The union would like to report about the events of the Board of Trustees meeting on September 18, 2025. Members of the union attended the meeting to demand that the college stop the withholding of nursing high-demand salary increases by the college administration. One union member, Taylor Smith, spoke during the public comment section on the issue. The president of the college, Dr. Singh, spoke in response to Taylor’s public comment, and our union president, Scott Haddock, gave a response to the president’s response.
During the public comment session at the BOT meeting on Sept 18, 2025, union member and Nursing faculty Taylor Smith spoke in front of the Board of Trustees about the unilateral decision by the college administration to withhold the state-funded nursing high-demand salary increases guaranteed by the Workforce Education Investment Act (HB 2158). You can find the full text of Taylor’s public comment here, but to summarize, Taylor spoke about how this decision by Dr. Singh violates the legislative intent of HB 2158, our collective bargaining agreement, and state law requiring consultation with faculty on matters of compensation. She also said that the actions of the college administration undermines the morale of the Nursing faculty, damages their trust in the college, and jeopardizes program stability.
After Taylor finished speaking, Dr. Singh took the opportunity to respond to the public comment. His full remarks, transcribed from video, can be found at the link, but in summary, Dr. Singh stated that the faculty union was informed on June 30th after it was discovered that the proviso for the state-allocated funding for high-demand salary enhancements was removed. He then stated that the CBA states that any change in funding must be bargained.
He then indicated that VP Suzanne Moreau should give an update on the bargaining. She stated that the college administration and the union have met on this issue but there was a break in the summer, and the matter is still being actively bargained. Dr. Singh continued, saying that the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges says that colleges no longer have a legal or policy requirement to expend the high-demand funds on salary enhancements for nursing faculty.
At this point, union president Scott Haddock interjected, saying that according to the meeting protocol established by the chair, Dr. Singh has the right to discuss or rebut what was said in a public comment, but other people do not. He continued, saying that because VP Moreau was allowed to speak during the rebuttal, he should also have a chance to reply. Dr. Singh replied that it was his right as president to invite anyone to speak in support of him.
Shortly thereafter, Scott injected again, saying that Article 1.10 of our CBA states that the Federation representative (that is, Scott) “shall be allowed to speak on any question on any agenda.” He went on to state that Dr. Singh violated the contract by preventing Scott from speaking.
Later in the meeting, Scott Haddock was given time to speak during the allotted time in the agenda granted to the Federation representative. The full text of Scott’s report to the Board can be found here, but in summary, Scott indicated that the college administration informed the union about the nursing high-demand salary increases on June 30th, when our faculty are not on contract, and that informing the union about the issue is not the same as bargaining. The first meeting about the high-demand issue was on July 18th, after the high-demand salary enhancements were already withheld from the paychecks of Nursing faculty. During that July 18th meeting, the administrators who called that meeting came with no proposal and no information, but they promised to have a written proposal within one week of that meeting. No written proposal has been received by the union as of the time of the BOT meeting and the Nursing faculty have still not received their salary enhancements. Scott also reiterated the union’s position that the contract language and the MOU regarding the high-demand salary enhancements remains binding. He also said that the amount of funding has not changed, so renegotiation is not triggered and that the salary enhancements should continue to be paid until an agreement is reached.
This issue is ongoing, and the union will continue to fight for the salary enhancements for our Nursing faculty and the other faculty eligible for high-demand salary increases. We want to thank Taylor Smith for speaking to the BOT on this issue. We also want to thank Rachel Zhang, Penny Watridge, and Kyra McCoy for showing up in support. Finally, we want to thank our president Scott Haddock for his leadership on this issue.