The District made it clear in writing that it does not view full-time faculty as a fiscal priority when it sent FAYCCD a letter on September 7, 2022 titled Reiteration of the District’s Student-Centered Approach to Negotiations. This letter states that the District “can no longer ignore the fact that our other employee groups and infrastructure are just as critical to student success [as full-time faculty]” and that “unavoidable budget reallocation decisions [must be made] to address long-standing imbalances in the District’s fiscal and operational priorities.” Those fiscal and operational priorities include administrator and staff salary enhancements and facilities upgrades, not full-time faculty salary increases. In part, this letter was intended to inform FAYCCD that the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) provided to the District by the State to offset increased costs created by historic inflation would not be passed through to full-time faculty and would instead be withheld and spent on the District’s stated priorities. Of course, withholding the State-provided COLA equates to an effectual pay reduction as full-time faculty are left to watch their purchasing power decrease significantly with the steep rise in the cost of living. It is also important to note that the vast majority of districts in California (if not all) have passed COLA onto their teachers, instructors, and professors.
Despite the frustration caused by the District’s attack on our long-held rights and unwillingness to pass along the State-provided COLA, FAYCCD continued to bargain in good faith. However, it became clear that the District had little interest in bargaining, aiming to negotiate concessions from FAYCCD but showing next to no interest in accepting FAYCCD proposed language. As one can imagine, this slowed efforts to reach a new contract, but FAYCCD held that through fair negotiations, there was much that could be resolved at the table.
How Far Apart Are We?
Our Negotiations Team has requested a modest pay increase of 2.5% in 2022, 2% in 2023, and 0% in 2024 plus the state’s cost of living allocation (COLA), which amounted to 6.56% in 2022, 8.22% in 2023, and 1.07% in 2024 given the steep rise in inflation during this three year period. This COLA has already been paid to the District, but the District has refused to pass along the faculty portion of these state-provided monies. The District has offered 2.5% in 2022, 2% in 2023, and 0% in 2024 and 0% COLA for all three years, which amounts to 1.5% per year for the 3 year contract, effectively reducing faculty’s wages given the high rate of inflation over this period.
As FAYCCD has maintained throughout this negotiations process, all employee groups deserve and are entitled to the State COLA, an ongoing source of funding designed to ensure cost-of-living increases commensurate with inflation.
Can the District Afford to Pay Faculty COLA?
In this era of unprecedented inflation, California Community Colleges are receiving significant 100% COLA increases and additional monies to strengthen programs and to eliminate structural deficits. Additionally, the District has hoarded an extraordinary reserve in its annual budget. Currently the reserve is more than 20% of the overall budget, and that number is expected to climb in 2025 given the positive economic outlook and strong growth in student enrollments over the past three years.
In summary, FAYCCD and the District have been negotiating for almost two years and FAYCCD has been without a contract for more than 2 years. Regarding compensation, the State has provided the District with a Cost of Living Adjustment, which is traditionally passed onto employee groups while the remainder is used for increased operational costs. However, the District is taking the position that it does not have the legal obligation to pass a portion of the State-provided COLA onto full-time faculty and is choosing to use those withheld on-going funds to increase the pay of classified staff, enhance administrative salaries, and fund facilities improvements. FAYCCD does not begrudge the District’s decision to allocate resources for other employee groups or spend money on facilities upgrades, but disagrees with the District’s decision to withhold COLA from full-time faculty during this time of historic inflation. To apply ongoing COLA funds to essentially everything except full-time faculty is inequitable, unfair, and deviates from long held practices at YCCD and throughout the State.
The Faculty Association of Yuba Community College District 