PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Dissatisfied with the pace of contract talks, faculty and staff at the Community College of Philadelphia are taking a strike authorization vote this week. CCP, though, is seeking to block a strike by asking for third-party fact-finding.
Faculty and Staff Federation members at CCP have been working without a new contract since last August.
“After a year of bargaining and over 100 hours at the negotiating table, our members can’t wait any longer,” AFT Local 2026 Secretary Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela told KYW Newsradio. “We’ve continued to speak with the college. There hasn’t been the movement we’re looking to see.”
A little more than 1,000 members of three units representing support staff and full- and part-time faculty are taking a strike authorization vote online and in person, starting Monday evening and running until Saturday.
The union wants a four-year contract that includes SEPTA passes for faculty and students, smaller class sizes and raises of 9%, 9%, 6% and 6%.
“We’re just looking to be able to keep up with the cost of living and inflation,” Johnson-Valenzuela said. CCP has proposed a three-year contract with salary increases of 5%, 4% and 4%.
“Enrollment is back to pre-pandemic levels and yet we are down 25% in faculty and staff who work here,” union Co-president Junior Brainard told KYW Newsradio. “City Council boosted funding by $5 million to address class size, advisor caseloads, fair pay for adjuncts and free transportation for students and employees, but the college has yet to agree to spend that money addressing these issues,” he said in an email.
CCP, in a statement, said negotiations have reached an impasse and it’s asking the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to appoint a fact-finder to recommend some middle ground.
“We are seeking fact-finding to protect our students from the harm that would come from a strike, especially so close to graduation,” CCP Vice President of Enrollment Management and Strategic Communications Shannon Rooney said. College officials said a lawful strike could not happen while the fact-finding process was underway.
Johnson-Valenzuela said negotiations were scheduled to resume Friday.
“If we’re seeing real movement at the table, hopefully we can avoid a strike and hash out a deal that works for everybody,” she said. “If we don’t see that movement, then we’re planning on doing what we need to do.”