The Office of Employee and Labor Relations is a busy place this fall.

Currently, the office has four university-employee contracts open for negotiations, said Bob Wayland, director of employee and labor relations.

The University Professionals of Illinois, Eastern’s faculty union, as well as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents some of Eastern’s staff, are among the groups involved in negotiations.

Matt Pederson, AFSCME president, said his union represents building service workers, food service workers and clerical-technical workers.

The clerical-technical unit is negotiating a wage reopener, while the building service and food service workers unit is bargaining for a whole new contract, Pederson said.

AFSCME’s clerical-technical unit represents many university employees, he said, including library assistants, various clerks and cashiers.

The annual salaries for these workers range from less than $15,000 a year to over $33,500 a year, which Pederson said only one employee earns.

These employees are negotiating a 2 percent increase to make wages equal to their comparators at other universities such as Illinois State University.

“As a whole, only 10 employees are at or above parity,” Pederson said. “A 2 percent increase for every member would only be a ‘Band-Aid’ for the parity issue, as it would only bring four or five more employees to an equal rate with their comparators.”

Pederson said the increase would amount to $79,000, which he said is not much, considering the amount other unions bargained for.

Wayland has said with the current budget shortfall there’s no money available for any negotiating group.

The building service and food service workers unit’s negotiations for a new contract are progressing well, Wayland said. These employees include cooks, building mechanics and locker room attendants.

“We’ve only had four meetings, but things are amicable so far,” Pederson said.

AFSCME and university representatives have mainly been discussing language in the contract that establishes work rules, Wayland said.

“Both parties have goals to change the language to reduce disagreements,” he said.

An electrician’s union also is waiting to ratify a contract, and Wayland said seven other contracts are opening up or have been recently resolved.