The Montauk Point Room at Ammerman was packed for the general membership meeting held on December 9. FA officers also hosted four-hour contract information sessions on all three campuses on December 11. (photo by Cynthia Eaton)

The FA has agreed to a contract proposal, a stipulation of agreement, with the college and Suffolk County. The proposal is for three years and is set to expire on August 31, 2022. The process of getting to this proposal has taken nearly a year and a half.

In fall 2018, the FA held ten contract negotiation forums with our members across the three campuses to solicit suggestions for the next contract. The membership was also anonymously surveyed. The negotiation team and chief negotiator Kevin Peterman (both of which were voted for by the Executive Council) met in January 2019.

At that meeting, there were many questions as to how to proceed in negotiations since there was uncertainty about the leadership at the college as well as concerns about continuing declines in student enrollment. The team decided to go for a rollover of the current contract with a few “asks.” The rationale for this negotiations strategy was because we did not, and still do not, know who our next college president will be, nor do we know what kind of philosophy that person harbors toward faculty unions.

Informal meetings with the college began over the summer and we spent the last two months negotiating with the college and the county. On Thursday, December 5, all parties came to a tentative agreement that we believe is a fair contract that includes:

• 1.6% annual raises at each step for full-time faculty
• 2%, 2.5% and 2.5% increases for adjunct/overload rates at each respective year
• Increases to the Benefit Fund contribution by $50/full-time member in years 2 and 3
• Increase of $200 for conference attendance in year 1 and an additional increase of $200 for year 3
• Increases in contribution to the adjunct faculty development and retraining fund to $50,000/year by the end of the contract
• Increase in fully online and blended/hybrid class sizes to match corresponding on-campus class sizes (no more class size reduction for distance ed courses)
• 12 credits/semester of contractual release time for governance leaders
• Full-time librarians and ten-month counselors will have assignable shifts between 7:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
• Labor management committee to address student retention and distance education issues.

All FA members who are in good standing are eligible to vote on the contract proposal which will be a mail ballot.

Ballots along with the contract proposal will be sent via U.S. Postal Service during the week of December 16. Ballots must be mailed back to the FA’s post office box—they may not be hand delivered or interoffice mailed to the FA office in the Southampton Building—in time to arrive before Monday, January 13, at 12 p.m. (noon).

Instructions detailing how to vote and return the ballot will be included on the official ballot. Follow the directions carefully or your ballot will be invalidated.  

If the membership votes by simple majority to pass the contract, then the proposal will be sent to the SCCC Board of Trustees (BOT) for a vote at their January 16 meeting. If the BOT passes the contract, the Suffolk County Legislature will have the final vote on the contract proposal.

The FA is proud of the fair contract proposal that is presented to the membership, and we ask for your support by voting in favor of the contract proposal.