CARBONDALE -- Averting what would have been the first faculty strike at a four-year university in Illinois, union officials at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale decided late Tuesday to accept the university's final offer, which includes at least a 7.5 percent pay raise over the next three years.þþLeaders of the Faculty Association, which represents about 680 tenured and tenure-track faculty members on the Carbondale campus, decided to forward the administration's offer to union members for ratification with a recommendation that the offer be approved. The faculty will vote on it Thursday and Friday.þþThe action by the union's Departmental Representative Council, coming after a straw poll of faculty members conducted earlier this week, prevents a walkout that could have begun as early as Wednesday.þþUnion officials made it clear issues remain.þþBut SIU Chancellor Walter Wendler said he was pleased ÿthe students won't be denied access to the teaching, research and scholarship.ÿþþ
Source: Chicago Tribune
