At the beginning of fall 2024 semester activities, MCCC’s faculty union members wearing red shirts to symbolize solidarity during the prolonged contract fight. PHOTO | Ryan Johnson
After months of contentious negotiations, MCCC’s administration negotiators and representatives of the college’s full-time faculty union finalized the terms of a new five-year contract, resulting in a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in a sit-down meeting on November 19, 2024.
Full-time faculty had been working without a contract since July 1.
At the beginning of the fall semester, MCCC’s President Dr. Deborah Preston said the negotiations hadn’t been on the timeline she had hoped for. She said, “We started negotiations a little bit later in the academic year than I wish we had.”
First-year Art History major, Vincent Montoya, remarked, “I think that’s great for [faculty] to come here even without a contract. That’s dedication.”
According to Dr. Matthew Kochis, English Professor and lead negotiator for the Association, “Over 91% of the union voted on the MOU. Of those who voted, 100% voted in favor of the new contract.”
The MOU guarantees immediate retroactive raises, additional raises spread over the 5-year contract, longevity bonuses, and the option for faculty to either receive compensation for teaching extra “overload” classes or save those credits to reduce their teaching load in a future term.
From the student perspective, many were concerned if an increase in faculty salary could affect student tuition.
Kyle Anderson, Professor of Mathematics and a member of the faculty union negotiation team was asked by The VOICE about this potential increase.
He said, “I believe what we put forth in our very first initial proposal was an increase for faculty that the college could currently afford without having to increase student tuition. I believe we came into that initial phase feeling like ‘all right, the college has the money. It’s not going to cause student tuition to go up, so why not?’”
However, yearly enrollment, state funding from the school, and future investments by the college can all cause tuition to increase, regardless of a raise for the professors.
According to Kochis, “Tuition has risen every single year since I’ve been here, so it’s always gone up.”
Erica M. Oliver, Interim Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director for Marketing and Communications, who was authorized to speak on behalf of the administration said, “I think it’s exciting that they all came to an agreement amicably and that we’ll be able to move forward.”
When asked how she feels about the new contract, Dr. Charlene Sharkey, Math Professor and Treasurer of the Union’s Executive Board, replied, “I feel like we are being valued. I feel valued because of this contract, and I know our negotiators worked really, really hard to get an excellent contract for us. So I feel valued.”
Now that the faculty has ratified the MOU, it must be approved by the MCCC Board of Trustees at an emergency meeting on December 18 before it can take effect.
