workforce, and other process updates.