A contract between the Hartnell Community College District and the Hartnell College Faculty Association ended in June 2022. Since then, faculty have continued working under the old contract which, in its final year, gave a 1-percent raise. Meanwhile, inflation spiraled upward and the federally determined COLA rose to 8.7 percent. When faculty members returned to the bargaining table this year, they were disappointed to learn the administration was offering a 6.25-percent raise for 2022-23. “We’re way apart on wages,” HCFA President Nancy Schur-Beymer says.
Currently, Hartnell faculty annual pay ranges from $57,126-$121,962, while Monterey Peninsula College faculty make between $61,600-$131,192. The MPC Board of Trustees approved a 7.22-percent wage increase on June 28. The Hartnell union was asking for a 10.5-percent increase in the first year, 8-percent the second and whatever the state allocated COLA in the third year. Hartnell administrators offered 6.25 percent for the 2022-23 school year, 3 percent for 2023-24, and 1 percent in 2024-25.
Negotiations resumed on Wednesday, Sept. 20, after the Weekly’s deadline. The two sides are meeting after a kerfuffle arose on Sept. 5, when faculty were angered by a proposal on the Hartnell board’s agenda to restructure the managers’ pay schedule. The union claimed some managers would receive a 41-percent raise, but administrators say it’s a mischaracterization and that raises are 6.25 percent the first year and 4.2 percent the second, although some positions will receive more. The board postponed a vote on manager raises until October, after negotiations with faculty are scheduled to end on Sept. 27.
“It’s complicated and negotiations are complicated,” Hartnell President/Superintendent Michael Gutierrez says. “The reality is that we, much like our faculty, are wanting to come to an agreement. We all have the same goal in mind so we would like to see it happen.”
(2) comments
Thank you Pam Marino and MCWeekly for covering this topic. As a faculty member at Hartnell College, I can say that my entire paycheck from Hartnell goes to pay rent here in Salinas for a tiny bungalow. Many professionals, hospitality and 'blue collar' workers are moving away from our area. The best and the brightest go where they can afford to live with a real roof over their heads, creating a literal brain drain in Salinas and the rest of Monterey County. Low-income folks like college professors can't even afford to commute to work with gas prices so high and public transportation in such a dismal state.
I sure want to know - and I bet the public does, too - exactly what the proposed pay raises for the Hartnell College administration and management are. Reports stated up to 40% increase in salary and benefits for some management and admin staff, but the official line from Hartnell College makes it sound like those reports were way off base. What are the facts here? How can the public find out?
Hartnell College has a really admin-heavy structure - ever since Ed Valeau started bringing in his cronies as 'consultants' and then hiring them as management. It bears reminding here that the last impasse the faculty had was during Ed Valeau's term and who was the president of the board of trustees? Steve McShane. That impasse ended in a strike. Must we strike again to get decent pay and a living wage?
Hartnell is at the bottom of the barrel when compared to other colleges, according to a document I found, has the lowest paid faculty in the area, not to mention the state, where Hartnell ranks 67 out of 72 California community colleges for instructional pay scale and 70 out of 72 in part time-full time ratio. Why would Hartnell refuse health care for adjunct professors when it is 100% paid for by the State of California? I am flabbergasted that more people aren't wondering about these issues. Not long ago I knew an adjunct at Hartnell living in a car - because the professor couldn't even find a room in a house to rent on the salary paid at Hartnell. The public is unable to discover the truth about actual salary proposals at Hartnell College, but we want to know - I want to know! - the professors should be making enough money to live here, the administrators already do make enough to live in the area, so if that group is receiving anywhere NEAR a 40% increase to salary/benefits, while the Hartnell College Board of Trustees is offering practically zero to the faculty and support staff, it demonstrates the low value given to faculty and staff. At our bi-annual rally or convocation the administration repeated that faculty and staff are are #1 - yet their actions show we are dead last. In this way the students lose the most - because the best faculty and staff simply go elsewhere - a place where they can make a living wage, have health benefits and be appreciated.
What I can see from this picture is half of these people need to resign immediately to make way for more POC! Do the right thing folx!
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