LBCC Board of Education approves Part-time Faculty Association first contract

Members of Linn-Benton Community College’s Part-Time Faculty Association ratified their first contract, which the LBCC Board of Education approved at a special meeting Thursday, Dec. 8.

The contract increases LBCC part-time faculty salaries to the average of Oregon community colleges of similar size as LBCC before the end of the four-year contract term.

The contract also includes enhancements in sick leave, tuition waivers and retirement contribution provisions.

The contract agreement was reached after two sessions with a mediator, and took just over a year to negotiate – a relatively quick timeline for an initial contract.

The contract was ratified on the first vote of both the Part-Time Faculty Association membership and the LBCC Board of Education.

“We are grateful for the important contributions of our part-time faculty to the success of our students,” said LBCC President Greg Hamann. “This agreement will help us retain and attract the excellent faculty members we need to fulfill our mission.”

Part-time faculty members will receive an average of a 4.2 percent pay increase this year, which will vary individually from 3.1 to 5.4 percent depending on the salary schedule step they are on, which is based on length of service.

Pay increases for the following two years will be 3.1 percent and 3.25 percent. The raise in the fourth year of the contract will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index and will be 3 to 4.5 percent.

On average, LBCC’s part-time faculty salaries were lower than the salaries at comparable colleges and these increases bring them in line with salaries at like-sized community colleges in Oregon.

The contract also makes it possible for part-time faculty to receive paid sick leave early in an instructional term – rather than needing to accrue it first, which would occur later in a term.

The tuition waiver for part-time faculty will also increase from 3 to 5 credits per term.

The contract also calls for the college to pay the 6 percent contribution to the Public Employee Retirement System for part-time faculty, the majority of whom are PERS eligible, which again brings their contract into alignment with part-time faculty compensation at similar-sized colleges.

Another benefit of the contract, according to LBCC Human Resources Director Scott Rolen, is it consolidates key employment and benefit related information in a single location where part-time faculty members can easily find it. Previously, the information was distributed in a variety of places such as college board policies, administrative rules and faculty handbooks.

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