Cincinnati State Technical and Community College's board of trustees ratified a three-year contract with its union workers during a Monday board meeting that includes a 3% pay increase for members and raises minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199, which represents nearly 90 members at the college, has been advocating for member pay increases while negotiating with Cincinnati State for the last several weeks. Some union members say they have not received a raise since 2017.
"It all comes down to taking care of the students," union administrative organizer Caitlin Brown said during an April press conference.
More: Cincinnati State 'has to demonstrate that they care.' Union workers advocate for raises
SEIU represents nearly 2 million workers in healthcare, the public sector and property services in the U.S. and Canada, according to its website. District 1199 represents workers in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Many Cincinnati State students have been taking remote classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the fall, the college's four campuses in Clifton, Harrison, Evendale and Middletown will fully reopen to students, according to a March announcement.
Cincinnati State spokesperson Richard Curtis told The Enquirer it's normal for the college to have contract negotiations with its unions on a regular cycle, and said the college is negotiating with several unions this year.
On Monday, Cincinnati State's vice president of administration, Lawra Baumann, said the college has already been bargaining with International Union of Operating Engineers' environmental services members and the sides are at an impasse. They are headed to mediation next week, she said. The college will start negotiations with the faculty union, the American Association of University Professors, on Thursday and expect to negotiate with two other unions between now and December.
Baumann said a majority of SEIU members voted in favor of their contract last Wednesday.
“One element that the college felt strongly about is that, as you know, we often are very successful at getting grants. And a lot of positions that we may hire using grant funds often fall into the union ranks. Because of the contractual bumping rights, that has sometimes caused problems," Baumann said. “We were able to successfully negotiate that, moving forward, any new grant-funded positions will be exempt from bumping rights.”
A small group of currently grant-funded employees are grandfathered into the contract, but no new members hired with grant funding will be permitted to bump, she said.
The agreement is effective May 1 and ends April 30, 2024, Baumann said. It includes a 3% increase for members of the union and raises the minimum hourly rate to $15 per hour. There are no pay increases in the second and third years of the contract, though there is a wage reopener clause in each of those years.
"We believe this positions the college as well as the union to engage in ongoing collaborative dialogue over the next three years and to hopefully begin to see the future of the college and enrollment far more robust than perhaps we've experienced, and perhaps allowing us to be able to consider other opportunities to support this hardworking group of employees," Baumann said during Monday's board of trustees meeting.
The economic impact of the contract for one year is about $112,000, Cincinnati State chief financial officer Christopher Calvert said.
"I am pleased we reached an agreement with our SEIU unit in a good timeframe, and appreciate their ongoing commitment to the Cincinnati State mission of providing affordable, high quality education for our students," Cincinnati State president Monica Posey said in a statement to The Enquirer Monday morning.
Source link
