ECC, union quit contract talks
Negotiations between the Elgin Community College board and the faculty union have been suspended with both sides requesting mediation to assist in reaching an agreement.
The ECC board on Wednesday held firm on a proposed three-year pay freeze for full-time and part-time faculty, with no increases for extra years of teaching experience or credit hours earned.
ECC board President Eleanor MacKinney said the board is eager to approve a contract that is sustainable.
“We need to maintain a balanced budget that meets the needs of the students and is respectful of the faculty, community and taxpayers,” MacKinney said. “The board is fiscally conservative, and that's why we are in the financial situation that we're in unlike other public districts ... We have been good stewards of taxpayer money for the past 60 years.”
While union members say they are willing to give mediation a chance, union spokesman Gary Christenson said Wednesday's decision puts the faculty one step closer to going on strike.
“No one wants to strike, but the board's belligerence is sending us in that direction,” Christenson said. “It brings us closer, certainly. Historically, mediation has never been the thing that has gotten a contract done. ”
Adding to the frustration of union representatives was a 1 cent raise the ECC board approved for instructional coordinators based on the number of credit hours generated.
Christenson said the penny increase sent a bizarre message to instructors and students.
“It is a slap in the face,” Christenson said. “It's like when you get a really bad waitress and you leave a penny to let her know how horrible she was. We don't think we deserve that.”
But Paula Amenta, chief marketing and communications officer for ECC, said the board was making amends for an oversight. She said the union negotiating team presented a letter dated March 1989 that said the instructional coordinators should receive 10 cents per credit hour. The increase amounts to about $2,000 per year.
“This was more of a correction that somewhere along the line the rate should have been 10 cents instead of 9 cents,” Amenta said. “We are honoring that document.”
Instructors have been working under an expired labor agreement since Jan. 1. The faculty senate last month voted to authorize a strike if needed. The entire faculty authorized a strike in January.
A meeting scheduled for Friday was canceled and informal picketing has been suspended.