LCC Faculty Colleagues,

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team met with the College again today to continue negotiation over impacts of Common Course Numbering* (i.e., CCN) and Working Conditions to take effect after our current MOA expires at the end of Spring. Thank you to the faculty who attended today’s session – your support is greatly appreciated!

In order to facilitate negotiations, your team provided updated proposals (below) on ground rules and Common Course Numbering to the College Team last Friday.

LCCEA proposed for CCN:

• Release time for statewide committee chairs for two terms instead of three, and
• A formula for curriculum development funding for affected courses. 

The College provided no response to either of these two proposals, continuing to maintain zero compensation for courses that must be revised or created due to state mandated CCN changes. The College stated they intend to make no changes to either of their proposals.

In addition, the College stated that they do not see the provisions in our Working Conditions proposal (such as water safety, ongoing use of high-quality air filters in the HVAC system, etc.) as a working conditions issue. We were also surprised to hear them state that they “do not have an interest in having a plan for things that may happen.” 

The College also made a “Digital Accessibility and Course Accessibility Continuity Plan”  proposal (below), which is largely irrelevant to the current negotiations. The proposal would create numerous new requirements that are not allowed by our current contract. Their proposal would also require each instructor to come up with their own plan in their syllabi to describe how teaching and learning would be conducted if the College declares an emergency, which is interesting given their stated lack of interest in negotiating any coordinated plan for public health emergencies.

Your LCCEA Team declined the College’s proposals.

Given the state of negotiations, LCCEA requested mediation, and the College agreed. The next step will be for a state-provided mediator to meet with the parties to attempt to reach agreement. 

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team

Cynthia Campos, OEA consultant

Sarah Erickson

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Peggy Oberstaller

*CCN assigns the same course number to comparable courses across all community colleges and universities to streamline transfer from two- to four-year post-secondary educational institutions. The changes once determined by statewide committees must be implemented by each institution, including LCC.