On Thursday, August 12, we received the promised updated proposal from Shane Turner. The College has rejected most of our proposed items, and their newest counter-proposal (shown in full at the very bottom of this post) contains only a few small changes from the College’s original proposal. The changes from their original proposal (with related items from the LCCEF proposal in parentheses) are outlined below.
Please note that we have not yet had a chance to discuss this new proposal with the full LCCEF Bargaining Team, so we can not yet offer our thoughts or responses. We just wanted to make sure our members had a chance to review the College’s newest proposal.
- The proposed COLA for 2021 has been increased from 2% to 2.5%
- (LCCEF had proposed 2%)
- The proposed COLA for 2022 has been increased from 2.5% to 2.75%
- (LCCEF had proposed a 2022 COLA that is equal to the 2022 Consumer Price Index for the West region, with a minimum of 2.5% and a maximum of 4%)
- There is no change from their originally proposed step offer of one step to all step-eligible each year for a total of two steps for all step-eligible employees.
- (LCCEF had proposed one and a half steps for all bargaining unit members each year, for a total of three steps for all bargaining unit members.)
- The only mention of proposed Classified Salary Schedule changes in this new proposal is the same as in the College’s original proposal and is “The addition of range 18 to the Classified Salary Schedule to accommodate a lead designation for current range 17 employees.”
- (LCCEF had proposed deleting the bottom step of each pay range and adding a new step to the top of each pay range each year, for a total of two new top steps on each range, and two removed bottom steps from each range. Additionally, we proposed that all employees at the top step of their range be moved to the new top step on July 1 of each year.)
- The College kept their original “Plus One” which proposed edits to LCCEF Contract Article 11.4.2.3 but tightened the proposed change in language by replacing “externally-funded” with “bond-funded” in all instances.
- (LCCEF had not changed the original language of the College’s “Plus One” in our proposal, but we did discuss this item in a bargaining session and asked that the College make this language change to more accurately reflect their intent.)
- The College also added an additional “Plus One” naming Juneteenth as a paid Holiday; the Board had approved adding Juneteenth to the College’s list of paid holidays in the June BOE meeting.
- Adding this as a “Plus One” is beneficial to our members and saves us the step of creating another MOA, so we are considering this a mutually-beneficial change and not a true “Plus One”.
- The College proposed numerous changes and additions to the LCCEF “Plus One”, shown below:
Original LCCEF “Plus One”
The institution provides classified employees with appropriate opportunities and support for professional growth and development. The supervisor will work with their employees to develop a professional development plan that the employee would like to pursue, and will allow staff members to schedule up to a total of ten percent release time from the job for any combination of approved professional development opportunities.
These opportunities include Classified Staff facilitating College-sponsored learning experiences for other employees, participating in job or career-related development programs or activities, and/or taking college courses as outlined in policy 13.2, Lane Community College Employee Federation Collective Bargaining Agreement.
College’s Proposed Changes to LCCEF “Plus One”
(proposed changes in bold)
The College shall provide classified employees with appropriate opportunities and support for professional growth and development. The supervisor will work with employees in budgeted positions to develop a written professional development plan that the employee would like to pursue and would allow them to professionally advance within the College. With an approved plan, the College will allow staff members to schedule up to a total of ten percent release time from the job for any combination of approved professional development opportunities.
These opportunities include, but aren’t limited to: participating in job or career-related development programs or activities, job shadowing, facilitating College-sponsored learning activities for other College employees for which they are not otherwise compensated, or taking college courses as outlined in article 13.2 of the Lane Community College Employee Federation Collective Bargaining Agreement. Available release time is limited to the time in instruction or active synchronous participation in selected programs (i.e. not for completing out of class assignments or study that has no set meeting times).
In departments where there is high employee interest in participation or low staffing levels, employees and their managers will need to work collaboratively to find solutions to accommodate this professional development program. Such solutions might include, but aren’t limited to: staggering participation schedules so release doesn’t fall largely on the same days per week, or limiting the number of employees participating during a particular term, but shall work to accommodate plans as much as possible. Employees who feel that they are being treated unfairly in manager determinations about participation may file a grievance under the provisions of the Lane Community College Employee Federation Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Please let us know your thoughts about the College’s newest proposal in the comments and we will review them in the LCCEF Bargaining Team’s next meeting as we formulate our response to the College.