Contract negotiations between the University of Oregon and United Academics, the UO faculty union, came to a close last Thursday night with a tentative agreement between the two bargaining teams. UO and the union have been negotiating since January.

The agreement establishes a three year contract period, with an eight percent salary increase over those three years. The contract also includes increases in salary floors, the establishment of a pool for merit-based salary increases and a $650 lump sum for bargaining unit faculty members.

The university and faculty also agreed to study income equity issues for university employees. Section 11 of Article 26, which deals with basic salary, specifies that “the parties agree to work in good faith toward a memorandum of understanding that will provide a mechanism for the university to study salary equity issues related to gender and other protected classes within the Tenured and Tenure-Track faculty ranks.”

The agreement will be voted on by UA faculty members over the next few weeks and is expected to pass.