Hello Trustees. My name is Chuck Mueller and I am the Vice-President for Action and Advocacy for the faculty union. During your last session, Taylor Smith told you that the college was withholding high-demand salary enhancements from the Nursing faculty. Currently, the administration has agreed to provide high-demand pay to the Nursing faculty including back pay, but has not agreed to pay high-demand salary enhancements to other eligible faculty in November. I would like to respond to Dr. Singh’s statements from the last meeting.
Dr. Singh said that the issue was being bargained, which is true. Considering that the MOU covering these high-demand payments was signed in April, I am left to wonder why it needs to be renegotiated so soon.
Regardless, since bargaining began on August 13, the administration has not submitted one written proposal for the union to consider. If the administration saw any urgency in this matter, they would have acted in nine weeks.
Dr. Singh also said that the SBCTC told him that the college is under no obligation to pay these salary enhancements. However, when the union reached out to the State Board about this matter, we were told that “colleges must still comply with contractual obligations.” There is no section of the contract that says that high-demand payments cease during negotiations. In fact, contract law states that the current contract must be followed while negotiations progress. The college administration is telling us they will not do that.
Dr. Singh’s administration is not following the contract. Furthermore, he is eroding the trust that the faculty, students, and staff of this college have in his administration all for the sake of making sure that some of our faculty do not receive their full salary.
Trustees, please hold this administration accountable for not upholding the contract during negotiations. Please encourage them to move forward with bargaining. Finally, please ask Dr. Singh how he will repair the shattered relationship between his administration and the students and faculty of this college.