The Cerritos College administration offered the salary committee a 5% raise last Thursday, exactly a week after staff and faculty members boycotted a meeting in front of the Burnight Theatre.
The offer includes a 3.87% COLA, with a supplement from the college’s general budget of 1.13%. Faculty will have the opportunity to ratify or reject the proposition in a division meeting scheduled on Feb. 12.
“This is a 1% improvement over the previous offer and comes exactly a week after the faculty boycott of the General Faculty and Staff Meeting,” said Salary Committee Chair David Fabish.
Disgruntled faculty members, upset with their salary conditions, boycotted a staff meeting held in the theatre in an effort to pressure Cerritos College President Jane Harmon into raising their salary.
“We are not asking for very much,” said Fabish, while attending the boycott. “All that we seek is a clear modest salary increase which recognizes the unparallel level of love and hard work that I see my colleagues exhibiting everyday.”
The boycott followed what the salary committee believes was an unfulfilled promise made by Harmon.
In an informal talk with the president in December, Fabish claims to have made a deal with Dr. Harmon.
Fabish agreed not to make a salary presentation to the board of trustees at a Jan.16 meeting and in return Harmon agreed to present the salary committee with an offer.
“She offered four percent and made it clear to me that she would come through with five.” said Fabish
Harmon claims never to have made that such an offer.
“I have always said that the people are the most valuable asset to an institution.” Said the president . Given the budget situation we are doing the best we can.”
But Jack Swanson an English professor at Cerritos believes the budget can accommodate a raise and feels that is time for the faculty to enjoy some of the wealth they helped the college to generate.
“Over the course of the last nine years Cerritos College has enjoyed a substantial increase in the number of students and in the income that this institution generates, and our increases over the years amount to something like 1.8 percent which is less than the cost of living.
So in effect we have taken salary deductions while the institutions has enjoyed financial increases.”
Salary conditions sparked the boycott but it was not the only reason faculty members attended.
Susan Ashe an English professor at Cerritos College who attended the boycott and commented, ” It is not just the amount of money that we are getting but the whole process of dealing with us. We believe the administration especially the president needs to honor the commitments they have made to us.
We think that we deserve to be dealt with and negotiated with in an honorable way and we feel like it hasn’t been done.”
While all faculty members will benefit from a salary increases not everyone attended the boycott.
“Although I am delighted to see how few faculty members attended the meeting I would have preferred that they would all have stood fast with me because I’m here for them,” said the Salary Committe chair.
Attendees of the staff meeting were pleased with the way faculty members chose to show their unhappiness.
Steve Helfgot Vice President of Public Affairs was among them.
“There are lots of things that people can do to show their unhappiness. This was kind of a mild responsible way of doing it. No work went undone and no classes went untaught so I think this was a moderate way to protest.”
Faculty members are not threatening to leave Cerritos if their salary demands are not met, but they plan to continue to make their voices heard.
“If the salary agreement is ratified, the Board is set to approve the settlement at its next meeting,” Fabish said.
The settlement affects full-time faculty only. Part-time employees are likely to receive a salary enhancement this year, but through a separate funding source.
” I hope that a modest action like this is enough to make the administration see that our excellence need to recognized,” he said.
Sylvia Duran contributed to this story.
