Members asked for clarification about the status quo and how it applies to salaries and grievances. After union recognition, MSU must continue established employment policies, procedures, and practices while the parties negotiate a first contract.
UTSF believes the administration changed faculty salary and grievance processes unilaterally after recognition and used its interpretation of labor law to justify rejecting grievances and interrupting normal salary recommendations. The union asked the administration to identify the case law supporting that interpretation but had not received it when this update was published.
Concerns about faculty raises
Two days after UTSF was recognized in September 2025, the administration told the university Steering Committee that governance work related to faculty salary recommendations was suspended.
UTSF’s position is that Academic Governance should have continued the same recommendation process used before recognition, with the resulting recommendation moving to the Provost in the customary way.
The Executive Council met with MSU administration on March 19, 2026. Administration said it was then too late for Academic Governance to send a salary recommendation to the Provost and indicated that it had expected UTSF to negotiate salary increases directly.
That expectation had not been communicated to the union before the March 19 meeting. UTSF explained that changing the process without notice or bargaining appeared inconsistent with status-quo obligations.
Both sides agreed that faculty should receive raises on the normal schedule. UTSF remained committed to ensuring the administration’s decisions did not leave faculty and librarians without an increase. The union therefore moved toward a formal demand to bargain over that year’s salary pool separately from first-contract bargaining.
Summer and overload pay
UTSF also received reports that some departments and colleges were changing overload or summer-pay policies.
The union raised these concerns directly with MSU administration. Administration said unit leaders had been told to maintain established pay practices or return to Summer 2025 conditions where a proposed change would disadvantage faculty.
Faculty who learn of continuing changes to summer salary or overload pay should email union@utsfmsu.org with the college, department, and policy involved.
Faculty grievances
The Faculty Grievance and Dispute Resolution Office told some faculty they could not pursue grievances because of the union. UTSF considers the removal of the established grievance process another status-quo violation.
UTSF held meetings and exchanged correspondence with the administration while seeking a resolution. The parties reached a general understanding that a grievance rejected by the FGO on this basis would be placed in abeyance. Abeyance pauses the procedural clock while the status-quo dispute is resolved.
Anyone filing a grievance should contact UTSF’s UniServ Director, Gabe Snyder, at gasnyder@mea.org. Faculty who receive an FGO notice denying the right to grieve should share it promptly so the union can work with HR to preserve the claim.
For a broader explanation, read What Is Status Quo?.