Lane Community College Education Association

LCC Faculty Colleagues,

Many questions have come up regarding air quality and faculty work. Yesterday morning all College employees received a message from one administrator, noting, “To allow employees to proactively assess and manage their own risk, employees currently at work on the Main Campus and downtown may work from home today.” At the end of the day, faculty received a message from another administrator, noting that classes are moving forward, and faculty must use leave time if they do not teach in person due to poor air quality.

Update on leave time for October 10

Please note: the College has confirmed and clarified that faculty do not need to record any leave time if they worked at home instead of on campus yesterday (Monday, October 10). Deans and directors have been informed of this as well.

In addition, please see information below regarding options available to faculty going forward.

Air Quality and Options for Faculty

Faculty who are affected or concerned about being affected by poor air quality have two options for accommodations or flexible workplace accommodations. 

For faculty

• with a medical issue exacerbated by poor air quality:

Faculty may request an ADA accommodation. The form is available at: https://olympic.accessiblelearning.com/LaneCCEMP/ApplicationEmployee.aspx and details on the process are outlined at: https://inside.lanecc.edu/copps/documents/disabilities-accommodating-employees. This process might require medical documentation. The process ensures that HR will engage in an interactive process with the faculty member. Accommodation requests may vary and should be reasonably provided by the College. One example of a situation that might indicate this process is a person with severe asthma might request the option to move their work to a remote format on days when air quality conditions are poor. This process is outlined in #7 of the current COVID MOA and is also governed by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Faculty may apply for this type of accommodation at any time now and into the future.

For faculty

• without a medical condition exacerbated by poor air quality but with concerns about the impacts of poor air quality on indoor air, or 
• with an at-risk household member, or
• with general COVID concerns:

Faculty may request a temporary flexible workplace arrangement using this form: https://etcentral.lanecc.edu/#/form/421  One example of a situation that might indicate this process is a person with a concern about poor air quality and its impacts or a person with a concern about insufficient air filtration indoors on campus when air quality is poor but who does not have an individual medical need. This process is a benefit for faculty in #8 of the current  COVID MOA in effect through Spring 2023. Faculty should apply for a flexible workplace arrangement as soon as reasonably possible before assignments for the subsequent term. Faculty may use this process to request remote assignments for the term.

For questions on either of these processes, please contact Heidi Morales in HR.

For questions on these contractual provisions, please contact LCCEA.

For the Association,

Adrienne

LCC Faculty Colleagues,

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team met with the College and reached a Tentative Agreement today!

Thank you for your support throughout the process and to the numerous faculty members attending today’s bargaining session. Please join us in extending a warm thank you to our LCCEF colleagues for their solidarity as well. We are truly stronger together.

The Tentative Agreement (below) provides:

• 2 paid contracted work days with commensurate salary increase with one day scheduled by the College and one day reserved for class prep time (This is in addition to 1.5 days added in the SB551 MOA for contracted faculty.)
• 12 hour increase to part-time inservice / workshop/ meetings hours. (These are in addition to the12 additional hours for part-time inservice/workshops/meetings in the SB551 MOA.)
• COLAs of 2.25% each year
• Steps for contracted and PT faculty
• 1 step added to the top of contracted and PT salary schedules and 1/2 step dropped at the bottom of the salary schedules
• Pay parity adjustments for part-time faculty of 2% in year 1 and 1% in year 2 (in addition to COLA)
• COLA and pay parity adjustments for PT Flight Tech faculty
• Increased formula factor of 3% and also COLA and pay parity adjustments for PT coaching faculty
• Juneteenth as a paid holiday
• More inclusive definition of family for paid parental, family, & emergency leave (Art. 20; Art. 21)
• Expanded bereavement leave (Art. 21)
• Allow faculty to use paid leave time to supplement Oregon Paid Family & Medical Leave Insurance (PFMLI) if PFMLI does not cover their full salary
• College picks up entire PFMLI payroll deduction of 1%
• Expand definition of family to make it more inclusive for tuition waivers (Art. 19)
• Increase CD rate to $32.50/ hour
• Award one step for faculty using bi-/multilingual skills, including American Sign Language, in their faculty work (Art. 29) at initial placement on the salary schedule or when faculty member begins to use language skills in faculty work with an appeal process through Step Advancement Committee

The total package provides substantial increases to compensation for all faculty. This includes 2.25% COLAs plus full steps of 3.75% for all faculty. In addition, part-time faculty will receive pay parity adjustments of 2% in year 1 and 1% in year two, plus additional paid hours for inservice/ meetings/ workshops. Contracted faculty will receive 2 additional paid days. These days and hours are in addition to the paid 12 hours for part-time and paid 1.5 days for contracted faculty provided by the SB 551 MOA.

For example, a part-time faculty member earning a step will have compensation increases totalling 8%, plus will have 24 hours additional paid time available for use next year. Contracted faculty members will have compensation increases of 6%, plus 3.5 additional paid days, which amount to 2.047%.

For example, for a part-time faculty member on step 8, the current per credit salary is $1028. With a step advancement, next year the same part-time faculty member will earn approximately $1111 per credit. 24 additional paid hours of inservice/ workshop/ meeting time will also be available for use for part-time faculty for a total of 56 hours per year.

For a full-time faculty member on step 8, the annual salary this year is $71,296. With a step advancement and additional days, the same full-time faculty member will earn approximately $77,174 next year.

The agreement applies COLA and pay parity adjustments to both PT Flight Tech and PT coaching faculty. PT coaching faculty, who have no step system, will also receive an increase of an additional 3% through the stipend formula.

The agreement also: expands the definition of family to be more inclusive for leaves as well as tuition waivers; increases the CD rate from $30 to $32.50; adds Juneteenth as a paid holiday; adds one step to compensate faculty using bilingual/multilingual skills; and ensures that the College pays for the entire 1% payroll deduction required for the new statewide Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program.

Overall, we find this agreement provides faculty with fair compensation and demonstrates that the College and Board of Education heard your voices and recognize the hard work and dedication of all faculty. 

While the COLAs are below inflation, other elements in the package including steps for all faculty (including faculty at the top of the salary schedules) along with pay parity adjustments for part-time faculty and additional paid days added to the calendar for contracted faculty, ensure that total compensation does keep up with inflation at a time when inflation is extraordinary high.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team will host a Q & A session:

11:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 14 by Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86291158592

Faculty may also send any questions you may have to lccea@lanecc.edu

The College intends to ask the Board of Education to vote on the agreement next Wednesday, June 15, so our ratification vote will close at 5 p.m. on June 15. All LCCEA members will receive a link to vote on the agreement very soon.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team heartily recommends a “yes” vote.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team

Kelly Collins

Joseph Colton

Adrienne Mitchell

Nancy Wood

LCC Faculty Colleagues,

Thank you to the more than 70 faculty members who attended last night’s Board meeting and to LCCEF colleagues standing in solidarity with us!  

After the meeting, the Board held an executive session. 

The College informed LCCEA this morning that the Board has provided more guidance to the Administration regarding bargaining. For this reason, bargaining is canceled for today, and the College will make a new proposal next Thursday at 1:00 p.m. at: https://lanecc.zoom.us/j/92789710787  Faculty are welcome to attend.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team

Kelly Collins

Joseph Colton

Adrienne Mitchell

Nancy Wood