Unionized faculty at the 10 University of Hawaii campuses have ratified a new contract that cuts their pay by about 6.7 percent over the next 18 months but returns the money lost over the course of the six-year agreement.

University of Hawaii Professional Assembly members ratified the contract by about 4-to-1, with 83 percent voting yes and 17 percent no. The vote was conducted online and the results released yesterday.

Under the agreement, pay for faculty members whose salaries are paid by taxpayers will be reduced until July 1, 2011, when their pay will be restored.

On Aug. 1, 2012, and Aug. 1, 2013, faculty will get a lump-sum payment of 25 percent of the total pay cut. They will be paid the rest of the money on Aug. 14, 2014.

The contract also calls for 3 percent pay raises on July 1, 2013, and July 1, 2014.

All faculty will also get 13 additional paid days off during the winter and spring breaks and the day after Thanksgiving, similar to the agreement reached with members of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, who took a 5 percent pay cut over two years.

Faculty whose salaries come from grants will not have their pay reduced nor will take a proportionate cut.

UH President M.R.C. Greenwood issued a written statement thanking the faculty for approving the contract.

“;It is a necessary step to financial stability for the University of Hawaii system,”; Greenwood said.

Greenwood unilaterally imposed the pay cut on Jan. 1 after negotiations with the faculty reached an impasse, but UHPA and Greenwood resumed bargaining and reached a tentative agreement on Jan. 16.

UHPA had challenged the pay cut in state court. Its motion for a temporary injunction will now be withdrawn.

UH anticipates saving $24 million over two years through the faculty pay cut. The cuts are part of the university's strategy to deal with $154 million in general fund cuts over two years because of the state's fiscal crisis.

Both the union and Greenwood said they will be lobbying the Legislature to restore funding for UH.

UHPA began a television advertising campaign on Monday to show how faculty support the state and the importance of restoring UH funding.

The university has not said where it will find the money to pay back the faculty beginning in 2012 if the state does not provide it.

The university does have other income, most notably student tuition. The current six-year schedule, which raises resident tuition at UH-Manoa by 140 percent, ends in the spring of 2012.

There are about 3,700 faculty represented by UHPA who work at UH campuses.

Prior to the salary cut, the university said the average salary for a faculty member is about $84,000 a year. The median salary is $79,671. The cut would amount to an average of $5,600 annually.