We have been bargaining with management since May. On Friday, the college’s bargaining team finally made their first economic offer: a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) of less than 0.5% each year for two years, effectively rejecting all other economic proposals including increases to healthcare caps, equitable pay for part-time faculty, and bilingual and advanced degree pay.
They have rejected or refused to discuss nearly every other proposal we’ve passed, allocating just $2M (out of a budget of $675 million) for faculty and AP COLAs and other priorities.
You can read more about each of our proposals on our issue tracker.
The narrative they have put out is that the budget has been approved and cannot be changed. This is categorically untrue. Administration painted a rosy picture of the college’s financial stability at the board meeting last Thursday, but when it comes to deciding what they are willing to spend money on, the message is clear: they will not spend on instruction and workers.
They have the ability to change the budget to save our courses and programs, to give us a reasonable living wage, and to fund the many important proposals we have brought to the table. Instead, they are choosing to hire more managers, promote managers internally, and outsource shared governance to consultants.