MnSCU faculty agree to forgo scheduled raises

Faculty at Minnesota's seven state universities and the Minnesota State Colleges and University system have tentatively agreed to a two-year pay freeze.

The 3,000 faculty members have agreed to forgo annual step increases for the next two years. If approved by a faculty vote, the agreement would also leave current contract terms in place.

Rodrick Henry is the Inter Faculty Organization president. He said he expects his membership to approve the deal.

"We see the potential for a lot of disruption in student and faculty lives and we want to minimize that that is why we are doing this really unusual step," Henry said.

The agreement is expected to go before the faculty for approval sometime in the next few weeks.

MnSCU officials say they hope the wage freeze will help the university system weather the recession with fewer layoffs and program cuts.