The LBCC Faculty Association and AFT Local 6108, representing classified employees, converged on the Board of Trustees meeting on May 25 to publicly lodge grievances around cost of living adjustments and salaries they hope to resolve in negotiation with the district.
The Faculty Association reached a tentative agreement with the district the following day, achieving a 6.56% cost of living adjustment (COLA), a one-time $2000 stipend for off-schedule work and a number of “contract language gains,” confirmed Suzanne Engelhardt, LBCCFA president.
AFT remains in negotiation with the college.
“Classified are at the low end of the school pay wise, which we understand, but when inflation hits badly like it is now, it hurts people paying rent, people buying food, single mothers,” said Robert Remeta, president of AFT.
“And the district isn’t keeping up with keeping the very low-end high enough.”
“We’re hoping that Friday, they come to the table with a more realistic number, considering inflation is at 6.56% and the highest cost of goods since 1981,” said Donna Coats, LAC vice president of AFT and member of the union’s negotiating team.
On the gap between what is being asked by the union and what is offered by the school, Coats is straightforward: “It’s a wide number apart.”
Marc Smith, PCC vice president of AFT agreed, saying “(There is a) huge gap. We’re not even close. It would take a serious, honest, equitable offer on the part of the district.”
“We ask for a decent wage to survive. We’re not asking for less and less money every year as inflation skyrockets,” Remeta said, “They’re just not keeping up. And for the people like us at the bottom who work for a living, it’s just difficult.”
To highlight what they see as unfair and substandard pay, classified employees and faculty gave comments to the board during their initial closed session.
Coats spoke for herself and on behalf of other employees, using their typed up speeches. In her statement, she referenced LBCC staff that are homeless.
“It recently came to my attention that we have staff here that are living in their vehicles,” she said, “Originally in my speech I was going to say ‘We have safe parking for students, maybe one day soon we’ll need it for employees’ and I subsequently found out we indeed have employees parking in a lot.”
Remeta has heard other stories of hardship: “I’ve had people tell me that “If I don’t get 5% (COLA adjustment) I can’t afford to come to work because of gas.”
The focus of most employees’ grievances to the board was around cost of living adjustment funds, or COLA.
“Cost of living adjustment, which is mandated by the state, at 6.56%, is the minimum we should be working from. Any less than that, and you’re taking money out of our pocket,” Smith said
COLA funds are provided to school districts by the state, rather than directly to employees, with the funds then distributed by the districts themselves.
“The district considers their COLA as their money and you have to negotiate for raises,” Remeta said, “We’re just asking to keep our cost of living so we can keep paying for food and keep paying for gas.”
“We have a COLA and the school gets the COLA (funds). The faculty, the employees, the classified, that COLA should come to us for raises,” Engelhardt said, “We are asking at minimum that that is distributed to the employees that support this institution for the students.”
Union leaders pointed to the school’s reserve fund, or rainy day fund, as proof that the money is there to grant raises to staff.
“The school is given money and there is an opportunity to help our faculty by distributing that COLA to help offset the cost of gas, food and cost of living. Don’t put it in the reserve, we have a healthy reserve. So distribute it to your employees,” Engelhardt said.
“We’re ok with their rainy day fund. But at the same time, we don’t want it to grow,” Remeta said, “We’d like us to keep up with the wage.”
“We don’t have a problem with them putting money in the reserves. But not at our expense,” Smith agreed, saying “(The school) put $7 million more into the reserves, eliminated $2 million in deficit spending and got an influx of $30 million from MacKenzie Scott. We’re not asking for anything outrageous, just to maintain. Anything less than the COLA that the school gets for us, is taking it out of our pocket.”
As negotiations continue, classified union members hope they can change how the college views them as employees.
“We’re trying to implore the board to think higher of us than maybe some of the others because our percentages don’t equal as much as their percentages,” Remeta said.
“I’m not criticizing, we understand our lot. We love our jobs and we love supporting our students. But we’re the ones that take the layoffs. We’re at the bottom. We’re not at the top of their list. We ask for a decent wage to survive,” he continued.
“During the pandemic, we were the ones here. There was no faculty here and when they had to go remote, they were compensated for that. We were keeping the campuses running, we were screening students for COVID,” Smith said, “And I’m not taking anything from (the faculty), I want them to get a fair and equitable raise too.”
Following the statements given by classified employees and faculty to the Board of Trustees in the closed session, Superintendent-president Mike Munoz said he was “not able to comment on closed session items.”