‘Life-changing’: COCC faculty, administration reach tentative agreement, averting strike
(Update: adding comments from COCC faculty member, video)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Central Oregon Community College faculty members were preparing to walk off the job Monday. Instead, they were celebrating a tentative contract agreement reached Friday night that averted the planned strike.
The COCC Faculty Forum and college administration reached the tentative deal October 2nd after nearly a year of negotiations. The agreement came just days after 96% of union members voted to authorize a strike beginning Monday, October 5th.
Sara Henson, a COCC professor of human development, said the agreement followed years of organizing and preparation.
“We spent a year doing research. We spent a year doing our affiliation campaign with OEA, and then a year preparing and negotiating our new contract,” Henson said. “So this is a culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people for a long time.”
The Faculty Forum says the proposed contract would provide first-year salary increases ranging from 13% to 27% for full-time faculty members. The lowest starting salary would increase by $14,000, while some adjunct faculty members could see their take-home pay rise by as much as 50%, according to the union.
Henson said the potential gains are especially meaningful for adjunct instructors and their families.
“To talk to our adjunct faculty and have them in tears, to say how truly life-changing this is for their families, has been so gratifying and just really solidifies why we worked so hard,” Henson said. “Our faculty are amazing.”
The proposal also would lower health insurance contributions for many faculty members and shorten the longest route to the top of the salary scale from 23 years to 15 years, the union said.
Henson said those changes could help COCC retain experienced educators and recruit new faculty members as others retire. She also said the proposed compensation would bring COCC faculty more in line with their counterparts at other community colleges across Oregon.
“It really helps our members to be able to stay and live in Central Oregon,” Henson said. “We’re deeply invested in the college and the community, and I’m really excited to transform that energy into helping move this college forward.”
Union members must still vote to ratify the tentative agreement before it becomes official.
Earlier Story — BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) Developing now, Central Oregon Community College faculty have reached a tentative contract agreement with the college — narrowly avoiding a strike.
The COCC faculty forum and college administration reached the deal Friday night, just days before a strike was set to begin Monday.
Full-time faculty will receive salary increases of 13 to 27 percent in the first year.
The lowest starting salary will increase by $14,000, to $75,000 dollars.
Adjunct faculty will also see substantial pay increases, with some expected to see their take-home pay increase by up to 50 percent.
The agreement also increases overload and summer pay, shortens the time it takes faculty to reach the top of the salary scale, and reduces health insurance contributions for many faculty members.
The agreement still needs to be ratified by faculty members before it becomes final.
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