COD, faculty may be headed to mediation
Contract talks between the College of DuPage and its faculty association likely are headed to mediation, President Robert Breuder said.
The two sides have been at the bargaining table for 11 months, and Breuder said the contract needs to be adjusted for “current economic circumstances.”
He called it “cleaning out the attic.”
The college is asking the faculty for some concessions in exchange for salary increases over the next three years that would model those approved for other unions and management, Breuder said.
The proposal calls for teachers to receive 3.15 percent raises in the first year of the pact and then 3.55 percent and 4.15 percent raises in the following years.
The union, which represents the college’s 295 full-time faculty, has worked without a contract since the previous agreement expired in August.
There are several unresolved issues, including:
Ÿ The college wants to end so-called supplemental retirements, in which employees are eligible to earn additional compensation up to 100 percent of their salary after they retire.
Ÿ The college wants faculty to pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums, instead of 10 percent.
Ÿ The college wants to eliminate full tuition waivers for employees and eligible dependents and require them to pay one-third of the cost.
Of the college’s four unions, the faculty association is the only group without a new contract. On Tuesday, the board ratified a new deal with Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Unit No. 741, which represents members of the college’s police force. Agreements with the College of DuPage Adjuncts Association and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 were approved last year.
Breuder said the other unions — and the college’s upper management — have agreed to the same givebacks.
“We set the tone. The other groups have. The lone group sitting out is the faculty,” he said.
Faculty association President Glenn Hansen said Wednesday that he couldn’t respond to Breuder’s statements since he isn’t part of the union’s bargaining team, and in accordance with the rules, union negotiators haven’t disclosed any information to him.
“We are surprised and disappointed to see the president’s discussion of confidential negotiations matters in the press,” Hansen said in an email. “The ground rules for negotiations prohibit this.”
During the college’s board of trustees meeting Tuesday night, Hansen, joined by about 100 faculty members, said they stand in support of their negotiating team and hope contract talks will progress.
“If there is respect for the faculty, then we ask that it begin by demonstrating respect for a contract that has evolved over 40 years of give-and-take negotiations,” Hansen said. “It is a contract that has been agreed to by administrators, trustees and faculty. The contract encapsulates a history of our relationship. There is a spirit to be honored beyond the words.”
The faculty senate has authorized mediation if negotiations don’t progress, Hansen said.
“All employees are treated alike,” Breuder said. “We don’t treat one group of employees at the expense of others. We’re talking about equity here.”
Speaking generally about the proposed concessions, Faculty Association Vice President Bob Hazard said he thinks college officials are overstating the plight of the college’s finances, since there are often uncommitted balances at the end of the fiscal year.
“For me, the reality is their budgeting process. Their budget hides a lot of money,” Hazard said. “They over-budget in every line item, then say, ‘We don’t have the money.’”
Breuder said he hopes a deal can be struck by the end of the current school year.