On September 19, the Unity Negotiations Team met with Board representatives Joe Rossi, Karen Beckman, and Cindy DeFalco in J202. Representing the College employees were Michelle Bevan, Phil Cragg, Nick Ganaway, Dennis Huey, Mitch Mischlich, Dom Nigro, Will Parsons, Marsha Patrick, Jim Sacchinelli, John Stratton, Jim Taggart, Jim Usilton, and Penny Wells. The Faculty contract was on the table.

The meeting began at 1:00 and ended at 5:00. That makes a total of fifty-seven hours of extremely tedious sitting. That is seven eight-hour days with ten to twelve to twenty College employees being non-productive. Seven times ten is seventy non-productive work days so far. What a huge waste of time! Some of the community college contracts this year have been settled in one or two meetings. And Joe Rossi has the nerve to say, “We are still early in negotiations.”

I had hoped that our small job action would have pushed us into the end game, but it did not. We did make progress yesterday, but only a little bit. There was a decrease in the “give-backs” along with a decrease in the money offer. Stuff was shuffled around. Watching grass grow is faster and more exciting. I can hear one administrator who prides herself on reason saying, “You haven’t talked enough.” “You just need to sit down and reason together.” There is nothing much to talk about. We want a contract with figures like the other community colleges and no “give-backs”.

Job actions are a way of “acting-out” our frustrations with the offers. Job actions are negative, but it is the only tool we have. We have been working without a contract for almost three months. The Emergency Action Team has a long list of actions that will get the attention of the Administration and the Board. Stay tuned for further developments.

Will Parsons, Unity Negotiating Team Coordinator