LCCEF’s Bargaining Team met with the College this afternoon to continue bargaining for our Economic Reopener. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and show support!
Prior to this meeting both the College and LCCEF had exchanged proposals. During the break between meetings, the College had clarifying questions regarding the steps and COLA.
- We adjusted the steps language to clearly define that two steps would be added in year one of the proposal (Year One) and one step would be added in the second year of the proposal (Year Two) so that staff could get the 3 steps over two years (as opposed to the earlier language stating employees would receive 1.5 steps each year).
- We adjusted the COLA language to state that CPI from April 2022 should be used to inform the Year Two COLA adjustment (between 2.5-4%)
Shane started today’s meeting with data the College felt explained why they could not accept LCCEF’s proposal.
- The College proposal allowed for 2.2 million dollars in Classified compensation increases. This is as much as the College has allowed for each employee group and is in line with what they believe they have allowed in the past (an average of 1 million per year).
- LCCEF’s proposal using 2.5% CPI (minimum) in Year Two costed out at 4.183 million
- LCCEF’s proposal using 4% CPI (maximum) in Year Two costed out at 4.6 million
- Shane believes the College can not fiscally support the range in our offer.
- In addition, Shane spent time explaining how the COLA and step additions would lead the College to disparity in the pay between Classified and Managers.
- One example, currently Lane has a Classified employee making $700 per year less than their supervising manager. The LCCEF proposal would have that employee making $3K more per year than their manager.
- Shane shared a graph comparing current Classified salaries, proposed Year One Classified salaries, proposed Year Two Classified salaries (with a 2.5% COLA), and Manager salaries (including their upcoming 2% COLA).
- Discussing the data used for the chart, Shane called out the following:
- Year One: 133 Classified employees would be earning more than at least one manager
- Year Two: (with a 2.5% COLA)163 Classified employees would be earning more than at least one manager
- Year One: 29 Managers (45%) would be making less than at least one Classified employee
- Year Two: 32 Managers (50%) would be making less than at least one Classified employee
- Shane did understand the goal of trying to get compensation for those who have been at the top step, and suggested the College might have $200-300K additional to offer as a stipend for those at the top step (or to be used however LCCEF believed it would be most useful in compensation – maybe towards a higher COLA).
The Bargaining Team, and members who were able to chat with us, agreed that the relationship between Classified and Manager compensation is not relevant to the compensation our Classified deserves in the current market.
- Lane’s wages are not competitive with those offered by comparable local employers
- The lower steps on our Classified salary schedule are not competitive within the local market. As so many employers struggle to hire for entry-level positions, the recently-increased wages they are offering have eclipsed ours.
Our next steps:
- Schedule more bargaining sessions with the College
- In progress – we will post when we have them scheduled
- Collect photos and descriptions of the “now hiring” signs (or job postings) from businesses around town that are offering better starting wages than LCC for lower-skilled work (e.g. fast food).
- We will use them to help demonstrate to the College why our salary schedule needs to be addressed.
- We want to call out comparisons between Lane salaries and those at other local businesses.
- Like the fact that 57 of our level/step combinations are below that of the starting wage at Taco Bell.