The Provost and Enrollment staff union has reached a tentative agreement on a contract with American University’s administration, according to an email sent by President Jonathan Alger on Friday afternoon.
The new contract took six months of negotiations to create and more than 25 bargaining sessions between administration and union members. The provisions are set to apply for the next two years. It still needs to be submitted for ratification to officialize the terms, as per standard union processes.
“The successful completion of the contract is good for all our pursuits and priorities,” Alger wrote in the email.
The contract includes a 2 percent increase in compensation for employees making less than $60,000 per year and a one-time 1 percent payment for those who make $60,000 to $64,000 per year. Provisions also include a commitment for bargaining on updated compensation methodology and two guaranteed remote work weeks per year to increase convenience for employees. The agreement also places a commitment on the University to maintain current tuition remission benefits, which means that an employee or their spouse can take classes for free through 2027.
These new provisions apply to those within the Provost and Enrollment unit, including staff members in Student Affairs, the Office Information and Technology and University Communications and Marketing. The Provost and Enrollment unit is overseen by the Service Employees International Union, which has more than two million members globally.
According to a negotiation update on Sept. 25, two of the four provisions also apply to non-union staff members including the 2 percent salary increase for those making less than $60,000 as well as the remote work two week allowance.
The successful agreement comes a little over a month after an informational staff picket held during move-in week this year. The AU Staff Union voiced their concerns about fair pay and negotiations during the picket. Negotiations started in February 2025 and staff had been operating without a contract since June, according to coverage of the staff picket by The Eagle.
During the negotiation process, many of the provisions brought by the union to administration failed to go to the next stage.
According to records from the Sept. 8 negotiations, union staff also requested revised job descriptions, limitations to artificial intelligence and prioritization of scholarship opportunities for staff. Although none of these requests made it into the final contract, the union recognized on its website that the University addressed the union’s concerns with wages and work modality.
In his email, Alger thanked the University’s negotiating team for their work over the last six months as negotiations became increasingly frequent.
“We are moving forward on our mission and providing the exceptional community and learning environment that is central to our students’ success,” Alger wrote.
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Avery Grossman.
