THE GORGE — The union at Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC) presented its fourth financial counteroffer on Aug. 28, bringing a letter of support from the college’s staff.
For all employees, they agree to a 3% step increase and a 3.5% cost-of-living adjustment, dropping to 3% in later years. They also want a 3.5% annual longevity increase, an extra step advancement for everyone, and a third step increase for anyone who lost pay in 2019.
Ensuring each employee makes a living wage was the primary objective. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), that’s $25.34 per hour, or a bit more than $52,000 per year, and the union hopes to get every member across that threshold.
Vice President of the union tina ontiveros emphasized that health insurance is required on top of a living wage in the Mid-Columbia region, which she said MIT made clear. Retirement benefits are not included in the MIT calculation, but don’t count towards a current living wage, either.
“When they give you that $52,000, that’s how much it costs per person just to pay their bills, pay for their food, pay for all that stuff, not pay for retirement on top of it,” ontiveros explained at the bargaining table.
Columbia Gorge News contacted MIT for clarification, but did not hear back by press deadline.
“The union was willing to take hits on the faculty side in order to try to help out our classified employees more,” ontiveros added. “However, even though it was a really great increase and we appreciated the college’s efforts ... quite a few of them are below the living wage.” CGCC’s staff is the lowest paid in the state, ontiveros added, and academic professionals of yet to receive a cost-of-living adjustment.
After the union presented its counter, Shayna Dahl, student support services coordinator, read a letter written by a group of academic professionals speaking on behalf of their colleagues and other classified staff.
“We believe this proposal addresses long-standing inequities and represents a meaningful step toward rebuilding trust and demonstrating institutional support for employees who too often have been undervalued,” she read. “As you know, academic professionals only recently gained union representation after decades of being considered at-will employees without meaningful voice, protections, or advocacy. During that time, salaries remained stagnant, and while the 2019 adjustment benefited new employees, it effectively demoted long-serving staff by three steps ... By paying veteran employees the same as new hires, the college conveys that experience, loyalty, and dedication are not valued ... Approving the current proposal would send a clear message that the institution values not only the recruitment of talent, but also the retention and support of the employees who make student success possible.”
In other news, union leaders accused the administration of standard “union-busting tactics,” like delays.
For the stated reason that bargaining is ongoing, academic professionals have not received their annual wage increase or employment agreements; however, the college has given faculty their employment agreements. Administration is also breaking communication protocol, the union said.
“They are claiming that they have to talk with the President, outside of our bargaining meetings, when they are required by law to be empowered to make all decisions in bargaining,” Union President Rob Kovacich said at the bargaining table, referring to the National Labor Relations Act.
The college responded to Columbia Gorge News: “All public community colleges are governed under Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA), and it is standard practice for both parties to caucus and consult with principals between sessions while bargaining in good faith. When substantive changes arise during negotiations, it’s normal for each side to do this — union negotiators consult with their membership and advisors, and college bargainers with leadership and the Board of Education — before finalizing the contract.”
They stated academic professionals will get retroactive raises when the contract is signed.
Separately, and beyond making a living wage, the union is also asking for equitable vacations. Right now, staff at CGCC can accrue up to 13 hours of vacation monthly. Classified staff must wait more than 15 years to reach this rate of accrual, starting at 6.67 hours on day one. By contrast, some admin get around 16 hours per month starting on day one.
Straightforward access to internal polices was another union pursuit because, as Kovacich said, a lack of access has recently led to the discipline of employees for contravening policy they didn’t know and couldn’t find in the database. As a result, they’re looking for language that says policies people can’t access can’t be enforced against them.
“We’ve already agreed to language elsewhere in the contract that says, that a policy that is in breach of this contract needs to be rewritten. But the problem is when we don’t know where they are, and we can’t see them all,” ontiveros said.
During the meeting, the college allowed employees a “chosen name” that’s different from their full legal name in the system, “to the extent allowable and practicable. The college further agreed to allow employee access to a database of students’ chosen names, since using transgender students’ deadnames can lay them open to transphobia or accidental deadnaming. The acceptance of a chosen name in one additional place, like school or office, reduces suicide attempts among queer youth by some 56%, according to the Trevor Project.
“Human centered language, right?” Vice President of Instruction Jarett Gilbert said. “You have the right to choose who you are, right? Or how you want to be represented. And to the extent allowable by our fallible systems, we’re going to do our best to make sure that recognizes that.” Some employees only interact with students online, and databases when names don’t match, confusion arises.
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