ABSTRACT
Salary and benefit decisions at public universities are fixed by collective bargaining between the faculty union and the Council of Public University rector. Wages are determined by the category, the workload, and seniority. Benefits include health plans, paid vacations, and retirement funds. The merit-pay system exists only at a few elite private universities and at public universities, as bonuses for faculty members who conduct research activities. Thanks to increased wages in real terms from 2004 to 2010, faculty with full-time posts at public universities—around 22 percent of the professors and 7 percent of the junior teaching assistants—enjoy a middle-income standard of living. Non-full-time public university faculty earn their living thanks to professional and academic activities at other public or private organizations or are self-employed as, say, consultants and physicians. Part-time faculty enjoy the same conditions as full-time faculty regarding their labor contracts (stable positions) and fringe benefits. Academic salaries in private institutions are determined via individual negotiation; those with stable contracts also enjoy fringe benefits.
