Issue # 54: August 17, 2023
Update from the President
Frankie Cocanour
Bargaining:
As the members who attended the last bargaining session with the college are aware the college has given us two articles for wages and benefits. For a raise 23/24 they are offering us a 2.25% COLA. for 24/25 they are offering a 2.25% COLA and a step for step eligible employees. They put in a contingency that “IF” during the 23/24 academic year, the College achieves a credit student enrollment increase of 12% in the Fall, Winter, and Spring terms as measured on the fourth week of the term against the prior year’s term by the Institutional Research Office, all classified employees (.500 – 1.00 FTE) who are eligible for a step effective July 1, 2023 shall be granted a second full step on July 1, 2024. This is not equitable across the board because they have not put this contingency on management or faculty raises.
We will no longer need to buy up for long term disability while we have OEBB. That is good. It can save those that bought up some money. Don’t get too excited about that though. For section 125 everyone will go down to the college only putting in $500 per year for employee only, employee plus one, and full family. There will be no matching if you pay more.
For insurance Effective October 1, 2023, the College’s employer contributions for the cost of health insurance premiums shall remain at the 2022-23 College contribution levels as follows for any plan choice option: $827.73 for Employee Only coverage; $1,805.01 for Employee + Spouse/Partner Coverage; $1,592.29 for Employee + Child(ren) Coverage; and $2,567.51 for Full Family Coverage. What this means is that if the insurance premiums go up, we will pay the difference. The reason most of us agreed to go with MODA was because the college was going to cover the premiums.
A 2.25% raise is going to be more than eaten up by the cuts that they are making to our benefits.
If that makes you angry please reach out to us and help us fight this! The bargaining team cannot do this alone. We need our member’s support more than ever right now. We need to show the college that first of all raises should be equitable and not contingent on student enrollment. If we accept this once, then every year they will expect us to accept it. We have already seen that student enrollment can drop and keep dropping. Next we need to keep fighting for our benefits to stay intact. I understand that they are stressed about the budget, but they can’t fix the budget by taking away our benefits. We work hard at the college and we more than deserve to be fairly compensated for our work.
Class and Compensation:
We have not forgotten about class and compensation. We turned in article 18 as a way to get the college to start looking at all of the classes on campus and getting everyone’s position regularly checked and reclassed and compensated. We also need members to support article 18. Everyone deserves to be in the correct class and also have their job descriptions updated according to what they do, then get fairly compensated for it. This article was carefully written and we reached out to people that have worked on this before and who understood where we needed to tighten the language. The only way we can get this passed is for everyone to stand together and demand that the college do this!
Testimonials For Bargaining And The Board OF Ed Meeting:
We are looking for as many classified professionals as possible to read statements at our next bargaining session, then the BOE meeting September 6th. We need people to tell their truths about where they are struggling now in the financial climate that we are in and also how the cut in benefits are going to affect you. We have the most sympathetic board that we have ever had and they need to hear how you work hard, you deserve a fair wage increase, and how the college cutting benefits are going to affect (hurt) you. Please reach out to myself, Miche or Colin if you would like to volunteer. I know from personal experience that it is hard to do public speaking, but we really need as many people as we can so that we can give them a realistic picture of what the classified professionals are going through. If you are uncomfortable speaking, if you can attend the BOE meeting September 6th at 6:00 pm and hold a sign, that will help so much. We need as many people as we can get to show to the board that we are not accepting what the college is offering us, that we deserve real compensation for the work that we do!! We can do so much when we do it together!!
ALL FOR ONE! ONE FOR ALL!!!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Announcements and Reminders
FAIR CONTRACT NOW
DON’T FORGET TO WEAR RED ON WEDNESDAYS!
WE HAVE NEW T-SHIRTS WE HAVE PLENTY OF EVERY SIZE. Please email me at colinlccef@gmail.com to get yours!
BARGAINING CONTINUES
Tuesday, September 5, 2023 AT 2:00pm!
Members are welcomed to observe via Zoom with your microphones and cameras OFF, please. I will be running a Slack Chat to allow observers to chat with me and I can pass ideas to the team at the table. I will actually be at the table also but also in the chat and the Slack chat to answer questions you may have. Email me your private email address to: colinlccef@ gmail.com so I can add you to the Slack chat. There is also a link below for anyone to RSVP on a Google form. You will find the link for the bargaining meeting below:
Join Zoom Meeting https://lanecc.zoom.us/j/96183623044
Meeting ID: 961 8362 3044
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Vice President of Labor Relations
Buck Potter (2022-2023 Term)
Vice President of Organizing
Colin Vurek (2023-2024 Term)
Greetings members,
this is a crucial time in bargaining. The union bargaining team got a look at the College’s fiscal proposals and they were AWFUL! What we know already is that the faculty’s bargaining unit received 2.4 million dollars for wage increase and the LCCEF has been told we will be getting a meager $517,000 with strings attached. Additionally, they’ve decided to reduce the Section 125 dollar match to only $500 across the board.. So if you chose to opt in as a family, prepare to start paying out of pocket for your medications and crucial doctor visits. You will likely never reach your deductible. Oh, and the best nugget of all is that moving forward the College is proposing that Classified Professionals wages and other forms of compensation will now be dependent on student enrollment numbers. The Faculty union (LCCEA) nor the management wages are NOT based on student enrollment. This College is truly balancing the budget on Classified Professionals backs!
The bottom line is that they are offering Classified Professionals equivalent to a pay cut!
Today, Thursday, August 17, 2023 we will have our first CAT meeting! It is via Zoom. If you’d like to join us the link is below.
Join CAT Zoom Meeting
WE ARE LOOKING FOR TESTIMONIALS OF CLASSIFIED PROFESSIONALS ABOUT HOW YOU ARE CURRENTLY DOING FINANCIALLY AND WHAT CHALLENGES YOU WILL FACE WITH WHAT THE COLLEGE IS CURRENTLY OFFERING US! WE’LL SHARE YOUR STORY WITH THE BOARD! Please contact Colin at: colinlccef@gmail.com or Frankie at: cocanourf@lanecc.edu or Miche at: miched@aft-oregon.org
DON’T FORGET TO WEAR RED ON WEDNESDAYS!
UNION STRONG!
Grievance Officer
Claudia Riumallo (2023-2024 Term)
The College has required all staff to complete Vector Training, regarding various topics that impact our work place environment. If you have not completed the required Vector Training, make sure to do so soon. It is important that all classified professionals uphold the learning outcomes of these trainings and understand them, doing so will protect you and your colleagues while creating a better working environment.
Today we will address what a Hostile work environment vs. Workplace bullying is and is not.
Let’s start with what harassment is not it is not: Believe it or not, rude and boorish behavior on the part of a coworker may be inappropriate and it may border on harassment, but it doesn’t mean the work environment is hostile or that you are subject to harassment. Sadly, an employee with an unlikable bad habit or one that repeatedly bothers another coworker isn’t quite enough to create a hostile work environment. Nevertheless, this may be considered workplace bullying.
Our workplace should never be acceptable to bully and disrespect from co-workers or supervisors/managers or faculty. Here are some examples of bullying:
· Verbal abuse
- Using epithets
- Demeaning comments
- Unwarranted attacks about physical appearance
- Intimidation
- Profane outburst
- Offensive jokes and remarks
- Providing unclear or contradictory instructions
- Sabotaging projects
- Withholding or supplying incorrect information
- Spreading malicious rumors
In general, bullying alone is not illegal, but harassment and discrimination are. While bullying is not illegal in the workplace, both federal and Oregon law prohibit harassment, including hostile work environment harassment and discrimination. Bullying conduct can be considered unlawful harassment or discrimination if it has certain characteristics.
- According to the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and environment can become hostile when: Unwelcome conduct, or harassment, is based on race, sex, pregnancy, religion, national origin, age, disability or genetics
- Harassment is continued and long lasting
- Conduct is severe enough that the environment becomes intimidating, offensive or abusive.
What can you do if you feel you are being bullied or harassed?
· Avoid returning any offensive or bullying conduct. It can feel instinctive to want to defend yourself by returning offensive behavior to the person that has harmed you. However, doing so can put your job in jeopardy and as well as harm your credibility and have unintended future consequences.
· Avoid returning any offensive or bullying conduct. It can feel instinctive to want to defend yourself by returning offensive behavior to the person that has harmed you. However, doing so can put your job in jeopardy and as well as harm your credibility and have unintended future consequences.
· Reach out to your Union Representatives, we are here to support you and your work environment.
Treasurer
Linda Reling (2022-2023 Term)
I hope everyone is doing okay with the heat and fires!
Records Officer
Tracy Weimer (2022-2024 Term)
Communications Officer
Marleena Pearson (2022-2023 Term)
Are you willing to have a pay cut this year? If not, take ACTION!
Membership Officer
Skye Nguyen (2022-2023 Term)
Hello everyone, I am back again! I hope everyone has been enjoying summer even with this smoky time, and those affected by the fire are staying safe out there. If you haven’t been keeping up with bargaining please get caught up! There are some big changes around economics and we need everyone to stand together to change this! Get in contact with Colin to get involved!
Finally, if anyone ever wants to chat about how they can get involved with the union just tag me! 🙂
If there are any questions about membership or someone has interest in joining, they can reach out to me (membership@lccef.org) or fill out the online membership form!
Your Benefit Info of the Week
Did you know that members get some really useful benefits? This week we are highlighting Union Scholarships. The deadline for Union plus scholarships is just opening and will close January 31st, 2024. If you or someone in your family is going to school or planning to get started with college get in to apply to these scholarships!
Find out what other benefits you are qualified for as union members by going to AFT.org.
Resources you may need!
- How to update your physical address on Expresslane.
- Complete this form for a Membership card or a new membership card! If you are a new member, one may have already been requested, contact the LCCEF Membership Officer for info.
- Submit an Important Life Event for you or another member may have coming up.
Chief Labor Delegate
Mark Jordan (2022-2023 Term)
COPE Officer
Fiora Starchild-Wolf (2022-2023 Term)
Officer At Large
Katie Neall (2023-2024 Term)
Stay connected to LCCEF
Website: https://lccef.org/
Subscribe to Calendar: LCCEF Union Google Calendar
Email address: lccef@lanecc.edu