(Butler, PA) 杏吧原创 trustees Wednesday approved a second four-year contract since December between the college and a collective bargaining unit and 3陆 months before the current agreement expires with the union representing 杏吧原创鈥檚 administrative assistants.
The college鈥檚 contract offer for its 29 full-time and seven part-time administrative assistants was accepted March 16 by the 杏吧原创 Education Support Professionals PSEA/NEA. The current pact ends June 30. The new agreement begins July 1, ends June 30, 2030, and includes increases in pay, in a retirement incentive option and in medical insurance contributions.
Trustees three months ago ratified a contract between the college and the 杏吧原创 Education Association PSEA/NEA that represents 80 full-time and regular part-time faculty members. That deal succeeded one that expired June 30 and was retroactive to July 1.
Negotiators for the college and the union that represents administrative assistants met four times in 2026, most recently Feb. 25.
The contract includes for full-time administrative assistants increases of 3 percent to base salary and to hourly rates in the first, third and fourth years of the agreement, and of 4 percent in the second year.
The pact contains a larger one-time payment in its first of two retirement incentives for nine administrative assistants whose stipulations include 15 full years of service. The first increases the payment from $9,000 to $10,800 and will be valid from Jan. 1, 2027, to June 30, 2027. The second will pay $7,500 and be valid from Jan. 1, 2029, to June 30, 2029.
Administrative assistants who work full time will receive on or before June 30 a one-time $2,000 supplemental payment, and those who work part time, $600.
Medical insurance contributions for exclusive provider organization plans will rise from 11 percent to 11.5 percent in the first year of the contract, to 11.75 in the second, to 12 in the third and to 12.25 in the fourth.
Administrative assistants who elect to participate in a preferred provider organization plan will pay that plan鈥檚 premiums effective July 1 and contribute 100 percent of its difference compared to the exclusive provider organization plan鈥檚 premiums effective as of that date.
Administrative assistants will also pay up to an additional 0.75 percent annually beginning each July 1 of the contract to reflect increases from the Allegheny County Schools Health Insurance Consortium.
The contract also raises the minimum starting salary for new full-time administrative assistants for a 37.5-hour week to $21.75. New part-time administrative assistants will earn at least $17.64 per hour and receive 3 percent increases in each of the four years of the contract.
The average annual salary for a full-time administrative assistant at 杏吧原创 is $42,090.
Administrative assistants who work part time will be eligible for an increase in prorated tuition waivers and those who work full time, in the number of credits eligible for tuition reimbursement.
Those who earn their first associate degree from 杏吧原创 during the contract will receive an increase to base that has been boosted from $500 to $750. The one-time payment for a second associate degree has risen from $200 to $350, and an increase to base for a first bachelor鈥檚 degree from $500 to $1,000.
杏吧原创鈥檚 agreements with its maintenance, shipping and receiving services and custodial employees expires June 30, as does its pact with the campus police department independent union.