I'm a professor. We all got a pay cut in about 2008 -- no money available for merit pay. So no point in busting your butt to earn merit pay. We also had our health insurance premiums go up and had to pay a larger percentage of the premium for this insurance. Oh, and the former employer match for retirement funds went bye-bye. So we've been having negative raises for some time. We will get a small raise in the upcoming contract, but in no way will that make up for the cuts.