Many other public sector professional staff unions (like the National Association of Government Employees and the MASSDOT) in Massachusetts guarantee steps as a solution to this stagnation.
How would PSU’s proposed step system work? Each pay grade would have its minimum to maximum salaries divided up into the course of 10 steps. Your salary would automatically jump to the next step on your employment anniversary. If you were hired into a pay grade at $60k (currently grade 25 for UMA and 28 for UMB), you would be making at least $63k after one year, at least $66k after two years, and after 10 years, you would get to the top step in your pay scale, which is currently set at $87k for this pay grade. All the steps on the scale, including the top step, would be adjusted upwards by the governor’s COLA parameters over time. This is what other professional staff unions in Massachusetts get that we don’t—both COLA raises and step raises.
And $60k would be the new minimum pay grade anyone could be hired at. We seek to eliminate the lowest rung of the pay grades and increase the minimum salary for every pay grade. $60k has been identified as the minimum living wage in Massachusetts. Our employees deserve it.
We also seek to:
- Put UMass Amherst and Boston onto a single wage scale (eliminating their arbitrary differences).
- Add further longevity bonuses for employees who have been here for many years.
- Add bonuses for employees who get new degrees, like a master’s or PhD, while working at UMass.
We have adjusted these proposals to fit into the governor’s current parameters for the public sector. These are cost-effective solutions that will save UMass money in the long run by increasing employee retention, preventing excessive job training and failed searches, and generate a sense of value and belonging that will buoy the quality of work that every employee produces.
