By Lauren Blanchard.
A big thanks to Elizabeth Mullins, Kathleen Rozman, Wendy Bates and Adria Gerard for counting the MPCTA ballots this morning. The tentative agreement, signed by the MPCTA and District negotiation teams on November 5, 2018, has passed a vote by the faculty. 92 members of the faculty voted during the last week, and 89 faculty voted to approve the agreement. I will communicate this result to the District, and this tentative agreement should appear on the November Board of Trustees agenda.
This agreement will:
- Significantly reduce the number of years required for full-time faculty to move to the highest step of the full-time salary schedule (A)– this change is retroactive to July 1, 2018
- Increase the pay for part-time faculty by 4%– this change is retroactive to July 1, 2017
- Increase the pay for all full-time faculty by 1%– this change is retroactive to July 1, 2017
- Ensure that part-time faculty and full-time faculty working an overload are paid for all the hours they are scheduled to be in the classroom, effective January 1, 2018
- Includes language designed to ensure faculty that work an extended work year will receive credit for that additional income in the STRS Defined Benefit Plan
- Ensure that faculty that work an extended work year are paid a fair day rate for the additional time they are required to spend on campus (1/175)
- Create a more equitable system for deducting sick leave and allow faculty to “bank” an additional 3 TLUs of leave, if they anticipate a family or medical leave in the next year
- Provide a streamlined grievance process, and
- Update the language of the faculty self-evaluation process
- Limit changes to full-time faculty benefits, and protect the current application of the grading factor and the role of division chairs
If approved by the Board of Trustees, this agreement is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2019. This means that MPCTA needs to immediately begin generating ideas about what else needs to be improved in our contract. Please let me know immediately if there are provisions of the contract that need to change.
If you are interested in participating on the MPCTA negotiating team, please let me know. Although all the members of the negotiating team are happy to continue, we have operated for the last 2+ years with 3 members, rather than 4.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
