THE GORGE — The union at Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC), now 140 members strong, voted to sign a new three-year contract on Dec. 12, which CGCC’s Board of Education ratified on Dec. 16.
However, there are still about nine jobs which Union President Rob Kovacich said he and fellow leaders consider union jobs. The college believes these jobs need to be excluded from the union, he said.
The union’s attorney filed a suit with Oregon’s Employment Relations Board, and a judge advocate will decide. “The union likes our changes on most of these jobs,” Kovacich said.
The union also accepted a settlement offer from the college on the unfair labor practice complaint they filed earlier this year. The college’s lawyers and administration agreed to send academic professionals their letters of continued employment, and to pay their annual wage increases, which are owed back to July 1.
The new contract gives everyone a 3% salary increases, cost of living increases (3.5% for faculty, dropping to 3% after the first year; and 4.5% for staff and newly unionized academic professionals, dropping to 3.5%).
Union president Rob Kovacich said about nine employees of CGCC still make below a living wage, as defined by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Full-time faculty rise an extra step in the pay scale, part-timers get more pay for low-enrolled classes, the special progress rate goes up, and a employees who reach the top of their pay scale get a 3% longevity increase.
Funding the new wage adjustments will take “some ongoing work and prioritization,” CGCC Spokesperson Tom Penberthy said. “The college remains fully committed to maintaining a balanced budget and upholding strong principles of fiscal responsibility. That said, we’re pleased to have reached a fair agreement with our employees and are confident in the college’s financial stability moving forward.”
People who translate other languages as part of their job get a 5% pay differential for the extra work as well — CGCC has a high proportion of Spanish-speaking students. The union also got increases in vacation for academic professionals and classified staff, though admin kept its much higher 16 hour plus monthly rate. Full-timers now get three personal leave days, which academic professionals haven’t had.
The union represents every qualified employee, but 78 chose to pay dues. That enabled their recent activism, leaders said. “We have a voice and we will keep using it,” they wrote in a joint email to members.
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