Teaching staff at Central Oregon Community College say they’re ready to go on strike after nine months of bargaining for higher salaries.
Dozens of members of the Central Oregon Community College Faculty Forum picketed on campus in Bend on Wednesday, chanting and waving signs while circling the streets outside the Coats Campus Center.
The group of 171 full-time and part-time professors intend to stop work on Oct. 5 if the college can’t make them a better offer in two upcoming negotiation sessions.
“I’m really super hopeful — we’ve shown our strength, we’ve ceded our case — that the board and the college will hear what we’re asking for and make us a reasonable offer,” COCC Faculty Forum President Sara Henson told the Source following Wednesday’s rally.
COCC teachers say their salaries have fallen far behind statewide norms for community college instructors, making the job unaffordable in one of the most expensive housing markets in the state. The college says say that meeting the full salary demands would put the institution on unstable financial ground amid a grim funding outlook for public higher education statewide.
Faculty leaders said in a press release Tuesday that the college has increased spending on capital projects without similar salary increases.
“This strike vote sends a clear message: the college’s financial priorities are wrong,” faculty bargaining chair Mindy Williams said in a press release announcing the vote on Tuesday.
In a strike vote earlier this week, 96% of the faculty membership voted in favor of authorizing a strike. Faculty declared an impasse — or stalemate — in negotiations with the college on Aug. 31. In a mediation session on Sept. 17, COCC presented six options in response to the faculty group’s final offer — including one that would raise starting salaries for full-time professors by 17% on average, according to a college webpage on the negotiations. That would make COCC’s entry-level salaries the third highest among community colleges in the state, fourth highest for staff of 10 years and seventh highest at the maximum salary level, according to the webpage.
In a statement, COCC college Greg Pereira said faculty are, “central to that work and to the strength of this institution.”
“While there are issues we still need to resolve through negotiations, I’m confident that everyone involved shares a commitment to our students, our College and the communities we serve,” he said.
Under the current contract, the entry-level salary for full-time professors is about $61,500, while those with more years of experience make more. The faculty group’s final offer proposed raising that to $75,000, while the college is proposing $69,000.
Bend individuals need to earn at least $72,000 to afford a one-bedroom apartment, a City of Bend housing report found last year.
“A lot of the faculty these days are working second jobs just to make ends meet,” Carol Higginbotham, a COCC chemistry professor of 27 years, told the Source. “It wasn’t like that when I started here.”
This is the closest COCC staff members have ever come to going on strike. Faculty have had a collective bargaining unit for years, but weren’t affiliated with the statewide teachers’ union until last year. That meant COCC faculty had little power during disagreements with the college, Higginbotham said.
“For years, we were accepting contracts because there wasn’t a good alternative,” Higginbotham said. “We’ve needed to do this for a while,” she added.
The salary negotiations come as COCC and higher education institutions across Oregon face financial headwinds due to federal funding cuts and falling enrollment. Lucas Alberg, a spokesperson for COCC, said the college’s reserve funds are already projected to drop to historic lows, and the requested salary increases would not be sustainable without “significant impacts elsewhere in the budget.”
Oregon Sen. Anthony Broadman (D-Bend) spoke briefly during the faculty rally on campus Wednesday, vowing to advocate both for community college faculty and for increased higher education funding.
“It’s reasonable to be frustrated right now,” Broadman said to a crowd of faculty through a megaphone. “And I’ll take some responsibility for it. The state has not adequately funded higher education. This today, what you are seeing, is a symptom of that.”
Earlier this year, COCC’s classified staff — non-teaching employees — threatened to go on strike but reached a deal before doing so. Meanwhile, teachers at Portland Community College went on strike earlier this year — the first community college strike in Oregon’s history.
Despite the strike, classes are proceeding as normal for now, Alberg said in an email.
“If a strike occurs, COCC will communicate directly with students about their individual classes and any actions they need to take,” Alberg wrote. “In the meantime, the College remains focused on reaching an agreement and avoiding disruption to students.”
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