YPSILANTI (WWJ) – Professors are back in the classrooms at Eastern Michigan University after the professors’ union reached a deal with the school to end a long strike.
The tentative deal was struck over the weekend, though details of the pact have not yet been released, and some 500 professors returned to classes on Monday morning.
The deal still has to be ratified and a new contract is expected to be voted on sometime in the coming week.
At the center of the strike were key disagreements between EMU and the American Association of University Professors Union (AAUP) involving a requested salary increase and proposed changes to faculty healthcare plans.
The university filed a complaint in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, requesting a temporary injunction against the striking staff, seeking to force them back to the classroom. Judge Carol Kuhnke turned down that request last Friday.
Lead negotiator Matt Kirkpatrick told WWJ he thinks the administration and the union “ultimately have the same mission.”
“Which is to teach our students, and we’re back in the classroom. I think our faculty showed their strength as a group and as a union and the administration could do nothing but respect that. I think we’ll be okay.”
Kirkpatrick said he couldn’t get into the specifics of the new deal, but faculty did get a salary increase and a break on health insurance premiums in a four-year contract.