The administration at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will comply with with an Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board decision.
SIU President Randy Dunn says he made the decision not to appeal the finding following consultation with the executive committee of the SIU Board of Trustees: “A lengthy appeal could lead to significant additional costs, There are obviously multiple sides and perspectives to any issue, but it makes sense for us to close the page on this difficult period and look forward to the future in partnership with all of our faculty and staff.”
Dunn says the university has a number of details to work through to identify current and past employees who are eligible for the payments. The total costs for reimbursing employees in the three groups for the days, with interest, is likely to exceed $1.7 million.
Dunn says SIUC is prepared to address the financial impact as part of the university's overall budget planning. Dunn says it's too early to say when employees can anticipate their reimbursements given the complexities of the details. During its March meeting the SIU Board of Trustees is expected to consider whether and how to compensate employees who were not in the three bargaining groups for the four furlough days. A news conference is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. WSIU will have more details following the news conference on line and on All Things Considered.
Earlier this week the IELRB unanimously agreed with an Administrative Law Judge that SIU Carbondale administrators bargained in bad faith during contract negotiations with the school's unions in 2011.
Judge Colleen Harvey issued the decision last July more than three years after the Illinois Education Association and the three unions representing SIUC faculty and staff filed the complaint.
The full board agreed with Harvey that SIUC acted illegally during the 2011 contract dispute that resulted in faculty and staff having to take four furlough days. The ruling also says the former SIU administration illegally pushed the unions during negotiations to a point of impasse.
The administration could have appealed the decision. The SIU Board of Trustees held a special meeting Wednesday afternoon on the SIU Edwardsville campus.
