Contract negotiations between Skidmore College and unionized non-tenured faculty have hit a roadblock.
Almost two years after voting to unionize, non-tenured faculty at the private college in Saratoga Springs are still without a contract.
Union representatives say they walked out of a July 18th bargaining session after Skidmore failed to come to the table with updates on faculty compensation.
SEIU Local200United spokesman Sean Collins says after 16 months of negotiations — which have resulted in agreements on 18 of the union’s 26 proposals — Skidmore is stalling.
“Mainly, they have not provided a counter-proposal for compensation for full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty at the college. And we have said at numerous sessions that it is hard to provide piecemeal counterproposals on other economic items in isolation without understanding the overall scope of the college’s economic package,” said Collins.
According to the March 8th meeting minutes, the administration indicated that it would not negotiate on the union’s compensation proposal until all non-economic proposals were resolved. The union indicated it regarded remaining issues such as appointments, evaluations, and professional development as being tied to compensation.
Collins adds other actions by the college have increased frustration.
“The college unilaterally provided a wage increase, salary increase of 3% to members of our bargaining unit, the full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty, without bargaining. So it’s not a matter of like they aren’t prepared to respond, they just aren’t providing the response. We believe that they know what they want to propose and they just haven’t done so yet,” said Collins.
The union filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board for the unilateral raise without notice to the union as well as the school’s failure to provide updates on a compensation counterproposal.
Skidmore filed its own charges with the NLRB against the union for failing to bargain in good faith by walking out of the bargaining session and refusing to negotiate on “outstanding mandatory subjects.”
Skidmore Faculty Forward organizing committee member Professor Ruth McAdams says the union views Skidmore’s claim as frivolous.
“My understanding of what happened was that after we filed a very, extremely unambiguous unfair labor practice charge yesterday that it was sort of a tit-for-tat-type response. That they were just really eager to create a distraction that would deflect from the fact that Skidmore College is engaging in unfair labor practices,” said McAdams.
In a statement, a Skidmore spokesperson says the college shares the union’s desire to have an agreement in place as soon as possible. It adds the school “has been working diligently on a compensation counterproposal that takes into consideration not only the complexity and diversity of our non-tenure track faculty but also the impact [of] any potential agreement on the rest of our valued faculty and staff.”
The union represents the college’s nearly 200 non-tenured full- and part-time faculty.
According to a faculty-wide email from Dean of the Faculty and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dorothy Mosby a “lower-than-projected size of the incoming Class of ‘28” has led college administration to make efforts to cut costs by $1 million this fiscal year.
Mosby’s email says the union’s compensation proposal would result in an increase of more than $3.5 million to the school’s ongoing operating budget.
According to an email from Skidmore President Marc Conner, the incoming first-year class size is estimated to be between 670 and 680 students, resulting in an approximate 4% decrease in tuition revenue.
McAdams says union members once optimistic about reaching a deal before the fall semester are now considering options to increase pressure as students and staff return to campus.
“As that happens, we are going to need to be engaging the wider community to update everyone on how things are going. Many of our non-tenure track colleagues, the members of our union, are desperate to have a collective bargaining agreement. This isn’t an exercise for them. Our salaries are low. It’s hard to live on them in this area. So, people are increasingly impatient,” said McAdams.
Union representatives asked Skidmore to send its compensation counterproposal 48 hours prior to their next bargaining session August 14th.
WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau is located on the Skidmore campus. Reporting from that bureau, I’m Aaron Shellow-Lavine, for WAMC News.
