Bargaining Meeting 1/28/15
BT: Rob Hugel (R), Carol Manahan (C), Hugh Behm-Steinberg (H), Pamina Traylor (P), David Skolnick (D)
SEIU: Celeste Peterson (CP), Jessica Lawless (J)
CCA: Tom Haakenson (T), Sherry Kauppi (S), Mike Vartain (M), Bill Teeling (B)
At this bargaining meeting, the CCA non-ranked faculty union and the CCA administration continued talks on how to define the bargaining unit. The administration argued that any faculty who have a practice outside of teaching that they derive most of their income from and do not self-identify and/or are not identified by the administration as being primarily teachers be excluded from the bargaining unit. Their argument is that the prospect of paying union dues might deter professionals who want to give back to the community from teaching classes at CCA. They also argued that they do not share a community of interest with adjuncts who rely primarily on their earnings from teaching, that they are not really “teachers.” We disagreed, saying that even if professionals were teaching as a means of giving back to the community and not for the money, that the small percentage of union dues would be unlikely to deter them from teaching and would be more than offset by their earnings.
Also, the administration argued that those faculty who taught for any period of time that was interrupted for a semester or more would no longer be covered by the contract until they had taught for an entire year again. The administration based this on the NLRB definition of who was eligible to vote in the election, which the union pointed out was a different situation from who would be covered by the contract. The union team asked for a list of faculty that the administration would deem ineligible to be covered by the contract due to not being considered primarily teachers, and the administration agreed to attempt to produce such a list from three departments by our next bargaining meeting.
We also discussed the administration proposal forbidding all personal relationships between faculty and agreed to research the topic further for the next bargaining meeting. The union team was also not prepared to agree to a no-strike/no lock-out clause until we had done more research about other faculty contracts. We came to tentative agreements on who was allowed to attend bargaining sessions and how much prior notice to each other for approval, though we have yet to agree on the necessity of approval, as well as the creation of a labor/management committee that would meet a to be determined number of times per month. The administration agreed to a non-discrimination clause for those who participate in union activities as well as for those who choose not to.
BT: Rob Hugel (R), Carol Manahan (C), Hugh Behm-Steinberg (H), Pamina Traylor (P), David Skolnick (D)
SEIU: Celeste Peterson (CP), Jessica Lawless (J)
CCA: Tom Haakenson (T), Sherry Kauppi (S), Mike Vartain (M), Bill Teeling (B)
At this bargaining meeting, the CCA non-ranked faculty union and the CCA administration continued talks on how to define the bargaining unit. The administration argued that any faculty who have a practice outside of teaching that they derive most of their income from and do not self-identify and/or are not identified by the administration as being primarily teachers be excluded from the bargaining unit. Their argument is that the prospect of paying union dues might deter professionals who want to give back to the community from teaching classes at CCA. They also argued that they do not share a community of interest with adjuncts who rely primarily on their earnings from teaching, that they are not really “teachers.” We disagreed, saying that even if professionals were teaching as a means of giving back to the community and not for the money, that the small percentage of union dues would be unlikely to deter them from teaching and would be more than offset by their earnings.
Also, the administration argued that those faculty who taught for any period of time that was interrupted for a semester or more would no longer be covered by the contract until they had taught for an entire year again. The administration based this on the NLRB definition of who was eligible to vote in the election, which the union pointed out was a different situation from who would be covered by the contract. The union team asked for a list of faculty that the administration would deem ineligible to be covered by the contract due to not being considered primarily teachers, and the administration agreed to attempt to produce such a list from three departments by our next bargaining meeting.
We also discussed the administration proposal forbidding all personal relationships between faculty and agreed to research the topic further for the next bargaining meeting. The union team was also not prepared to agree to a no-strike/no lock-out clause until we had done more research about other faculty contracts. We came to tentative agreements on who was allowed to attend bargaining sessions and how much prior notice to each other for approval, though we have yet to agree on the necessity of approval, as well as the creation of a labor/management committee that would meet a to be determined number of times per month. The administration agreed to a non-discrimination clause for those who participate in union activities as well as for those who choose not to.