ECC faculty frustrated with contract talks

Faculty leaders at Elgin Community College are frustrated with the pace and progress of contract talks, but college leaders say this year's negotiations are no different from previous years.

The sides have been meeting since early October to iron out a new contract that will replace the four-year deal expiring at the end of this month.

Union leaders say if the sides cannot find some common ground soon, next semester could be disrupted possibly by a strike.

“Ultimately, when you don't have an agreement, there has to be some action that is taken, and there's a possibility that could be a strike,” said Gary Christenson, spokesman for the union and a journalism instructor at the college. “We don't want that just as students don't want that. At some point, when your back is against the wall, you take action.”

But ECC board Chair Eleanor MacKinney said she was pleased with the progress of negotiations and was not concerned about next semester nor the expiration of the current contract, which has not usually been viewed as a hard deadline.

“It does take time,” MacKinney said. “We are progressing at a rate similar to our past negotiations.”

The union says the board's negotiating team told union leaders this week that the board was not willing to offer any increase on financial items in the contract, prompting the union team to end the meeting.

“After a cynical offer was given to us Tuesday night, we left and said, ‘When you're ready to get serious, let us know,' ” Christenson said.

But MacKinney disputed the union's account of the meeting, although she admitted she was not in attendance.

“We haven't offered anything, period. We haven't gotten to that point yet,” she said, adding, “That might be their interpretation, but it's not accurate.”

Christenson said the union is seeking increases in the following items: Salaries for full-time and adjunct faculty; summer school pay; overload pay (teachers are compensated extra for teaching above contractual limits); and professional development. He declined to say exactly how much of an increase is being sought.

The union that represents an estimated 488 full-time and adjunct instructors at ECC says it plans to hold an informational picket on Tuesday outside the Fox Valley University and Business Center, where the board is scheduled to hold its monthly meeting the same night.

The sides are scheduled to meet again on Wednesday.