ECC hopefuls debate salary freeze

The five candidates for the Elgin Community College board have seen both sides of the collective bargaining table.

Those experiences will work into their approach to contract talks as the board works to reach a new agreement with ECC faculty — which has been working under an expired contract for three months.

Two incumbents are seeking re-election: board Chairman Eleanor MacKinney and longtime Trustee John Duffy. Three newcomers are also trying to win a seat: Robin Lisboa, Richard Geary and John Dalton. There are three seats open.

The current board has proposed a salary freeze for ECC instructors. Both sides are now in mediation, with another meeting scheduled for today.

MacKinney has said the freeze “would allow us to maintain a balanced budget. The board has always been fiscally responsible.”

But Geary, who has served on the negotiating team for employees at Harper College, said any salary freeze should be across the board.

“The salary freeze that they offered I feel is a negotiating step,” Geary said. “I don’t feel it’s a good one because I feel if they’re going to offer a salary freeze to the teachers; everyone from the president on down should take a salary freeze also.”

Duffy, though, said that shouldn’t necessarily apply to ECC President David Sam. The faculty union has criticized the board for giving Sam raises while asking instructors to freeze their pay.

“We hired Dr. Sam way below community college presidents in the metropolitan area,” Duffy said. “His pay should be comparable to the other community college presidents in the metropolitan area.”

Dalton offered a similar perspective, saying, “If the faculty is expected to accept a 2-year salary freeze, you’re going to have to treat the administrators in a similar fashion” — adding, importantly, that there may be exceptions.

While Lisboa agreed that fiscal responsibility was important, she also said contract talks were taking too long.

“I still think there’s an underlying level of stress,” Lisboa said. “We still need to get to a resolution at some point — sooner rather than later.”

The faculty union has endorsed board candidates in the past but did not do so this year. Union spokesman Gary Christenson said, “We just decided to work with whoever gets elected.”