Visiting Academic Professionals Ratify New Contract

Members of the Visiting Academic Professionals union on the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus have unanimously approved a contract deal that includes retroactive raises for two years.

VAP’s were working during the last school year without a contract while they were negotiating a new deal with the university.

What was hammed out includes a 3 percent salary bump during the first year, a 2.5 percent raise during the second year, and merit-based raises during the third and fourth years.

The union’s chief negotiator, Alan Bilansky, said the contract isn’t perfect, but he’s satisfied with what’s being offered.

“All VAP’s now you’re going to do two things," Bilansky said. "You’re going to start thinking about asking your manager for the raise that you think you deserve, and also, all VAP really should sign up and do things to make this a stronger union, so that we can have a much stronger contract in two years.”

In all four years of the contract, VAP employees are only allowed to receive one pay raise a year.

The collective bargaining contract still needs to be presented to the University’s Comptroller for final approval.