The bargaining team spent nine hours bargaining last Thursday, and sadly not much progress was made. Management took a 2.5-hour caucus in the middle of the day, and seemed very cranky that we were not ready to capitulate on some of our biggest priorities (right of first consideration and scheduling autonomy, e.g.) when we reconvened.
Management also continues to struggle with document formatting which is creating a significant drag on the discussion as we have to cross reference our own proposals line by line while evaluating their proposals. They kept saying “we are close” to an agreement when we are clearly not, and they expressed exasperation when we were not ready to sign off on tentative agreements for Articles 3 and 4. We suspect they may be manufacturing a sense of urgency so we can wrap up non-economic bargaining during the summer, when fewer members are engaged. (We’d also like to wrap up soon, but not without a much better contract!)
You can always use our Issue Tracker as a guide. Here’s what we discussed on Thursday:
Article 3: Appointment of FT Faculty and Academic Professionals and PT Academic Professionals
- Right of First Consideration: After getting management to agree to grant PT faculty an interview for open FT positions provided they meet the qualifications and success criteria, we continue to push for an expanded right of first consideration in which internal hires for new FT positions receive preference in the hiring process. Management is still pushing back on this as they feel it places limits on their ability to hire outside people.
- Search Committees: Management agreed to require 50%+ bargaining unit representation on screening committees for bargaining unit employees, including employees with subject matter expertise. They also added flexibility for hiring CTE faculty outside of normal recruitment periods.
Article 4: Employment of Part-Time Faculty
- Definition of a Part-Time Instructor: After a bit of math and work at the white board, management seemed interested in our proposal to change the definition of a part-time instructor. Our new definition would allow PT faculty to teach a cumulative FTE of 2.76 over fall, winter, and spring terms and .92 FTE in the summer. Confused? Understandable! The bottom line is that with this relatively minor change, PT faculty could have more flexibility in terms of loading up during fall or even winter terms and teach a slightly higher load across the year. More flexibility seems to us to be mutually beneficial for instructors, administrators, and students.
- Multi-Year Contracts: Management rejected our proposal that eligibility for an MYC should be at Step 3 or higher and that institutional experience be part of the selection process criteria. They did agree to language relating to transferring an MYC to another campus and that the modality in which office hours are held be proportional to the teaching modality. The college continues to insist on a reduction in overall MYCs from 300 to 200. We also discussed a formula that would tie the number of MYCs to enrollment.
- Class Assignments: In a survey of PT Faculty, members made it clear they value seniority when it comes to assigning class sections. We made a proposal that creates a streamlined, transparent process for assigning classes: FT Faculty, PT Faculty with MYCs, and then remaining PT Faculty assigned by step level. Management agreed to add language stating PCC teaching experience would be considered, but they refuse to codify any sort of seniority language in the contract. Why don’t they value our members’ expertise and experience?
Article 5: Professional Duties
- Professional Duties: The College offered to establish a work group to address ways to better support part-time instructors around student contact hours, particularly on issues that may require additional resources or support; They continued to resist the addition of language allowing PT faculty to attend required staff meetings virtually, saying this should be left to the Dean’s discretion.
- Classification System: According to management, job classification is a mysterious process that involves “art” and “magic” which is why they have not been able to produce a written description for AP level 6 and 7 for the last 18 years. The College assured us that they were spending “A BAJILLION DOLLARS” (their words, quickly followed by “Don’t tell them that” from another admin team member) on consultants who would be looking at our entire job classification system, and they hoped to have recommendations in Spring 2024. (Note that any changes would have to be bargained.) We reminded them that this does nothing for APs who are working with outdated, confusing, and inaccurate job descriptions right now.
Compensation for High-Labor Student Situations: Management rejected the idea of additional compensation for these situations, suggesting instead that PT faculty ask their Dean or FDC for help.
Article 6: Hours and Workload
- The College agreed to limit Librarian credit classes to 20% of term workload
- The College agreed to pro-rated professional development release time for Part Time Academic Professionals
- The College continues to insist on management rights to set or change schedule, modality, or work location of employees. Last week, we filed a Demand to Bargain over new requirements for counselors (with more coming from various APs who have been ordered to change schedule or modality for fall), and the College outright said they are not willing to bargain over contract language nor will they agree to impact bargaining with Counselors. Refusing to bargain over working conditions is a violation of labor law, so the federation will file an Unfair Labor Practice, while continuing to hope the College changes course and agrees to bargain. (An unfair labor practice is filed when the college is breaking labor law. This goes to the Oregon Employment Relations Board and an outside arbitrator will make a ruling.)
Article 7: Faculty and Academic Professional Assessment
The College added a provision for employees to file a rebuttal to an assessment, as well as an optional self-assessment. This is not a change, rather an update of the contract to reflect existing practice.
Article 28: Intellectual Property Rights
The College agreed to a provision clarifying that instructional materials created by a part-time faculty member without significant College personnel time, facilities or resources will be owned by the part-time faculty member.