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The four-year agreement comes at the end of a sometimes contentious process that include three days of mediation and 15 bargaining sessions.
Lane Community College has agreed on a tentative contract with its faculty union, the Lane Community College Education Association, LCC administration and the union announced Thursday, Feb. 26.
“The agreement represents a meaningful milestone for the institution and the faculty who serve students every day,” they said in a joint news release.
The agreement still must be ratified by union members and the LCC Board of Education. A timeline for the faculty vote had not been released as of Thursday. The board is scheduled to meet Wednesday, March 4, but the agenda has not yet been posted.
The agreement was reached Wednesday at the end of a third day of mediation. It wraps up a sometimes contentious monthslong process that included 15 bargaining sessions, informational pickets by union members, and hours of public comments from union members and supporters during Board of Education meetings.
The news release said highlights of the tentative four-year agreement include:
- A 3% cost of living adjustment in each of the first two years and 3.1% in years three and four.
- A 1.5% longevity step to full-time and part-time faculty members who are at the top step of the wage range.
- A 1% annual parity increase for all part-time faculty.
- Strengthened faculty privacy rights and updated anti-discrimination language.
- An agreement on “reasonable workloads.”
- Clarified information-request procedures to support a clearer working relationship.
- Contract language clarifications throughout the agreement that will benefit both parties by reducing ambiguity and improving day-to-day labor relations.
LCC President Stephanie Bulger was quoted in the news release as saying that the “agreement reflects our shared commitment to our faculty, our students, and the long-term health of this institution. Staying at the table, working through the difficult and nuanced conversations, and finding solutions that are both fair and fiscally responsible is exactly what this community deserved. I am especially pleased that we were able to prioritize part-time faculty equity in this contract.”
Adrienne Mitchell, the president of the faculty union, said in the press release: “This was a long and challenging process, and we are grateful for the overwhelming solidarity and resolve of our members. We are delighted that we have reached an agreement that addresses faculty priorities in a reasonable manner and helps provide stability for our beloved LCC.”
In an email to Lookout Eugene-Springfield, Mitchell cited the “solidarity and resolve of our members, which helped propel us toward an agreement in mediation.” She said 96% of union members had signed strike pledges and the union held “strike schools” to help prepare members for the possibility of a walkout.
Mitchell said one disappointment was an inability to reach agreement on contract language that would have allowed the use of LCC’s alert system to send notifications in the event of confirmed activity on campus by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
But she added: “Overall, we think it is a fair, reasonable agreement that supports faculty and our students.”
The union represents about 200 full-time and 300 part-time faculty members.
Jenna McCulley, LCC’s senior advisor for strategic communications, said in an email to Lookout that reaching the agreement required “difficult conversation” about the college’s financial position.
“LCC is navigating a period of fiscal challenge, with approximately $8 million in reductions anticipated over the next three years within an approximately $110 million annual general fund budget,” McCulley wrote. “The agreement reflects an understanding that a contract must be sustainable to serve faculty and students well over its full term.”
The college also has reached a tentative agreement with its other major union, the Lane Community College Education Federation, which represents about 500 classified employees. The agreement includes a 3% cost of living adjustment. Members of the federation were scheduled to be voting on the agreement through Thursday, with the intent of presenting it to the Board of Education at its March meeting.
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