This week union employees have the opportunity to ratify the new four-year proposed faculty contract, with a deadline to turn in votes by Monday.

University Professionals of Illinois president David Radavich said just over 50 percent of the mail ballots must show support of the tentative agreement accepted earlier this month.

The proposed contract was signed by both sides last Wednesday.

If the contract is not ratified, it will be obvious the faculty are not content with the administration’s offer, Radavich said.

“If it’s not ratified, it could be construed as a vote to strike,” he said. “Clearly then the faculty would be rejecting the proposal.”

If rejected, negotiations will have to continue, or the next step toward a strike will be taken, he said.

Radavich said, if anything, compensation issues could be one reason the contract is not accepted.

“We would have to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “My guess will be there could be some disgruntled faculty who are unhappy with the current economic situation.”

No salary increase was offered this year in the four-year contract, but a one-time bonus, equal to a 1.5 percent salary increase, will be offered if there is no state rescission by mid-May. The bonus will be equal to 1 percent if the rescission is less than $500,000, according to the tentative agreement.

However, in the second, third and fourth years of the contract, salaries will be raised 2, 2.5 or 3 percent above state appropriations.

The agreement also gives

language to property rights, merit awards, distance education, workload, sabbatical information and benefits, among other issues.

The union members voted in support of a strike authorization vote last month, one of several steps toward a strike. The threat of a strike is a major reason both sides now have a tentative agreement, UPI chief negotiator Charles Delman said last week.

“Most of these positive changes occurred after we threatened to strike,” Delman said. “The negotiating process … is like 99 percent pure stubbornness.”

However, the strike authorization vote, specifically, was not a deciding factor in ending negotiations, said Bob Wayland, director of employee and labor relations.

“That was not a factor as far as we were concerned … we just wanted to settle the issue,” he said. “I think both parties realized it was time to come to an agreement on something.”

The contract does not signify a gain or loss by either side, he said.

“We were finally able to peacefully resolve all of our issues,” Wayland said last week.

If ratified, the contract terms will be implemented immediately, but the process might be “a little rocky” while the document language is worked out, Delman said.

Eastern’s Board of Trustees must then approve the contract.

Political science instructor David Carwell, who is collecting the mail ballots, said he received over 200 ballots as of Wednesday.

The union has said about 75 percent of the faculty are union members. The university Web site says there are 576 faculty members at Eastern.