Our Mission: LCCEA engages in collective action to ensure an equitable learning and working environment and advocates for social justice and systemic change for the public good.
Your LCCEA Bargaining Team met with the College on November 18 for a brief discussion and again yesterday regarding the impacts of SB551, new legislation and funding for part-time faculty healthcare.
We are happy to report that the College did finally make a proposal (below) in good faith late on Thursday. While there are some items in the proposal that are not acceptable such as a provision that would require that some of the savings first pay for hypothetical insurance rate increases for all employee groups before provision of any savings for the benefit of faculty, the College proposal, overall, does represent a good first step toward agreement. For instance, the College did agree to LCCEA-proposed language for increasing PT faculty eligibility for insurance coverage and for increasing College contributions to insurance coverage for family members of PT faculty.
In turn, LCCEA presented an updated proposal (see below) yesterday. The current LCCEA proposal will:
Meet college needs by providing 5% of savings for administrative implementation costs;
Increase College contributions for part-time faculty selecting employee plus spouse/partner or children and full-family insurance to 90% and 95% of medical costs respectively;
Modify eligibility language to ensure that PT faculty do not lose insurance only to qualify again during a subsequent term;
Add one compensated day to the contracted faculty work year, restoring one of the remaining furlough days that had become permanent;
Add twelve hours of inservice/ meeting/workshop compensation for part-time faculty (four for PT faculty working in Fall and eight for PT faculty working in Winter);
Provide $40,000 to a fund for course curriculum development focused on on diversity, equity, and inclusion to be administered by Faculty Professional Development; and
In order to meet student needs, dedicate all remaining savings to increase PT and/or FT faculty counseling staffing, which is direly needed and which was highly prioritized by faculty at-large in the LCCEA all faculty survey this month.
We currently have bargaining sessions scheduled twice per week for the next two weeks and look forward to reaching an agreement with the College in time to ensure that the full $500,000-$700,000 will indeed be received from the new state fund.
Please find below a statement from the LCCEA Racial Equity and Social Justice with recommendations for recruitment and retention of BIPOC Faculty.
Recommendations for Recruitment and Retention of BIPOC Faculty
The Committee on Racial Equity and Social Justice has been working to envision a future for a more just campus, including concrete strategies for increasing recruitment and retention of BIPOC faculty. The Committee presents these strategies as a matter of public concern with recommendations to: raise awareness of challenges to recruitment and retention, give voice to faculty concerns, and present concrete ideas for a future that is more inclusive and equitable for the benefit of the students, Lane Community College, and the entire community.
The LCCEA Committee on Racial Equity and Social Justice calls for the implementation of the following action items in order to increase recruitment and retention of faculty from diverse backgrounds, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty.
Recruitment
Expand/amend protected classes in Board Policy 505 (Affirmative Action) to include: first language(s), socioeconomic status, and LGBTQI status. Expand definition of diverse workforce to include LGBTQi, non-binary identities.
Establish Diversity Recruitment Plan to include targeted recruitment at colleges and universities that have a relatively high percentage of minority graduate students with progress toward recruitment and retention goals reviewed on an ongoing basis, no less than annually.
Expand scope of the College Affirmative Action (AA) plan; add Board of Education annual review and approval of plan, plan metrics, and assessment of progress.
Ensure that the annual AA Plan consists of three overarching components:
an annual focus which is measurable, rigorous, progressive, aggressive, and timely;
a 3-year focus which is more strategic with specific goals to achieve, and;
a 5-year plan with projected outcomes. Ensure significant effort and dedicated resources are used to quantifiably and statistically increase the AA “Protected Classes” which are underrepresented at the College.
Post all contracted faculty positions according to standard academic hiring cycle and within a reasonable timeframe in advance of Fall term.
Add a requirement to post to at least 5 publications and/or services that actively promote or recruit diverse applicant pools for every contracted faculty position.
Establish a new requirement to extend recruitment time if the candidate pool is not sufficiently diverse and provide annual report on candidate pools, interview recipients, and faculty hires.
Provide access to interviews for part-time faculty seeking contracted positions who are members of protected classes under AA plan.
Establish and implement a diversity faculty fellowship program with the first year for fellowship awardees, a career pathway for faculty from underrepresented ethnic minority groups to move to FT positions,enhanced professional development funding, and appropriate workloads to facilitate professional development.
Establish an internship/mentorship program for potential faculty who have career technical experience especially in trades but no teaching experience; explore partnerships (e.g. Oregon community colleges, K12, UO, OSU, PSU) to promote K12 and community college teacher hires in CTE after internship at LCC.
Remove barriers to moving to Lane County for newly recruited faculty of color (e.g., moving stipends).
Ensure that all levels of management and upper administration positions include strong representation of ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQi community, including through: required external posting of all positions, required internal posting of all interim positions, and interim positions limited to twelve months.
Review and revise hiring policies and practices for systemic racism and disparate impact (e.g. newly implemented criminal background check prior to hire, implementation of hiring bias training, consideration of blind review processes.)
Discontinuation of favoritism and any/all practices that do not provide equitable opportunities, which includes all steps within hiring practices starting with formation of search committees and creation of job postings. (Please see expanded definition of this item in document in front of you.)
Posting of all internal faculty leadership and coordination positions for all qualified faculty to apply.
Discontinuation of the provision of contracted faculty overloads that displace part-time faculty.
Prior to providing overloads to contracted faculty, provision of the opportunity for assignments to all qualified part-time faculty.
Retention
Consider Loan Forgiveness as a tool for recruitment and retention.
Promote opportunities and professional development for employees from ethnic minority groups, including expanded funding for additional degrees and leadership development opportunities.
Appropriate workload consideration for any/all bilingual/multilingual faculty who use these skills in faculty work, including tribal languages and ASL teachers.
Provision of trained mentors with diverse racial, ethnic, and/or linguistic backgrounds for new BIPOC faculty.
Funding for regular collaboration opportunities for faculty of color, LGBTQi+, or other marginalized communities, who are isolated in departments or disciplines with few/no other teachers of diverse backgrounds.
Appropriate workload considerations in recognition of the additional work (e.g. committee service and student mentorship) BIPOC faculty do.
Adoption of a restorative justice model (with adequate education and professional development) in dealing with bias, discrimination, and related complaints, especially ones affecting BIPOC, LGBTQi, and other underrepresented populations.
Provision of mediation upon request when cultural insensitivity, bias, and/or microaggressions have led to concerns and/or conflict affecting ethnic minority faculty. (Please see expanded definition of this item in document in front of you.)
Mediation by third-party, external, and culturally literate, professional mediators. Qualified, culturally literate college employees with mediation expertise and experience have the opportunity to serve as mediators with appropriate workload consideration.
The person who experienced the negative behavior or microaggressions has the opportunity to choose internal peer facilitation or external mediators.
The person who experienced the negative behavior or microaggressions has the opportunity to move or request the move of the other party (e.g. to a different office, reporting structure, or alternative team structure).
Assurance that no person experiencing cultural insensitivity, bias, and/or microaggressions may be demoted, financially penalized, or face any retribution.
Appropriate workload consideration for peer facilitation (e.g. culturally competent counselors) in response to bias incidents.
Equitable provision of leave time to accommodate family care needs and bereavement
Appropriate definition of family to be more inclusive of extended and non-traditional relationships.
Expanded list of paid holidays to be more inclusive (e.g. Juneteenth, Indigenous People’s Day, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and Kwanzaa.)
Assurance that faculty from diverse backgrounds within disciplines receive course assignments, recognition as faculty, salary schedule placement equity, and compensation consistent with the faculty contract.
Retirement incentives prior to and in order to obviate layoffs stemming from budgetary concerns. Recognizing that most, but not all, program cuts result not in layoffs but in contracted faculty transfers to other disciplines that they are qualified to teach, it is important to encourage faculty professional development, and provide additional, funded professional development for faculty seeking certification in a discipline outside their primary teaching area in lieu of layoff.
Expansion of requirements and funding for Cultural Competence Professional Development.
Your LCCEA Bargaining Team met with the College on October 28 and again November 4 regarding the impacts of SB551, new legislation and funding for part-time faculty healthcare.
The new funding available to LCC will amount to approximately $500,000 – $700,000 per year, according to both LCCEA and College estimates. As you may be aware, savings resulting from this bill are reserved for labor relations under the law. The reason savings are reserved for negotiations under the law is because these funds were already bargained and included within our contract. In addition, every time that there have been savings resulting from changes to insurance at LCC, those savings have been returned to employees.
Since our last update to all faculty, the College and Association had one highly positive, collaborative bargaining session followed by one in which the College reiterated their position that they will not negotiate with faculty at this time.
On October 28, the College and LCCEA had an interest based discussion, which seemed highly productive and encouraging in which the College indicated that there would be potential for an agreement that: utilizes savings to expand PT faculty insurance eligibility; makes insurance more affordable for PT faculty electing insurance for family members; and dedicates remaining savings to invest in faculty for the benefit of students.
However, on November 4, the College began the bargaining session stating that they would be unwilling to negotiate until March 2022.
Given that it would be unlawful under both the PECBA and SB 551 for the College to refuse to negotiate when the parties are required to do so, LCCEA presented a new proposal, which is entirely aligned with what the College requested just one week earlier. In addition, LCCEA reiterated our expectation that the College adhere to its obligation to bargain, which means that the College must not only attend meetings but must actually negotiate and make proposals.
The LCCEA proposal (see below) will:
Increase College contributions for part-time faculty selecting employee plus spouse/partner or children and full-family insurance to 90% and 95% of medical costs respectively;
Modify eligibility language to ensure that PT faculty do not lose insurance only to qualify again during a subsequent term;
Add one compensated day to the contracted faculty work year, restoring one of the seven remaining furlough days that had become permanent after the 2009 recession;
Add sixteen hours of inservice/ meeting/workshop compensation for part-time faculty (eight for PT faculty working in Fall and eight for PT faculty working in Winter);
Provide $40,000 to a fund for course curriculum development focused on on diversity, equity, and inclusion to be administered by Faculty Professional Development; and
Dedicate any remaining savings to add compensated time for both contracted and part-time faculty.
In addition, in order to maximize the reimbursements to LCC, the College and Association must reach an agreement that will streamline the process for automatically designating LCC as the “home institution” for eligible part-time faculty (with an opt-out option for rare instances, if any, of part-time faculty electing a different public institution of higher education).
Otherwise, we (collectively — both the college and faculty) stand to lose $500,000-$700,000 per year. The first deadline to submit paperwork to the state in order to receive the funds is right around the corner.
Because this matter is time-sensitive and could result in a tremendous loss of state funding without an agreement, LCCEA has requested mediation to help facilitate productive negotiations. At this stage in bargaining, both parties must agree, and we await the College response as to whether they are willing to participate in mediation.
We continue to struggle to understand why the College changes its position every time that we meet and are disappointed in the College’s unwillingness to bargain in good faith.
We do hope that the College will consider in earnest the request for mediation and recognize that collaborating with the faculty is of great benefit, particularly in this circumstance where additional funding is available and fully accessible only through an agreement.
I’m writing with a few brief updates regarding: Winter term, a resolution on contracted faculty positions, college budget and enrollment, Minimum Qualifications and Instructor Certification procedures, and the All Faculty Survey.
Winter Term Safety Protocol
LCCEA and LCCEF have coordinated to ensure that social distancing will continue on campus in Winter. Classes will be scheduled at 50% of the room capacity in order to facilitate social distancing, consistent with the LCCEA-LCCEF Joint COVID MOA. The MOA provides that campus safety measures align with the most protective guideline from any of the four cited public health authorities (i.e. CDC, OHA, Lane Co. Public Health, OSHA). Current CDC guidelines indicate social distancing indoors, so that will be required for Winter term unless that guideline is removed from public health guidelines. (Please note: room capacity is not the same as maximum class size. Class capacity will not exceed the maximum class size allowed by contract for the course, but will vary depending on the size of the room where the section is scheduled. Please see attached spreadsheet for room capacities with 50% listed in column H.)
Other safety protocol include: masks, provision of HEPA filters for classrooms and shared spaces upon request, daily cleaning of high touch surfaces by Facilities, etc. In addition to safety measures, the MOA outlines a good number of provisions related to compensation as well as requests for remote work accommodations. Another resource for information is a succinct FAQ written especially for LCC faculty by Aryn Bartley and Kevin Steeves. Please see the Center for Learning Handbook’s section on teaching during COVID. The FAQ includes details on how to request a HEPA filter, how to check out a wireless microphone for teaching while masked from the library, among many others.
Contracted Faculty Positions Resolution
As you may recall, the College was required to ensure that contracted faculty positions and FTE (full-time equivalency) for the 2021-2022 year total at least 195.864 for Fall; however, the contracted FTE as of September 25 was only 187.821 – a full 8 positions below the contractually required FTE.
LCCEA filed a grievance over this contract violation, and I am pleased to announce that the parties have reached an agreement to resolve this matter favorably. The resolution requires that the College fulfill numerous remedies to make the faculty whole. The College will:
o Hire at least eight temporary contracted faculty to begin no later than Winter 2022;
o Hire eight extra permanent contracted faculty above the number required for this year to begin no later than Fall 2022 for a total of no fewer than sixteen such that the contracted FTE at the beginning of Fall 2022 will be no less than 203.864 (eight more than the 195.864 that had been required for this Fall);
o Provide all savings accrued from not filling the contracted positions for Fall 2021 to the Faculty Professional Development fund;
o Require all upper administrators to attend a one-hour workshop on the requirements of the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA) and the contract;
o Post all future positions by February 15 each year, and strive to post by January 15 each year;
o Post publicly on the LCC website a list of all positions approved for hire with posting dates, and periodic updates on the status of each search; and
o Change the system going forward so that the number of full-time positions required is determined far in advance (i.e., Winter FTE each year determines the number of positions/ FTE required for Fall of the subsequent calendar year, for example Winter 2022 for Fall 2023) to provide ample time for planning and to help ensure that this lapse in hiring sufficient faculty does not happen again.
College Budget, Enrollment, Programs under “Review,” andCollege Revenue Background Information
There are three primary revenue streams that fund college operations: tuition, state funding, and local property tax revenue. Enrollment impacts College revenue in two ways. The number of credits for which students are registered drives tuition revenue, and student FTE drives state reimbursement. State FTE reimbursement to LCC also depends on how LCC’s enrollment tracks in relation to other community colleges in the state. For instance, when LCC has enrollment increases that exceed other similar sized colleges, LCC’s reimbursement increases because LCC receives a greater “share” of the state’s Community College Support Fund (CCSF). Likewise, when LCC’s enrollment decreases less than other similar sized colleges, LCC’s reimbursement increases. In addition, because the CCSF is a fixed amount for the 2021-2023 biennium, when FTE is down statewide as it is now, the reimbursement per FTE increases.
Enrollment
As you are likely aware, LCC –like community colleges throughout the state and nation– has seen enrollment declines over the course of the pandemic. According to data from Institutional Research, credits and FTE at LCC decreased 19.89% and 19.6% respectively over a two-year period from Fall 2019 to Fall 2021. However, state reimbursement per FTE to LCC has increased by 23.98% over the same period because LCC has fared better than other community colleges in the state and because the overall funding for community colleges also increased. Please see table below. While the enrollment decline negatively impacts the college budget in terms of tuition revenue, the nearly 24% increase to LCC’s state reimbursement per FTE is a substantial mitigating factor.
Comparison of Enrollment and State Funding Pre-Pandemic to Current (Fall 2019 to Fall 2021)
Credits
FTE
State reimbursement per FTE
Fall 2019
74,618
2018
$3,223
Fall 2020
67,128
1802
$3,445
Fall 2021
59,779
1622.5411
$3,996
Actual Change over two-year period (2019 to 2021)
-14,839
-395.4589
$ 773
Percent change over two-year period (2019-2021)
-19.89%
-19.60%
23.98%
Budget Development
Jim Arnold, LCCEA Vice President for Part-time Faculty, and I serve as your representatives on the College Council Budget Development Subcommittee this year, which has just begun to meet. We will strive to keep faculty appraised of the process as it goes into full swing in Winter term.
Programs Under Review
In the meantime, the College has requested meetings with three programs that had been identified last year for “review.” These are Culinary, Manufacturing, and Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management (HRTM). These meetings have been identified as a “follow up” from last year and are scheduled for next week. One noteworthy issue is the status of HRTM, which has suffered enrollment losses after the program was suspended while a new two-year degree was developed. The new two-year degree was approved last Spring, yet the Administration asked the program during the summer to create a one-year certificate to replace the newly approved two-year degree. Since that time, however, the Administration has advised the program that they are disallowed from presenting a new one-year certificate proposal to the Curriculum Committee because it remains “under review” by the Administration. We look forward to learning more about these “reviews.”
While enrollment declines and budget deficits frequently raise discourse around potential program reductions, it is important to note that the vast majority of programs produce net revenue for the college, without which the college could not operate.
Minimum Qualifications and Instructor Certification Procedures
As previously reported, Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) published final procedures in COPPS for MQs and Instructor Certification and announced their publication via the September 28 Weekly e-newsletter. These procedures are inconsistent with the faculty contract and also represent unilateral changes to mandatory subjects of bargaining (issues about which negotiations are legally required). An analysis of the procedures by the LCCEA Executive Council and Grievance Team as well as legal counsel indicates that the procedures: reduce the role of faculty in determining the minimum qualifications for their discipline and also contravene job security and assignment rights for both part-time and contracted faculty.
OEA-appointed legal counsel has notified the College of their legal obligation to negotiate and, absent a response, that the actions of the College constitute an unfair labor practice. LCCEA will continue to keep faculty updated as more information becomes available.
All Faculty Survey
All faculty members should have received an email invitation earlier this week to participate in a comprehensive all faculty survey. The survey is longer than many recent LCCEA surveys and includes questions that seek broad information on faculty working conditions at Lane in order to inform bargaining priorities as well as advocacy on behalf of faculty. Please do schedule 20-40 minutes to complete the survey as your input is vital. Thank you! If you do not find the invitation or experience technical issues, please contact Joe Escobar at: lccea-elections@lanecc.edu
Solidarity
Stay tuned for more information about the emerging Lane County Education Caucus — a newly formed coalition of education unions representing classified staff, teachers, faculty, and all education workers from K12 through university within Lane County. We are stronger together.
Best wishes for a wonderful rest of the week and weekend.
Your LCCEA Bargaining Team met with the College yesterday regarding the impacts of SB551, new legislation and funding for part-time faculty healthcare.
The new funding available to LCC will amount to approximately $500,000 – $700,000 per year, according to both LCCEA and College estimates. As you may be aware, savings resulting from this bill are reserved for labor relations under the law.
In order to maximize the reimbursements to LCC, however, the College and Association must reach an agreement that will streamline the process for automatically designating LCC as the “home institution” for eligible part-time faculty (with an opt-out option for rare instances, if any, of part-time faculty electing a different public institution of higher education).
The College had previously indicated that their interest is in an agreement where only the actual, realized savings are included. Given the reasonableness of the College request, LCCEA proposed utilizing only actual, realized savings (i.e. reimbursements from the new state fund to LCC resulting from the new law). (As a reminder, please see the explanation below this message regarding the LCCEA proposal for use of the savings.)
However, yesterday, the College informed your LCCEA representatives that they are not willing to negotiate to direct the use of any of the savings at this time. This is despite the fact that LCCEA has made a proposal limited to the actual savings in alignment with the College’s request and despite the fact that the savings are expressly reserved for labor relations (i.e. negotiations) under the law. Because the LCCEA proposal is tied to the actual reimbursements to LCC, there is no risk to the College of making a commitment that cannot be fulfilled.
Without an agreement to a streamlined process with LCCEA, it will be impossible for LCC to receive reimbursements from the new state fund of $500,000 – $700,000 per year.
We struggle to understand why the College would take such a position and have asked the College to reconsider, reminding College representatives of their obligation under the new law, the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act, and the requirements of good faith bargaining.
We look forward to meeting with the College again next week and expect that the College will recognize that it is not in our mutual interests to squander the opportunity to work together to receive this substantial amount of additional state funding and to negotiate in good faith over its use.
Your LCCEA Bargaining Team:
Kelly Collins
Joseph Colton
Adrienne Mitchell
Nancy Wood
LCCEA proposed using the savings as follows:
Increasing College contributions for participating part-time faculty members’ Sec 125 accounts by $640/ year to $1340/ year for employee+ spouse/partner and employee + child(ren) tiers and increasing College contributions by $960/ year to $1860 / year for full family. This would apply to all part-time faculty who are eligible and participating in Section 125 medical reimbursement accounts in order to help reduce out-of-pocket insurance expenses beyond the employee-only tier.
Language to ensure that more part-time faculty are able to maintain insurance as follows.
Correcting some contractual issues by modifying the eligibility language for part-time faculty insurance to prevent some part-time faculty from losing insurance for one term only to re-qualify in a subsequent term. (The 1.2 term FTE eligibility threshold for insurance maintenance would apply to any two of four terms and allow a part-time faculty member to maintain insurance for all four terms as long as they work 1.2 term FTE over two terms. The .2 FTE/ term for insurance maintenance would also remain in effect as an alternative way to maintain insurance.)
Eliminating the .5 FTE maximum limit on the amount of FTE for Summer term that can “count” toward insurance eligibility for part-time faculty.
Providing all remaining savings from state reimbursements to LCC as annual lump sum payments to all faculty as a percentage of annual earnings such that contracted faculty receive a percentage and part-time faculty receive twice that percentage for the purpose of progress toward pay parity. For instance, if the percentage of salary paid as a lump sum payment is 1% to contracted faculty, the percentage would be 2% for part-time faculty. The percentages will be determined by a formula and depend on the actual amount of savings provided to LCC from the new state fund each year. Please note: these lump sums are separate from and in addition to regular cost of living adjustments and steps for all faculty as well as PT faculty pay parity adjustments already required under the contract.
