Iowa Regents approve union contracts for 2023-25

The Iowa Board of Regents has settled 2023-25 contract negotiations with the state’s public university unions, ending with a 3% base wage increase with United Faculty, SEIU, and the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students. 

There are five unions employed through the three public state universities, but two are state held and their contracts are not negotiated by the regents. All of the unions have been negotiating with the state since February on their two-year contracts. 

Kristin Bauer, the regents’ associate counsel and director of human resources and merit systems, presented the contract changes to the regents at this week’s meeting.

United Faculty, a union representing 500 faculty members at the University of Northern Iowa, initially asked for a 9.96% increase to base wages to “keep pace with the cost of living,” according to union documents. The proposal also asked for a 5.3% increase in 2024. 

Bauer reported that the union agreed to a 3% increase to the base salary for the union’s members. United Faculty voted and approved the increase, Bauer said at Thursday’s meeting.

SEIU, a union representing nearly 4,000 University of Iowa health care workers, began with an initial ask of a 14% raise in the 2023 budget year and 12% in 2024. 

As the negotiations continued in closed session, the union lowered their request while regents representatives came back with their initial offer of a 1.5% minimum pay raise and 3% raise for returning employees in both years of the contract. 

Bauer said the union and regents have agreed to a 3% increase to base wages and 3% increases across the board for both years of the contract.

The Campaign to Organize Graduate Students, the UI’s graduate student union, initially proposed a 10% wage increase while regents’ representatives countered with a 3% increase.

Bauer said Thursday the agreement ended with a 3% increase to the base wages and a 3% increase across the board for 2023 and 2024. 

The regents unanimously ratified the contracts with the unions. 

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