RELEASE: Union Negotiations With Portland Community College Break Down
The College Refuses to Offer Workers Even a 1% Wage Increase While Holding Millions in Reserve
Following 10 months of collective bargaining over wages and benefits, the two unions representing employees at Portland Community College, the Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals and the Federation of Classified Employees, have jointly and in solidarity declared an impasse. The decision to declare impasse was not made lightly by either union. However they have reached a point in negotiation where further progress with PCC administration is not possible.
PCC administrators continue to claim that they have extremely limited funds for bargaining and have offered less than 1% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), which amounts to a pay cut for members. We recognize that the college, like many institutions and indeed many of us, is facing difficult financial decisions. But, we believe it is important to be clear about how we arrived here. PCC administration made intentional choices while writing their biennial budget. They chose to allocate less than 1% for bargaining, split between the two federations, while increasing the President’s Office budget by $17M and allocating large sums to non-student-facing special projects and contingency funds. All while making deliberate decisions to underfund programs and departments even as enrollment demands grow.
Both sides have until February 6th to submit final offers before a 30-day cooling-off period begins. The unions are then legally allowed to strike as early as March 10th. Both unions have been collecting pledges, and to date more than 65% of their members have pledged to participate in a strike if the PCC administration does not meet union members’ need for fair, equitable, and timely wages along with affordable health insurance.
“This round of negotiations is about far more than COLA alone. It is about long-term priorities and the sustainability of our institution,” Kris Fink, Bargaining Team Member and Grievance Officer for Part-Time Instructors from PCC-FFAP, said in a statement.
“The college has made decisions about the budget that did not consider the needs of students, staff and faculty. As Dr King said, budgets are moral documents. We expect administrators to make moral choices.” Briar Schreiber, Bargaining Team Member and VP of Membership from PCC-FCE said.