Chafee balks at retroactive pay raises at colleges
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Gov. Lincoln Chafee has told state college officials that he can't support retroactive 3 percent pay raises for professors and other employees at Rhode Island's public universities.
The Providence Journal reports ( http://bit.ly/HovBT7) that Chafee told the chairman of the Board of Governors for Higher Education on Wednesday that the state can't afford the raises that the board tentatively negotiated with University of Rhode Island faculty and other unions at Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island.
The raises would be retroactive to last July, when union contracts expired.
Labor union officials reacted angrily to Chafee's opposition, saying the pay raises would offset increasing employee shares of health insurance premiums. They also said the state needs to reverse a long slide in state funding to the schools.
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Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.providencejournal.com
