United Academics of KU Secures Historic First Collective Bargaining Agreement for All Faculty and Academic Staff

LAWRENCE, Kan.—Today, faculty and academic staff at the University of Kansas, represented by United Academics of the University of Kansas, announced that they have reached a tentative first contract agreement. The agreement between UAKU and KU management ensures due process, job security, academic freedom and dignified compensation for all—improving critical higher education issues at KU.

“Every step of the way we have seen the power of collective action, united across rank, position and title, in order to strengthen our institution and deliver the best possible education for our students,” said Marsha McCartney, UAKU’s co-lead negotiator and an associate teaching professor in psychology.

“Faculty and academic staff have won a landmark agreement that will create ripples across our state. AFT-Kansas welcomes over 1,600 faculty and academic staff as we organize and fight for our collective labor rights,” AFT-Kansas President Katie Warren said.

Despite the KU administration’s ongoing demonstration of disrespect for faculty and repeated union-busting delay tactics, UAKU has built a strong coalition of faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, elected officials and community members committed to holding KU accountable to the people who carry out its education and research mission. This historic agreement secures strong, enforceable rights for faculty and academic staff.

AFT President Randi Weingarten hailed the victory: “Professors, researchers, lecturers and scientists at the University of Kansas work tirelessly to teach young people and do the research that unlocks our future; what they asked for in return was to be treated with dignity and respect. That is what a fair contract is all about. This agreement isn’t just about enshrining the freedom to teach and to learn, it guarantees pathways to promotions and secures significant, and long overdue, wage increases. It shows, once again, that together we can achieve a better life for our educators, our young people and our communities more than we ever could alone.”

American Association of University Professors President Todd Wolfson added: “After nearly six years of organizing, faculty at the University of Kansas have achieved a tremendous hard-won victory with this agreement, including ironclad protections for academic freedom and shared governance and a 13 percent median raise for those at the bottom of the pay scale. This is a member-driven landmark achievement that will have an enormous impact in Kansas. This would not be possible without the courage of our members, who dug in and fought so hard because they knew that a fair contract was possible.”

The tentative agreement, when ratified, will establish a minimum salary structure that provides a median raise of 13 percent for several hundred workers on the lower end of the pay scale, a pool of money to address salary compression and reward professional performance, improved job security for nontenured faculty, a first-ever path to promotion for lecturers, and safeguards for tenure and promotion. Additionally, it establishes enforceable protections for academic freedom and shared governance rights, ensuring that faculty maintain their seat at the table with the University of Kansas administration on decisions that shape their working conditions, and it balances the scales of power toward a better KU.

UAKU is affiliated nationally with the 1.8 million member AFT and the American Association of University Professors.