Administration brought us a proposal on Article 6 last Friday, and while they made some concessions (removing the 80% on campus rule for faculty, updating the office hours requirement, for example) they continue to insist that managers have sole discretion to set schedule and modality for Full Time Faculty, Counselors, Librarians, and Academic Professionals. They continue to insist that telecommuting agreements are necessary for any full-time employee who works remotely. Both of these things undermine the autonomy and professionalism of our members, and we’re not backing down.
In light of the compensation study being conducted by the outside consulting firm Trupp, APs also continued to push for more information about how AP salaries are determined. In a shocking moment, the Director of Labor Relations said that they cannot find the documentation used to set AP salaries-even for positions created within the last year. Watch Michelle DuBarry break it down here. (We recommend watching this even if you are not an AP – the people who have been gaslighting APs for years, are about to overhaul our entire compensation system!)
We are close to sealing the deal on big gains for Part Time job security. The administration wanted to close Articles 3 and 4 (including historic addition of seniority in both class assignment and hiring!), but we told them we first need responses to our Article 22 and 23 proposals (made on June 9th) which extend just cause to PT Faculty and prevent PT Faculty from being treated as at-will employees. These articles are a critical piece of the job security puzzle for PT faculty. Our proposal stipulates that the college would need to have a legitimate reason for disciplinary actions or termination. It also gives PT faculty the ability to fight unfair discipline and termination through the grievance process. This is the same protection that APs and FT Faculty have.
The other big news of the day was that PCC finally responded to our economic offer. They offered us 6% COLA in year one, and 4% in year 2. (Our opening proposal was 14.5% and 12% for the first few years.) The College’s offer is not enough to keep up with inflation, but it’s a higher starting point than prior years. They also agreed that PT faculty who are hired into FT positions can maintain their step level, as opposed to starting over at step 3. This will make a huge difference to many former PT faculty, especially if we can ensure that it is retroactive.
The College has not yet responded to multiple other items on our economic list-things like a new top step for APs, adjusting PT compensation from 70% of FT faculty to 80%, and hiring more FT faculty.