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Call to Union Members to Be on the DCE Negotiations Team

The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) forThe Division of Continuing Education(DCE) is set to expire on August 31, 2020. A new DCE Negotiations Team needs to be constituted this fall to begin work starting in January 2020. The team, made up of the MCCC President and Vice President and a minimum of 5 DCE members, will be negotiating with management on hours, wages, and conditions of employment.

COMPENSATION: While the team is active, team members will receive a stipend each semester (fall and spring only) equal to a 3-credit course at Step Two under the DCE CBA.

DEADLINE: September 24, 2019

APPLICATION PROCESS: Please forward to presmwong@mccc-union.org a copy of your Resume/CV and a statement that addresses the following:

  1. what your role is at your community college
  2. why you want to serve on the DCE Bargaining Team
  3. what has been your involvement with the MCCC and your local chapter
  4. a description of any contract bargaining experience you have had

The DCE Bargaining team has reached tentative agreement for a new contract

DCE Tentative  Agreement Reached 7.16.18 (pdf)

The DCE Bargaining team has reached tentative agreement for a new contract, with raises of 6 percent and new rights and benefits including sick leave, tuition waiver, and more. DCE Tentative Agreement. The team will be scheduling information meetings for each chapter to explain the tentative agreement and to involve members in the ongoing fight for pay parity and rights for adjuncts. Contract ratification will be scheduled for this fall.

What MCCC is Fighting For…

After nearly two years of bargaining, Management’s wage offer is 0% the first year, 1% the second! This doesn’t even keep pace with inflation.

MCCC represents 4500 adjunct faculty who teach in the Division of Continuing Education (DCE).

  • In Massachusetts community colleges, 70% of the courses are DCE.
  • Adjunct instructors hired to teach courses in DCE do so on a semester-by-semester basis, with little job security.

We Want Equal Pay for Equal Work

  • Adjuncts earn less than half of what fulltime faculty are paid, for teaching the same courses.
  • The current starting pay is just over $1000/credit hour ($3200 per course/semester).
  • An average community college adjunct earns under $25,000 per year.
  • Many adjuncts are forced to teach at multiple colleges in order to cobble together a living wage.
  • Adjuncts receive NO BENEFITS — no health care insurance through the GIC and no employer contributions to their retirement savings. As public sector employees, they are prevented from paying into Social Security and receive no Social Security retirement benefits.
  • Because adjunct faculty are deeply committed to students, most offer office hours to their students, and participate in college service that benefits students. But they receive NO PAY for this work.
  • MCCC is part of a national movement to win pay parity, job security, and full inclusion in academic life.

The MCCC DCE union has been bargaining with the Board of Higher Education since October 2016.

 The contract has been extended several times, and it is now slated to expire on 6/30/2018.

  • The MCCC and BHE are currently in contract mediation, with a state mediator assisting the parties.
  • The DCE bargaining team is seeking a path to pay parity with fulltime faculty (MCCC “Day” bargaining unit), who are members of the same union.
  • MTA is pursuing state legislation to provide health care coverage for adjuncts in community colleges, state universities, and the UMass system. (H. 4153)
  • The pay offer from the BHE (as of 5/1/18) is for a 0% increase in 2018 and a 1% increase in 2019.
  • At the 5/1/18 meeting of the Board of Higher Education, President Ellen Kennedy of Berkshire Community College told the BHE she hopes the contract disputes will be settled soon. MCCC members believe the College Presidents appreciate the hard work and professionalism of all community college employees.
  • Conditions can be improved: Adjuncts at UMass Boston and Amherst (also members of MTA) have a path to parity and benefits if they teach a half-time course load, and have greater job security and opportunities to become fulltime faculty.

Community colleges offer the best hope for working families to have a chance at the American Dream. Our community colleges offer the best and, sometimes, only pathway toward the bright future that is the basic right of all who have chosen to make America their home.

Nevertheless, we must not allow the success of these institutions to result from the exploitation of the dedicated, hard-working adjuncts who often care more about their students than about themselves. Our Commonwealth’s community colleges deserve adequate funding. Students at Massachusetts’ community colleges deserve to learn in institutions which are adequately funded and with faculty and staff earning a fair and decent wage. All adjunct instructors at the community college deserve compensation equal to their full-time counterparts for doing the same work.

DCE Bargaining Meetings

Come out and observe the bargaining process! Learn first-hand what is happening in DCE bargaining. All unit members – dues payers and agency fee payers – vote on contract ratification.

Bargaining Dates and Locations:
Meetings for Fall semester will be on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Team caucuses will be from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Bargaining will start at 11 a.m.

February 5, 2018 – tentative 10 am – 2 pm; location TBD

January 10, 2018 – 10 am – 5 pm; location to be determined by management

December 21 -Roxbury Community College

November 29 – 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. – North Shore – Danvers

November 1 – 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. – Bristol – Fall River

October 18 – 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Mount Wachusett – Devens

September 27, 2017 CANCELED

September 13, 2017 Mass Bay- Framingham Community College from 10:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

August 24, 2017 Massasoit Canton campus from 9:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

July 10, 2017 Bunker Hill Community College from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. 

  • Monday, July 10, from 1-6 pm outside of E175. 
  • A public standout will begin at 12:30 pm at BHCC in a show of solidarity for H.639 and for MCCC DCE bargaining.  
  • Everyone is welcome.  
  • Campus map: http://www.bhcc.mass.edu/campusmap/

June 28 – Quinsigamond Community College – Worcester 10 am – 3 pm

Ahlfors – Rooms 111 and 107

May 3, 2017 – Bristol Community College – Fall River

April 24, 2017 – Mount Wachusetts Community College – Devens

  • Devens Campus, One Jackson Place, 27 Jackson Road, Devens, MA 01434
  • http://mwcc.edu/devens/directions-hours-of-operation/
  • Room location to be announced (first floor)
  • For more information contact Ted Lewis at tlewis@massteacher.org

April 20, 2017 North Shore Community College (NSCC) – DANVERS

  • With team meeting/member caucus starting at 10 a.m. and bargaining starting at 11 a.m.
  • Rooms have been confirmed:
  • Math and Science Building
  • Room 202 – bargaining room and caucus area for the management team
  • Room 119 – caucus area for the MCCC team
  • “Old caf” on the first floor – caucus and general orientation meeting area (starting at 10 a.m. or later) for members from NSCC or other campuses.
  • For further information, contact Ted Lewis at tlewis@massteacher.org

March 29, 2017 Mount Wachusetts Community College – Devens

March 6, 2017 MassBay Community College – Wellesley

  • Bargaining with management begins at 4:30 in the Alumni Board Room (216). Seating is limited.
  • Members are asked to come earlier (around 2:30-3 p.m.) and drop by Room 311 for refreshments and an update on bargaining and a review of protocols for observing bargaining.
  • Signs for holding and pins for wearing will be available to all participants.
  • For more information and to RSVP, please contact Margaret Crowe at margaret.crowe@yahoo.com