Central Oregon Community College faculty declare impasse over pay, cost of living
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Central Oregon Community College Faculty Forum has declared an impasse in contract negotiations with Central Oregon Community College after nine months of talks in Bend.
The union, an affiliate of the Oregon Education Association, stated that market adjustments to faculty compensation remain the primary sticking point despite tentative agreements on several other contract provisions.
According to the union, compensation for faculty at the college has trailed peer institutions for years while workload expectations remain high. Faculty members contend they are among the lowest paid at any community college in Oregon and the absolute lowest paid when factoring in the cost of living in Bend.
The union provided the following graphs:
Union representatives indicated a willingness to compromise on workload proposals if their compensation concerns are addressed by the college.
Sara Henson, president of the COCC Faculty Forum, expressed disappointment with the deadlock after months of bargaining.
“It's been nine months and I am sad at what this impasse signals to the workers who deliver high-quality instruction, support, leadership and innovation to our students and the COCC community,” Henson said. “COCC's actions demonstrate that they are fine with COCC faculty being among the lowest paid at any community college in Oregon. When you factor in cost of living, we are the absolute lowest paid faculty. We have been sharing for months that this needs to change. COCC Faculty Forum stands together to demand better for our colleagues, our students and our community.”
Union negotiators argue that high workloads and lagging salaries have reduced job candidate pools, hindered hiring and driven employee turnover. Mindy Williams, bargaining lead for the COCC Faculty Forum, criticized the college administration's financial decisions during negotiations.
“Faculty have been asking for a long time for the college to increase salary to adjust for labor market conditions and the rising cost of living in Bend,” Williams said. “Time and time again, the college has balanced its budget on the backs of hardworking educators. Meanwhile, they have made a series of financial blunders by investing in projects that have shown no sign of paying off. That is on COCC administration, not on the people delivering quality instruction to students at COCC.”
The union also referenced a report commissioned by SEIU 503 that documented administrative spending increases at Oregon public universities. Union members contend similar spending patterns are occurring at Central Oregon Community College, noting that administrator pay has been adjusted for labor market conditions while faculty pay has lagged.
Murray Godfrey, a professor of history at Central Oregon Community College, shared how local economic pressures have affected faculty members personally.
“Administrators have raised their pay to adjust to labor market conditions,” Godfrey said. “Meanwhile, I moved to Madras as a tactical retreat from Bend's skyrocketing cost of living. Even that is not enough. With my low COCC salary, I am forced to sell my remaining 'spare' time to the economy by working extra jobs wherever and whenever I can get them that work around my schedule. I have never been allergic to hard work, but it is a staggering irony that, if worked full time, the compensation for these 'supplemental' jobs can and will exceed the salaries of our junior faculty and make even the compensation of more seasoned faculty seem inadequate.”
While acknowledging budget challenges facing higher education institutions, the union maintained that recruiting and retaining educators through market-based pay is essential to the college's mission. Union representatives added that college administrators have consistently inflated the estimated cost of union proposals during bargaining sessions.
