CEA Pleads Its Case

UNION OUTLINES STRIKE THREAT

A storm of a different type is brewing on campus.

Representatives of the college’s Classified Employees Association who addressed the Feb. 11 meeting of the Mt. Hood student body government delivered a strong message: The bargaining group that includes MHCC’s non-teaching and non-administrative staff is prepared to strike soon if a new labor contract isn’t reached with the college.

The CEA plans to attend the regularly scheduled Feb. 19 MHCC District Board meeting, followed by a campus protest on Feb. 20 – the next session due with mediators sent by Oregon’s governor to reach a resolution with the college.

For more than a year, the CEA and administration have made little progress in negotiating updates to the contract that expired last July, stumbling over proposed wage and cost-of-living increases and other issues.

“We wanted to tell students about this issue because so far the college administration…refuse to acknowledge our concerns in bargaining and if they don’t acknowledge our concerns, we have been mobilizing for a strike and that’s a big deal,” Jennifer Hare, an academic adviser on the Gresham campus, told members of the Associated Students of MHCC.

The stated purpose of their visit on Feb. 11 was to raise students’ awareness of the dispute, and the disruption a strike could bring.

Union representatives said a strike by the CEA could impact students’ ability to get help with choosing classes, navigate student financial aid, and could prevent student workers from getting paid, the union representatives said.

“A strike would be very detrimental to the student population that we serve” and “we don’t want them to be negatively impacted,” Hare said. Corey Huston, science lab coordinator at MHCC and a member of the CEA bargaining team said that the union felt the college’s best offer (said to be a 4% salary increase) wouldn’t address the rise in inflation and the cost of living.

Huston said many Mt. Hood employees are falling behind, producing for the student council CEA’s version of the college salary schedule to highlight the contrast in pay rates.

Even as many CEA employees would qualify for low-income assistance – including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits – the median salary of Mt. Hood college administrators was recently put at $127,000, he said.

Houston stated low wages are causing staff to leave Mt. Hood and the college has had difficulty replacing them because of it: “We’re losing good people because of this.”

Michael Flores, CEA president and a Financial Aid adviser at MHCC, cited custodial workers as an example of this problem. “They’re really short-staffed right now,” due to the low pay, he said – “barely above minimum wage – and they’re here in the middle of the night.”

In all, the CEA has about 240 members at MHCC.

Note: The Advocate has contacted the college administration and plans soon to report further soon on the contract dispute.

Leo Fontneau