LCCEF Logo Color for Lights 040319-01

Bargaining Update: Tentative Agreement w/ College (Updated 2/25)

The LCCEF bargaining team has reached a tentative agreement (TA) with the College for the 2020 contract economic reopener. We will be conducting the ratification vote in the coming weeks. The team believes this is the best deal we can get under the circumstances, and we support a “Yes” vote on ratification.

  • A “Yes” Vote: If the majority of votes are in favor of the TA, the terms will go into effect soon after, and you will receive the increased compensation as soon as the pay changes are processed through payroll.
  • A “No” Vote: If the majority of voters reject the TA, what happens next depends on how the administration responds to the failed vote. The possibilities are as follows:
    1. The administration withdraws from all the agreed-upon terms and we start over from scratch.
    2. The administration agrees to pick up where we left off and continue bargaining.
    3. The administration refuses to continue bargaining (which they can do at this point) and we go to mediation. If mediation doesn’t result in an agreement then we are headed down the road to a strike.
      To be successful, a strike requires a great deal of planning and organizing, and a high level of involvement from union members across all departments. We probably will not get to that point, but be aware that if we do, everyone must be ready to step up and participate in the preparation. 

We’ve provided a succinct explanation below of the TA’s various sections. We will also be holding two general membership meetings on Wednesday, February 10, to provide a forum for members to ask in-depth questions and discuss the tentative agreement before voting for or against ratification. Please register for a meeting here.


  1. Cost of Living Increase
    The College shall provide a 1.00% salary schedule adjustment to all bargaining unit members employed with the College at the time of ratification of this memorandum of agreement, retroactive to July 1, 2020.
  • We originally asked for a 2.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA), but the College repeatedly rejected it. In October of 2020, we countered with 1.7% COLA, based on the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) change from July 2019 to July 2020. In January, Frankie spoke to the Board of Education and urged them to consider that while our historically underpaid classified employees are already facing an unprecedented and difficult year, we were also being denied a raise based on the College’s fear of potential future funding reductions despite the College not having lost any federal funding this year. The College responded to Frankie’s speech with the offer of a 1% one-time bonus. The LCCEF bargaining team called a caucus and returned with a proposal for a 1% compounding COLA (instead of the offered one-time bonus) and agreed that last year’s bargaining session would end if the proposal were accepted. The College accepted the proposal a few days later.
  1. Employer FSA Contributions
    Based on the employee’s medical insurance enrollment tier, the College will contribute the following amount to an employee’s Section 125 Flexible Spending Account (medical), contingent on the employee meeting the minimum contribution amount of $240 annually.
    a. Employee Only: $670
    b. Employee + Spouse/Partner: $1,340
    c. Full Family or Employee + Child(ren): $1,715
  • We added the FSA Contributions to our proposal because we were concerned the College might try to reduce them. The College has signed a contract saying the contributions will remain the same until we reopen our contract for bargaining and bargain the terms of the FSA contributions.
  1. Classification and Compensation Study
    Upon the application of the step increase awarded as a part of the Us Too arbitration, all current classified employees who remain below the minimums established by the classification and compensation study completed by LCCEF shall be brought up to that minimum hourly rate as described in the shared spreadsheet entitled 9.21.20 Cost Breakdown, column W: “Bottom Adj hourly wage,” effective July 1, 2020.
  • We are still in discussion with the College about the implications of the Class and Compensation Study. The College has agreed to adjust the salaries of our lowest-paid employees now, and we will continue to discuss additional actions for the remaining classifications, based on the study results.
  • (Added 2/25/21) If you would like to see the spreadsheet referenced in this section, you can view it here. Scroll to the bottom for a key explaining the colored highlighting.
  1. Additional Vacation Sell-Back
    Classified employees shall be allowed to sell up to 16 additional hours of vacation leave for the 20-21 FY beyond what is already allowed under the contract.
  • Due to having to cancel vacation plans this year, many employees were concerned about losing banked vacation days. The College has agreed to allow employees to sell back an additional 16 hours of vacation for the 20-21 FY.
  1. Advanced Study Fund
    The College shall establish a non-rolling annual fund of $25,000 to support advanced study among classified employees to be managed through the Classified Professional Development Committee.
  • The College agreed to provide $25,000 per year to fund advanced study among Classified employees.
  1. Shared Governance Compensation
    The College shall provide a $1,000 stipend per year payable in a lump sum at the end of the fiscal year to classified employees who perform chair responsibilities on a standing governance committee (prorated based upon term of service or full-responsibility, i.e., a chair starting in January or a co-chair working the full year would receive $500.)
  • The College agreed to provide a $1,000 per year stipend to Classified employees who serve as governance committee chairs.
Tags: No tags

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *