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PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY American Association of
University Professors

Contract Guide 2025-2028

Here are some basics on our current collective bargaining contract. The complete CBA can be found HERE.

When should I reach out to an AAUP representative for help?

  • I believe I may have been unfairly evaluated.
  • I haven’t received my evaluation on time … or at all.
  • I might be facing disciplinary action.
  • I’m worried there may be backlash for exercising my academic freedom rights.
  • I think my workload is unreasonable.
  • I believe a coworker or supervisor is discriminating against me.
  • Our supervisor has instituted new rules or that make my work life more difficult.
  • I need to strategize about how to approach a co-worker or supervisor
    about a workplace issue.
  • I’m not sure where to go with my problem …

It’s always a good idea to contact the AAUP office if anything seems amiss or feels unfair.

You can consult this resource guide or view a copy of the contract at psuaaup.net to see if there’s a simple answer to your question. But if you are unsure or just want a second opinion, send an email to aaup@psuaaup.net. Someone will be in touch!

 

Table of Contents

Contract Duration

New Changes & Continued Benefits for All Members

Changes & Continued Benefits for Academic Professionals

Changes & Continued Benefits for Instructional Non-Tenure Track Faculty (NTTF‐I)

Changes & Continued Benefits for Research Non‐Tenure‐Track Faculty (NTTF‐R)

Changes & Continued Benefits for Tenure‐Line Faculty

What Else Does Your Contract Do?

 

Contract Duration

This contract is in effect from April 23, 2025, through November 30, 2028.

 

New Changes & Continued Benefits for All Members

  Cost of Living Adjustments

The first COLA will go into effect in May 2025, with additional adjustments in January and February of subsequent years. The May 2025 COLA is “graduated” – it is calculated so that members who earn lower salaries will receive a higher percentage increase than those who earn more. Here’s how it is calculated: the first $75,000 segment of your annual base salary rate is increased by 5%; the next $25,000 segment by 1.5%; and the next $50,000 segment by 0.5%. Any portion of your annual salary rate above $150,000 is not adjusted. This structure results in a 5% pay increase for more than one-third of our membership while ensuring that virtually all members will receive a raise above the current inflation rate. Use this calculator to compute your salary increase.

In 2026, all members will receive a 3% COLA. In 2027 and 2028, COLAs will again be indexed to inflation with a floor of 1.75% and a ceiling of 3.5%. These adjustments will be effective in January of each year for 12-month employees and in February for 9-month employees.

 Expansion of Staff Fee Privilege

New language negotiated in 2022 expanded the staff fee privilege – that is, tuition discounts – by allowing members to transfer a second tuition discount to a dependent who is enrolled in undergraduate courses at PSU.

  Individual Professional Development Accounts (IPDAs)

IPDAs were launched July 2016. Funds in these accounts can be spent on travel, conference fees, professional organization dues, licensure or certification requirements, professional organization fees, workshops, tuition and/or fees, subscriptions and books, and specialized equipment. In 2022, we negotiated expanded usages of these funds, including:

  • Purchase of computers and peripherals (e.g., keyboard, headphones) beyond what the University provides for basic office use,
  • Contracting of professional services (e.g., transcription, surveys, 3-D printing) in support of research projects, and
  • Hiring student employees to provide administrative, technical, or other support for professional development activities.

Unused funds in your IPDA roll over for up to 4 years, but you can request an extension beyond that by contacting your department chair or supervisor. Annual contributions to the IPDA accounts remain the same for this contract: Tenure‐track and tenured faculty receive $1,100 annually; non‐tenure‐track faculty and researchers receive $600 annually; and APs receive $500 annually.

 Conference Fund

A new travel fund was negotiated in 2025 in response to members’ concerns that IPDA account were insufficient for some professional travel needs. The new fund, up to $200,000 per year, will provide support for members to attend scholarly and professional events. Members may apply no more than once every three years, with application deadlines of November 1 and April 1 each year. Application information will be posted on the Office of Academic Affairs website.

  Caregivers Recognition & Support

Since 2022, the Collective Bargaining Agreement has includes an article entitled “Caregivers Recognition and Support.” Two resources are noteworthy. PSU now subscribe to a caregiving navigator, Care.com, an online marketplace for childcare, elder care, and other special needs care. The service provides a verified source for identifying and recommending services such as childcare centers, babysitters, home health aides, dog sitters and dog walkers, and more.

A Family Friendly Fund was also established to support caregivers who incur extra expenses due to travel for conferences or professional development; and for occasional or unexpected work demands. The new contract will continue the funding level at $175,000 per year. It also expands allowable reimbursements to include offsetting the cost for ongoing caregiving responsibilities.

  

The State of Oregon created a mandatory leaves benefit program called the Oregon Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program, effective 2023. During the contract reopener prior to program’s rollout, we negotiated allowable protected leaves of up to 24 weeks. In most cases, members who take leaves under this program may receive compensation up to their full salary when PFML benefits are combined with accrued sick leave and, when eligible, withdrawal from the Donated Sick Leave Bank (next section).

  Sick Leave Bank

The Donated Sick Leave Bank (DSLB) allows AAUP members to share unused sick leave with other members who need it. All bargaining unit members are automatically enrolled in the DSLB on November 1 of each year. If you do not want to participate, you can opt out during the month of October (at the same time you make other open enrollment decisions).

As a member of the Bank making an annual donation of 6 hours, if you face a situation in which you need to take extended time off for parental leave, catastrophic illness, or to care for a family member, once you’ve exhausted your own sick leave you can withdraw up to 40 days’ paid leave from the bank. If you are using the DSLB to supplement your paid leave under the Paid Family and Medical Leave program (previous section), you may draw an additional 20 days of paid leave so that you may top off your benefits to your full salary. There is no limit on the number of times you access the bank; you can access it for each separate, documented incident of need.

AAUP Sick Leave Bank donation request form

  Workload Protections and Flexible Schedules

Language introduced in the previous contract strengthened language on workload, including a clear procedure for addressing workload problems. Additional language in the new contract identifies the types of situations that may be considered unreasonable and excessive. The contract also better defines unreasonable and excessive workload for faculty and provides examples from the areas of teaching, research, and service.

New contract language now provides 9/80’s as an example of a compressed schedule arrangement; these are schedules where an employee works 9-hour days Monday through Thursday for two weeks, an 8-hour day on the Friday of the first week, and the Friday of the second week is a day off. The contract also clarifies who may be asked to work remotely when the PSU campus is closed due to inclement weather, emergency, or hazardous conditions.

  Academic Freedom

Academic Freedom language has been updated to acknowledge the challenges posed by new technologies and a changing political climate. A guide detailing resources and support available to members of the University community who are experiencing harassment or other undo pressure from individuals or groups off campus. This new language has been added to Article 12: “The University affirms its continued commitment to the protection of academic freedom with changes in the political and technological landscape.”

 Layoff Protections

Improving layoff protections was an important task for the bargaining team during this round of negotiations. New language codifies tenure-line faculty job protections that exist in the PSU Standards. Tenured faculty can only be terminated for cause or as a result of retrenchment. Tenure-track faculty who are not renewed must be provided with notice.

Nontenure-track faculty on continuous appointment receive 12-months’ notice if they are laid off due to programmatic or curricular changes. If changes occur due to “excess instructional capacity,” the unit or department has 40-days to review the basis for this determination, assess its impact on programs or curricula, and propose alternatives. The University cannot redistribute a laid-off NTTF’s work to multiple part-time faculty.

Academic professionals with 6-12 years of service receive 7-months’ of notice, and APs with more than 12 years of service receive 8-months’ notice. Laid-off APs will now remain on the recall list for18 months instead of 12. APs on the recall list will be treated as internal candidates for open AP positions if they wish to apply.

There are also new and longer notice requirements if members are laid off for reasons of financial hardship short of financial exigency. Under all circumstances, laid-off members will retain access to PSU email and library services and will be automatically placed on the recall list. The University may offer severance in lieu of some or all of the notice period.

 

Changes & Continued Benefits for Academic Professionals

 Salary Increases

Adjusted Salary Ranges. Salary minimums and maximums for AP job families and career tracks increase by 4% in May 2025 and will be adjusted upward by the COLA percentage in subsequent years of the new contract.

Pay Equity Increases. APs whose salaries are below market rates will see those gaps narrowed using a fund of $225,000 set aside for the purpose during each of the four years of the contract. Salary increases are distributed to individual members based on a targeted market increase (TMI) used to determine “target salaries” and the extent to which actual salaries falls short of this. The first increases during the new contract go into effect in July 2025 for 12-month employees and in September for 9-month employees.

Post-Review Pay Increases. APs were reviewed for an advancement increase of $1,600 every four years in the last contract. This review period is now reduced to three years, but with the same pay increase of $1,600. That is a 33% increase over the current amount when adjusting for the review period. For purposes of transitioning from the 4-year to the 3-year cycle, APs in their first or second year of their review period will carry this over into the new review cycle and will receive the increase after a third year. APs in the final year of their 4-year cycle will receive a pay increase of $1,600 on July 1 and will then restart the clock on a 3-year cycle. APs in year three of their 4-year cycle will receive $1,200 on July 1 and also restart the clock.

Language Pay Differential. The new contract introduce a 5% pay differential for APs who are required to use one or more languages other than English in their work. Eligibility is based on the job description. If your job description does not explicitly require non-English language skills, but you are required to use a language other than English, you may request that the job description be reviewed and updated by your supervisor and Human Resources.

 

Changes & Continued Benefits for Instructional Non-Tenure Track Faculty (NTTF‐I)

 Continuous Appointment

Most instructional Non-Tenure Track faculty (NTTF-I) positions are eligible for Continuous Appointments. “Continuous Appointment” means that non‐tenure‐track faculty members can become permanent faculty members with meaningful job security. Once on a continuous appointment, you can only be discharged for cause, if you are laid off due to a program change or elimination, or if you are laid off during a retrenchment in response to financial exigency.

 Salary Increases

Increased Salary Minimums. Salary minimums for all NTTF-I ranks increase by 4% in May 2025 and will be adjusted upward by the COLA percentage in subsequent years of the new contract.

Pay Equity Increases. NTTF-Is whose salaries are below market rates will see those gaps narrowed using a fund of $225,000 set aside for the purpose during each of the four years of the contract. Salary increases are distributed to individual members based on a compression, inversion, and equity (CIE) model used to determine “target salaries” and the extent to which actual salaries falls short of this. For 9-month faculty, the first increases during the new contract go into effect in September 2025.

Post-Review Pay Increases. After continuous appointment is awarded, NTTF-Is undergo post-continuous appointment reviews (PCAR) every 5 years. In the new contract, the pay bump after a successful review is $2,500, which is 32% higher than the PCAR increase in the previous contract.

 

Changes & Continued Benefits for Research Non‐Tenure‐Track Faculty (NTTF‐R)

 Continuous Appointment

Non-Tenure Track Research Faculty (NTTF-R) are eligible to convert to Continuous Appointment status with departmental approval. While most researchers work on “soft money,” some research units have a track record of stable funding year after year, and these units have the option of hiring researchers on continuous rather than short‐term appointments.

 Salary Increases

Increased Salary Minimums. Salary minimums for all NTTF-R ranks increase by 4% in May 2025 and will be adjusted upward by the COLA percentage in subsequent years of the new contract.

  Bridge Funding

A new Research Bridge Fund was negotiated for the new contract based on the success of a pilot program. The purpose of this pool of money is to sustain research programs and sponsored activities in instances where an external research grant or funding source has expired or will end, but renewal of funding is expected soon. In fiscal year 2025-26, an allocation of $150,000 will be used to establish the new fund and in each subsequent year of the contract, $75,000 to $150,000 will be allocated. The funds are for salary and benefits, with a maximum of $25,000 for each award. Applications for bridge funding will be available through the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

 

Changes & Continued Benefits for Tenure‐Line Faculty

  Salary Increases

Increased Salary Minimums. Salary minimums for all tenure-line ranks increase by 4% in May 2025 and will be adjusted upward by the COLA percentage in subsequent years of the new contract.

Pay Equity Increases. Tenure-line faculty whose salaries are below market rates will see those gaps narrowed using a fund of $455,000 set aside for the purpose during each of the four years of the contract. Salary increases are distributed to individual members based on a compression, inversion, and equity (CIE) model used to determine “target salaries” and the extent to which actual salaries falls short of this. For 9-month faculty, the first increases during the new contract go into effect in September 2025.

Post-Review Pay Increases. After receiving tenure, faculty undergo post-tenure reviews (PTR) every 5 years. In the new contract, the pay bump after a successful review is $5,100.

 

What Else Does Your Contract Do?

Progressive Discipline

The AAUP contract outlines firm guidelines for how employees are disciplined. You have the right to have a union representative present in any meeting that you believe may result in disciplinary action (Weingarten Rights). To invoke this right, simply inform the person who called the meeting that you wish to postpone until you can have a union representative in the room with you. You cannot be penalized or retaliated against for exercising this right.

Progressive discipline tends to make employee treatment more fair and more transparent. It means that if you do something wrong, your supervisor has to tell give you a chance to fix it. See Article 27 of the contract for more details on what the process looks like. We recommend that you contact your Unit Representative and/or the AAUP office immediately if you are called into a disciplinary meeting, or if you believe you may be subject to a disciplinary investigation.

Grievance Procedure

The grievance procedure in the contract lays out a process that gives you recourse if your rights under the contract are violated. There are timelines and deadlines for filing a formal grievance – it’s crucial to talk with your Unit Representative or a union officer as quickly as possible. Union representatives can also assist you with informal advocacy to address workplace issues and coach you on how to resolve problems yourself or along with other co-workers. A good rule of thumb is, if something feels wrong or unfair in any way contact the union office for a confidential consultation. You can call 503‐725‐4414 or email aaup@psuaaup.net.

Access to Your Personnel File

You have the right to see your personnel file and makes copies of it for your record. You can bring a representative of your choice to read your file. Your file can’t contain any anonymous submissions. If there are errors or omissions in the file, you can petition the Provost to have it changed. In addition, you can submit additional information to be placed in your file such as transcripts, documents related to your professional growth, scholarly research, or a response to a statement contained in your file.

Transparency in Evaluations

Criteria on which evaluations are made must be transparent and relevant. If you do not have access to the criteria against which you are being evaluated, ask your supervisor. If they do not provide it, contact the AAUP office.

Nondiscrimination Protections

If you feel you are being discriminated against on the basis of your age, color, disability, marital status, family status, national origin, race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, veteran status, or for being a member of or participating in union-related activities ‐ we can help. An AAUP representative can help you explore options for action.

Health and Safety Protections

You have the right to a safe and healthy workplace. If you feel that your workplace or situation puts you in harm’s way, you have the right to request a temporary relocation. If you are being harassed or bullied, you may be experiencing discrimination. There are both legal and AAUP-contract-related protections. Contact the AAUP office for help.