Dear Members,
As Chair of the Negotiating Committee, I have two goals. One is to negotiate a contract that will benefit our members, and the other is to complete the process in a civil and timely manner. I truly believe this process can unite or divide the college, and I think we can all agree that we need to come together and work together as a community so that we can all rebuild and recapture the spirit that made us strong.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to the bargaining survey. I have compiled the results and want to assure you that your voices will be heard at the bargaining table.
In order to expedite the process, Lynne Cottelli and I have met with our state rep, Joanna McAvoy, to get our contracts in line with each other. We are attempting to use similar language throughout on many or most of the articles we have in common. Unfortunately, in order to accomplish that, we must compare the language word by word and make adjustments as needed. As you can imagine, that takes a lot of time.
It is our expectation that we will begin to meet with administration sometime next month with the goal of being finished before the contract expires in June. The college has not yet announced who will be on their bargaining team, but the fact that Dr. Mazur was not only a union president but also a union lobbyist gives me all kinds of hope that we won’t encounter the union-busting mentality that seemed to consume the last administration’s bargaining team.
I will do my best to post updates on this website, and you can reach me at jones0101@gmail.com.
In Solidarity,
Jan