BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Negotiators for both sides trying to reach a contract agreement for the union that represents part-time faculty at the University of Vermont have reached an impasse.

After nine months of negotiations the two sides still disagree over job security issues and health care benefits.

A mediator will be hired to settle the contract – the first since UVM’s part-timers voted in 2002 to join United Academics, a partnership of the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers. There are 85 part-time faculty in the bargaining unit.

“Our proposals allow us to focus on our teaching and our students,” said Michele Patenaude, a part-time English professor and chief negotiator for the part-time union. “Their proposals have us worrying about holding onto our jobs and about finding the necessary resources to do our work.”

University spokesman Enrique Corredera declined to comment on contract specifics but said mediation is expected to begin in October.

UVM administrators hire part-time faculty from semester to semester and don’t have to guarantee reappointment. Under the new contract, Patenaude said, part timers with a certain level of seniority should be guaranteed reappointment unless factors such as declining enrollment or budget problems make rehiring them impossible.

“We feel we’re being treated as a revolving contingent work force, like we’re part of a temporary agency,” Patenaude said.

Patenaude, who teaches two writing courses each fall semester, said the typical part-time instructor teaches courses at more than one college. UVM’s full-time faculty union and the administration are at loggerheads over the union’s new three-year contract. Major disagreements over salary and health care benefits are holding up those talks, which also began last winter. A mediator will be employed to help strike a deal between the two parties.

The part-time union is seeking greater access to health care for its members.

Salary is a third issue of contention but a more minor one, Patenaude said.

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Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com

AP-ES-09-11-05 1300EDT