LCC Faculty Colleagues,

As reported last week, LCCEA, your faculty union, and LCCEF, the classified union, are committed to working together in solidarity as we navigate the transition to a more substantial campus reopening and vaccine requirements for Fall. [See email correspondence from July 29 2021 and June 29 2021 at the end of this post for more information].

The Administration commitment (also reported last week) to include stakeholder groups in planning for campus COVID protocols for Fall has not yet come to fruition. 

In the meantime, the Administration notified LCCEA yesterday that class capacities would increase to “normal” class sizes or “approximately 75%” depending on the size of the room but has provided no response to questions about what social distancing measures would determine these changes to class capacities, nor which classes would be affected. In addition, this week some faculty members have reported seeing increases in class capacities for their Fall courses on the schedule as well as cancellation of sections affecting part-time faculty after the increased class capacities caused reductions in the number of sections.

LCCEA and LCCEF continue to advocate together and have requested joint bargaining with the College. Our shared interests are many, and primarily focus on health, safety, and working conditions that affect the entire campus with implications that extend to the public health of the broader community.  The College is required under the PECBA (Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act) to negotiate in good faith for this interim bargaining, resulting from proposed changes in working conditions, and to do so for at least 90 days before implementing any such changes.

Today we sent the joint proposal (below), which you will see includes one section of joint proposals affecting both groups (e.g. mask protocol, distancing, etc.) as well as separate sections for faculty and classified related to the unique needs and working conditions of each group.

The proposal includes provisions that link campus COVID safety protocols to the campus vaccination rate as well as to public health authority recommendations. In addition, a number of provisions in the faculty section address workload and compensation implications for instruction over this transitional period.

We look forward to continuing to build solidarity among faculty and classified as we await a response to our request for joint bargaining from the College.

More communications from your LCCEA Bargaining Team (Kelly Colllins, Nancy Wood, Cynthia Campos, and myself) will be forthcoming.

My best,
Adrienne