On April 11, 2024 our union bargaining team came to a tentative agreement with the college. While contract negotiations always end up with compromises, this TA represents some of the biggest and most significant wins PCCFCE has seen.
Electronic ballots will be sent out via email in the coming days, and voting is expected to be open through April 28th, 2024.
A draft of the entire new contract that the college put together (our bargaining team is still reviewing it for errors) can be found here: https://pccfce.org/2023-2027-tentative-agreement/
Our Bargaining Team
- Jeff Grider
- Juanita Lognion
- Lezlie Bugg
- Kyle Clark
- Sara Lampert
- Scot Brooks
- Taylor Gehweiler
- Ty Graham
Monetary
- Year 1: 6% COLA (Retroactive to July 1, 2023)
- Year 2: 8% COLA (Effective July 1, 2024)
- 3% step increases for employees who are not “topped out” (Retroactive to July 1, 2023)
- Automatic steps in the future, even if we’re still negotiating when the contract expires
- One-time $1,000 ratification bonus
- Longevity pay to qualifying* recipients upon contract ratification, and then at each milestone of continuous service
- 20 Years: $500
- 25 Years: $750
- 30 Years: $1,000
- 35 Years: $1,250
* Topped-out for one year
Health care caps
- Employee Only $785 (+$12)
- Employee + Spouse $1,416
- Employee + Children $1,315
- Family $1,953 (+$286)
This monetary package will cover the first 2 years of the contract from 2023-2025. Classified employees eligible for steps both years will experience a total of 20% increase by July 1st, 2024.
The term of this contract is July 1, 2023-June 30, 2027, with a reopener in 2025 to bargain for wages, benefits, and any proposed changes from the college as a result of the Trüpp study.
We demanded no changes about us without us, and now we have a real ability to have influence over how these changes will affect us. The mid-term contract reopener will allow our union to fight (and even strike if necessary) over any repercussions from the Trupp or similar job classification changes.
The monetary amounts were hard fought. The college did not want to provide this amount, and tried many methods (including sending out a misleading email to all of you) to get us to accept less. While we all of course would have liked to see higher numbers, it became clear that even a strike would not produce higher wage increases. Our union siblings over at the Portland Association of Teachers went on strike for nearly a month and were only able to secure 12.5% over three years.
Due to the high amounts of energy, presence, and pressure organized by all of our members who fought so hard, the bargaining team was able to ensure that monetary kept pace with other units across the college, and made strong demands for many changes to ensure that Classified employees have an equitable position amongst our peers.
These changes shift our union from a reactive stance into a proactive stance. Our union is incredibly powerful at this moment, and we are poised to make huge gains in coming years with the groundwork our Classified Bargaining Team was able to lay.
Wins
Equity and Respect
- Mutual respect agreements were added to the contract (Article 3)
- PSEC will conduct regular reviews of all employee salaries, for Internal Equity (Article 15)
- “Behaviors not tolerated” were explicitly added to the contract to hold managers accountable in respecting Classified employees (Article 3)
Protecting and Expanding Classified Employee Leave
- Definition of “Administrative Leave” in the contract and specifying that it is PAID leave (Article 1)
- Vacation carryover/accrual now stops at 250 hours, but up to 40 hrs of leave can be cashed out each Sept. if you’ve used >40 hrs and have 200 hrs (Article 16)
- Ability to use Sick Leave broadened from “illness or injury” to “protected under state law”, which is much more expansive (Article 17)
- Instead of current definitions of “Immediate Family”, use the expanded Oregon law definitions for Sick Leave and Bereavement (Article 17)
- Closure Pay Limit Removal – No more 40 hour limit on Closure Time! (Article 17)
- If the college requires a doctor’s note and you are ready to return to work, any delay is the responsibility of the college – you will suffer no loss of pay, leave or benefits as a result (Article 17)
- Sick Leave Bank – Preserve the Program and Integrate MOU language into the contract. Kept references to original program documentation until we integrate it as well. (Article 17)
- Paid Leave Oregon (PFMLI) Language Integrated into the contract (Article 17)
- 4 Weeks (160 Hours) of PCC Parental Leave able to be applied to PFMLI in order to increase the pay up to 100% of your normal wage (Article 17)
Fair Scheduling
- Transfer Opportunities Within a Department must be offered (by seniority) before management just assigns the shift (Article 10/11)
- Contact Outside Working Hours = Minimum 2 hours OT (Article 15)
- Improvements to On-Call system, including removal of 2 tiered minimum OT situation, and elimination of on-call loophole for employees who work remotely and live out of state (Article 15)
- Remote work arrangement requests will be evaluated based on specific example criteria (vs. Manager’s whim) (Article 10)
Job Security
- Management must notify the union when Classified employees are moved to any other classification! (Article 2)
- When a screening committee is convened to interview candidates for a vacant position, at least one bargaining unit member will be included on the screening committee (Article 11)
- Employee and the Federation will be notified whenever job descriptions are changed (Article 14)
- If a Classified employee is not hired into a new position they applied for, an explanation will be provided from the manager or PSEC in writing, and then career development can be utilized with this feedback by the employee! (Article 11)
Due Process and Treatment
- Employees (and the union) will receive copies of any documents (concerning performance, expectations, or discipline) the employees are required to sign (Article 8)
- Official employee file logs must be signed by anyone accessing (Article 8)
- Agreement that Memoranda of Expectation (“MOEs”) are non-disciplinary and are not a required step to initiate discipline (Article 8)
- An MOE is intended to remind bargaining unit members of College expectations, and when signed or required to be acknowledged, a copy will also be provided to the bargaining unit member and Federation for their records. (Article 8)
Fair Compensation for Work Performed
- Non-wage-related pay will be paid on a separate check (Article 15)
- Costs associated with parking, at designated college locations, that exceed the PCC employee parking rate will be paid for by the college or reimbursed to the employee! (Article 15)
- Holiday Pay for Actual Holidays Worked (Article 16)
- Non-Lead/Trainer Employees assigned to train other Classified Employees get at least 5% for training assignment, renewable in two (2) week increments (Article 15)
Compromises
Trading Incentive Leave for Other Benefits
- Despite our suggested workarounds, the College insisted that the Incentive Leave program (reward of 4 hours every 3 months you don’t use any sick leave) so we insisted on not giving it up for nothing – We were able to secure “ALL Employee Parking Covered with PCC Parking Permit” and “Vacation Cash-Out” in exchange (Any existing Incentive Leave accruals will be retained) (Article 17)
- Also, as part of the college vacation proposal at one time, they wanted to add that it must be scheduled “throughout the year” which would prevent people from taking one long vacation!?!? (We said no)
Miscellaneous/Other
- Long-Term Positions on Temporary Funding (i.e. Bond Positions) no longer keep the original position open on a leave of absence and create the domino effect – Current Employees (5) will be grandfathered in.
- Managers Can’t Change Timesheet Without Notifying Employee – Except to add contractual holidays.
- Timesheets will be due before the end of the pay period only in extraordinary circumstances, such as holiday closures, or to address specific individual reporting concerns, and employees will be notified in writing of that date when and if they are.
Defense
Protecting Classified Jobs
At one point in bargaining this contract, management tried to insert language into the contract that would have allowed them to replace Classified jobs with contractors with no discussion or restrictions. Our bargaining team shut that down, and made sure that the union can bargain when contractors are brought in and might displace any Classified job. (Article 4)
No Paying for Full Time Release Union President
Our bargaining team made it very clear that paying the entire cost for full time release of our union president wasn’t a model that worked for our union, and that we were unsure why management kept offering it as if it was something we would want.
Instead, our bargaining team continued to fight to have our contract reflect the strong protections Oregon Law has that allow our union to conduct business effectively, as well as add to our contract language the current and historical practices surrounding our existing release time. (Article 5)
Protecting Current Contract Language
In Article 5, Article 24, as well as on many other issues, the college insisted upon offering proposals that were objectively worse than our current contract language, so our bargaining team opted to keep the current contract language intact where the college strove to weaken the language.
What we didn’t win … yet!
- Specific increases for the lowest paid employees
- Additional gains for topped-out employees beyond just COLA
- More transparency around internal pay equity decisions
- Permanent early/enhanced retirement benefits [including 2% salary match for 403(b) plan]
- Additional health care cost improvements (Caps, Waiver, Etc…)
- Paid Leave Oregon – Full 1% Paid by the College (vs. 0.6% Employee, 0.4% College)
- Increased Union Release time for both Executive Council Officers and Rank & File Members
The Future
The strong energy and strength our union is building has moved our position to a proactive instead of reactive one. Our future is in our hands and we are stronger together.
In the past, the college has treated Classified workers as an afterthought. This contract cycle we demonstrated that we can ensure we aren’t forgotten if we show up and use our collective voice. Lets keep this solidarity strong into the future and keep winning.
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