COD ready to approve 2-year faculty contract extension

College of DuPage trustees are expected to vote Thursday on a proposed two-year contract extension with the Glen Ellyn school's full-time faculty members that would begin next August and end the day before the start of the 2019 fall term.

The proposal calls for the faculty's pay schedule to remain unchanged in each of the extension years. As a result, faculty members will get raises based only on increased levels of education and years of experience; there will be no cost-of-living raises. The rest of the school's existing contract with the College of DuPage Faculty Association would remain unchanged.

The union already has ratified the proposal and the agreement will take effect upon approval by the board of trustees.

"The board very much appreciates the professionalism on all sides to come to a resolution," COD board Chairwoman Deanne Mazzochi said Tuesday evening. "We very much appreciate that the full-time faculty has taken seriously everyone's obligation at the college to ensure that our institution remains fiscally sustainable."

Trustees in May 2014 approved an extension with the union that moved the expiration date of the contract from August 2015 to August 2017. The original pact was approved in June 2012 after 16 months of contentious negotiations between college administrators and faculty association officials.

Mazzochi said the proposed extension demonstrates an effort to bring "a different tone" to the college.

"I want to stress that a lot of people worked very hard to bring this about," she said. "I applaud them for those efforts."

The union represents about 300 full-time faculty members.