This post was updated Oct. 1 at 11:11 p.m.
The UC Office of the President and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block approved a 4.6% raise for Academic Senate faculty.
UCOP and the chancellor’s office evaluate the budget annually and decide whether to implement raises for the coming academic year. UCOP is responsible for determining faculty salary scales, and the chancellor’s office is responsible for allocating salaries for faculty members who are above the upper bound of the scale, said Andrea Kasko, the chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.
The UCLA-specific 4.6% increase applies to ladder-ranked faculty members with salaries above the standard scale, the Academic Personnel Office said in an emailed statement. The 2023-2024 academic year raises will go into effect Oct. 1.
Faculty pay scales do not vary much across campus, but many faculty members also earn varying higher salaries than set by the scale, said Kasko, who is also a bioengineering professor. The increase will also apply to Health Sciences Compensation Plan faculty, Kasko added.
UC staff employees also received a 4.6% salary increase, which went into effect July 1, according to a letter from UC President Michael Drake. However, this raise does not apply to unionized staff employees, whose wages are determined by collective bargaining agreements, Drake added in the announcement.
Non-senate faculty members also will not receive the raise since they are typically part of a union that negotiates their salaries separately, Kasko added in an emailed statement.
Senate faculty members with salaries above the pay scale needed to complete the UC Preventing Harassment and Discrimination training course to be eligible for the raise, Kasko said, adding that this is the first time a requirement like this has been implemented.
The course had to be completed by Sept. 1 to receive the raise by Oct. 1, according to the announcement by Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel Michael Levine. Faculty members who complete the course after Oct. 1 would receive the raise starting on the date they completed the course, the announcement added.
Block implemented the raise for above-scale faculty members in response to the increasing cost of living in Los Angeles, the chancellor’s office said in an emailed statement.
Jessica Cattelino, the former Academic Senate Chair, said in an announcement to senate faculty that the raises also recognize the work of senior faculty members and ensure their pay adjustments remain in line with university standards.
“We know you deserve more, especially in light of the extraordinary commitments so many faculty have made to teaching, research, and service in recent years, and also in the context of recent higher-percentage salary increases for other UCLA academic employees,” Cattelino said in the announcement.
Faculty have shown a positive reaction to the raises but still hope for more in the future, Kasko said, adding that a 4.6% increase is still lower than the rate of inflation.
“It’s been a financially challenging time for some people, especially younger faculty or newer faculty who are just starting their careers out,” Kasko said.
Comments are closed.