Faculty & Administration are “far apart” on compensation & workload at July 24 session; Mediator will attend bargaining on July 25

The Faculty and Administration bargaining teams met on July 24 for about two hours, and the Faculty Team worked for several more hours after bargaining ended for the day.

The Faculty Team presented a new version of a proposal for a few changes to language in Article 6 (Faculty Involvement in Governance), and also offered to accept the Administration’s updated language for Appendix A, which describes some details of the employee health benefits plan. These updates apply to the health benefits plan that went into effect July 1 and do not change any health benefits.

The Faculty Team presented a new counter-proposal for Article 9 (Workload) and explained why adjustments are needed for some of the contract language that describes faculty work.

Faculty Team Co-leader Greg Klein said, “We tried again today to find ways to help the Administration Team members understand how faculty work has expanded in recent years, particularly for chairs and for College Credit Plus coordinators. But we haven’t yet reached a shared understanding of those concerns with the Administration.”

The Faculty Team also presented a new counter-proposal for Article 8 (Compensation). Faculty Team member Pam Ecker said, “Our team is continuing to express and explain what the AAUP has heard from our faculty colleagues– the need for improvements in compensation that will help our faculty keep up with increases in the cost of living, help make up for years when Cincinnati State faculty received no raises, and help us recruit and retain faculty who are dedicated to serving our students and our community.”

Faculty Team Co-leader Julie McLaughlin said, “The Faculty and Administration proposals for Compensation and Workload continue to be very far apart, and both sides agreed that it would be helpful to ask a mediator to attend the next bargaining session.”

Mediator Joe Wilson, a Commissioner in the Southwest Ohio office of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) will be joining the bargaining session on Tuesday, July 25. Mr. Wilson served as mediator for Cincinnati State AAUP contract negotiations in 2021.

Mediation is one of the steps built into Ohio’s collective bargaining law, and is intended to help achieve settlements that are acceptable to both sides.

Julie said, “We hope Mr. Wilson will be able to help us close the distance between Faculty and Administration on the unresolved contract issues.”