COD faculty, administration remain at loggerheads on contract

Is the current College of DuPage faculty contract trash or treasure?

That’s the central question facing bargaining teams for the college’s administration and faculty association, which have been haggling over a new deal for a year.

Talks have become progressively more unproductive of late, and that’s spurred faculty members to pack the past two board of trustees meetings — including one on Thursday — to show support for their negotiations team and urge ratification of a new contract.

The current pact expired in August.

“I’ve asked you to respect the negotiated agreement that your predecessors crafted with us,” Faculty Association President Glenn Hansen told COD President Robert Breuder and board members Thursday. “But instead you want to ‘clean out the attic.’ For many people, we keep treasures in our attic, not junk.”

Breuder, who said he’s been a part of two dozen contract negotiations during the past 30 years as a community college president, told Hansen, “That’s not how it is in the real world.”

“Today is different than yesterday. The factors that drive today are vastly different,” Breuder said. “The faculty senate has had the best of it the past 40 years. It appears management may not have been at the table for the past 40 years, figuratively speaking.”

College officials have sought concessions from the faculty union, with some of the givebacks modeled off new agreements with COD’s other three unions representing adjuncts, police and engineers. Specifically, some of what the administration has asked for includes:

Ÿ Faculty members would pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums, instead of 10 percent.

Ÿ Full tuition waivers for employees and eligible dependents would be eliminated, and they’d be required to pay one-third of the cost.

Ÿ So-called supplemental retirements would be eliminated, in which employees can earn additional compensation up to 100 percent of their salary after retirement.

Ÿ Pay for teaching summer courses would be reduced. The union says summer pay could be cut by as much as 50 percent.

Ÿ The number of faculty who take full-year or one-semester sabbatical leaves would be reduced from as many as 15 to five. Those who take a full-year sabbatical at 75 percent of their salary would only be able to take home 50 percent.

On Friday, the faculty association took out a half-page ad in the Daily Herald that said “faculty are being singled out for especially harsh cuts.” They said the administration’s proposals would increase class sizes, increase many faculty members’ workloads by up to 50 percent, take away rights “to have a voice” in health care coverage, and make additional workplace concessions that will decrease professional service to students.

“Others on campus — including the president and over a dozen new administrators added over the last three years — have not been asked to sacrifice with equivalently severe cuts,” the advertisement said.

Faculty Association Vice President Bob Hazard said Thursday only some of those concessions had been previously divulged to the media. Those were the “cherries” of the agreement — not the “pits.”

“What seems like easy and reasonable givebacks isn’t,” Hazard said. “The real offer would be devastating to the faculty. It would be much more work for much less pay and benefits. It’s harsher treatment than what you offered our colleagues. It’s an offer that denies the excellent financial state of the college. Don’t play to the press, play fair.”

Fairness was a constant refrain of the 10 or so faculty members who spoke at Thursday’s meeting about the work they do at COD, all ending their comments with, “I’m a dedicated professional and I care about quality and education and that is why fair treatment is all I ask.”

Hansen said their role was to illustrate “the treasures that are created by a respectful contract.”

Many of the other faculty members in attendance held signs such as “Treat us fairly” and “COD is people.”

Board Chairman Dave Carlin said he hoped “some of the propaganda” would be minimized while the negotiations process plays out.

“We’re concerned about treating our constituent groups fairly, but we’re also concerned with treating our taxpayers in District 502 fairly,” Carlin said. “When I see green signs talking about economic fairness I just wanna point out that this board is looking above and beyond one constituent group.”

Both sides have indicated mediation is likely.

Breuder has said he would like the contract dispute resolved by the end of the school year.