KU Chancellor Threatens to Circumvent UAKU Contract Negotiations

KU management sent a letter outlining their intention to end negotiations and enter a period of forced mediation if the Union does not agree to their 1% raise proposal in 7 days. Rather than meet with the Union face-to-face, admin has chosen to strongarm their way through the process, without even giving UAKU an opportunity to respond.

During the University Senate Meeting on February 19th, Chancellor Doug Girod answered several questions raised by KU students and staff. When asked when he was planning to settle a fair union contract for faculty and academics, Girod answered that KU management "would love to do one that is fiscally responsible for the University and I know that is what our team is striving for, but we can't agree to something we can't pay for cause that doesn't help anyone."

Chancellor Girod updates the University Senate on management's timeline to negotiate a fair union Contract (Feb 19, 2026).

Recent developments show his promise to continue negotiating was a bald-faced lie. On Friday, KU management sent a letter to the United Academics of KU (UAKU) faculty and academic staff union, stating that their most recent offer would be their final one, and that the Union would have seven days to agree, at which point they would declare an impasse and request mediation from the state. KU did something similar to the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition (GTAC) during their last round of negotiations, resulting in the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) imposing a unilateral three-year contact -- an act the GTAC described as "illegal" in their pending prohibited practice complaint.

UAKU and KU management have been negotiating for nearly two grueling years, despite the Union's efforts to move things along. From the onset, it took KU management over 180 days to respond to UAKU's first proposal on compensation. On February 6th KU management proposed, via Zoom, to give faculty and academic staff just a 1% raise. An amount that fails to even cover 3% inflation and which falls fall short of a fair market value adjustment to 13%. In response, UAKU floated a supposal, which is a 'what if' hypothetical proposal to feel out how KU management would respond to a 3% raise this year followed by a 2% raise the next.

Instead of responding to the informal supposal, which indicated that UAKU was willing to work with the administration, KU management sent a letter to the Lawrence Journal World and UAKU simultaneously, outlining their intention to end negotiations and enter a period of forced mediation if the Union does not agree to the wage proposal in 7 days. The proposal does not even contain an estimate of how much the raises will cost the university, a critical piece of information which the Union has continuously requested management calculate. Rather than meet with the Union face-to-face, admin has chosen to strongarm their way through the process, without even giving UAKU an opportunity to respond. Precedent shows that mediation with KU management is not effective. It is not binding and a failure to reach a contract enables KBOR to impose one. After stalling for over 600 days, consistently stonewalling the Union when asked for bargaining dates, management is now suddenly in a rush trying to find a workaround to good-faith negotiation instead of working with UAKU to come to a mutual contract.

In contrast to the 1% raise offered by Chancellor Girod to UAKU, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Dewitt was given an impressive 14%. As Weekly Rose contributor Jack Shaw pointed out in "The Cuts Will Continue Until Morale Improves", four high-ranking university administrators, Girod, Jeff DeWitt, former Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer, and Associate Vice Chancellor Lauren Jones McKown, saw raises of, on average, 15%. Girod is the first chancellor in the state of Kansas to make over a million dollars. Back in 1986, when KU Chancellor Gene Budig became the first Kansas state employee to earn over a hundred thousand dollars in a single year, he chose to donate his raise back to the university. According to the Kansas Memorial Union, "the move was also intended as a show of solidarity with university faculty, whom Budig believed were not being paid what they were worth." Girod claims, on the other hand, that his hands are tied into keeping it because pay ranges are important to KBOR, who set his salary.

Chancellor Girod defends his raise to the University Senate (Feb 19, 2026).

This dynamic of overcompensating senior administrative staff while refusing to increase staff and faculty pay is nothing new, nor are managegment's obvious union busting efforts. If you want to support UAKU's fight for a fair contract, you can show up to their rally on Wednesday, March 4th at 12:30 at Wescoe Beach.