Central Oregon Community College seeks mediation in faculty contract talks

UPDATE: Central Oregon Community College Faculty Forum Union released the following statement to KTVZ News concerning the school seeking mediation.

The following is a statement from the Central Oregon Community College Faculty Forum (COCCFF) union:

Today Central Oregon Community College administrators inappropriately and prematurely called for state mediation in the ongoing negotiations between COCC faculty and Administrators. 

The timing of their decision is trust breaking and cynical; after months of cheap talk about intentions of rebuilding trust with employees, COCC administrators chose to do the opposite, calculatedly waiting until the moment term ended to make their move when they knew faculty would not be on campus. Sandbagging the move to hide from scrutiny and accountability from their own employees is shameful, but the level of leadership we’ve come to expect from COCC Administrators. 

Negotiations between faculty and COCC have been underway for only six months; state mediation is typically not called until nearly a year into negotiations, or longer. COCC faculty have repeatedly shown up prepared to bargain in every session, and proactively sought compromise. COCC Administrators have negotiated in bad faith, come to meetings unprepared, and failed to present any proposals at all in multiple recent sessions - wasting time and failing to utilize the bargaining process appropriately. 

“COCC faculty are fighting for a fair contract that will raise our wages from the lowest in Oregon, reduce our workload, and beat back unprecedented attacks on our intellectual property rights,” said Sara Henson, professor of human development and President of the COCC Faculty Forum. “It is incredibly disingenuous that COCC Administrators have told us for months that resolving our contract dispute before the end of the term was a top priority, then repeatedly failed to come prepared to scheduled bargaining sessions and consistently presented either no proposals, or barely any, as our faculty bargaining team worked around the clock to move quickly. COCC Administrators calling for mediation today is about the college wanting to close the process of bargaining to the public and their own employees, and not being accountable for their fiscal mismanagement that includes approving 24% raises for themselves in recent years, while faculty struggle to survive working here. COCC faculty are paid $10,000 less than the average starting faculty at community colleges in Oregon, despite working in the most expensive community in Oregon. Administrators should address and fix that shameful fact, instead of bargaining in bad faith and trying to close the process to avoid scrutiny for their hypocrisy and misplaced priorities.”

In addition to resisting living wages, manageable workloads, or basic rights for their faculty, COCC administrators also have refused to agree to fair probationary periods for faculty at the college. The probationary period for a COCC administrator is one year; the probationary period for a COCC faculty member is five years. COCC administrators gave themselves a 4% COLA this month; they are offering faculty a 1% COLA.

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Central Oregon Community College has requested mediation through the Oregon Employment Relations Board regarding its ongoing negotiations with the faculty bargaining unit.

This request follows the expiration of the parties' collective bargaining agreement on June 13 and more than 150 days of bargaining.

Mediation is a standard step within Oregon's collective bargaining process, designed to assist both sides in reaching an agreement through a neutral third party. The College is pursuing this step to maintain momentum and continue working toward a new agreement throughout the summer months.

Erica Skatvold, chair of the COCC Board of Directors, highlighted the institution's commitment to its students and faculty. “As a student-centered institution, we support our faculty and want to reach a fair and sustainable agreement while creating certainty as we prepare for the upcoming academic year,” Skatvold said. “We have a responsibility to move negotiations forward to work toward a resolution.”

The request for mediation will not alter current college operations and is not expected to have an immediate impact on students, faculty or staff.