SUNY Erie, union representing administrative workers prepare for return to bargaining table
SUNY Erie Community College and the union representing a bit of over 100 administrative workers are scheduled to maintain contract negotiations May 1 and May 5. One day earlier than that first scheduled session, union members and their supporters staged a picket outdoors SUNY Erie’s North Campus in Williamsville to drum up assist.
Among them was Katie Koch, president of AEACC UAW Local 3300, the union representing these workers.
“We are the administrators of the college. We are the ones that do all the background admissions, financial aid, registrars, all the things that you don’t see, all the students support, everything that gets the students and keeps the students enrolled in college,” she defined.
Among the factors AEACC hopes to resolve are elevated pay and improved advantages.
“We’ve been without a contract for six years now,” Koch mentioned. “We have lost some really good workers over the years due to poor wages, and we really need to come to a conclusion and get something for our hard work.”
ECC leaders, together with school president Adiam Tsegai, launched statements Thursday morning. Tsegai suggests the union’s proposed wage improve, about 6.85% annually for 4 years, is “unreasonable and unsustainable.” He additionally states that the school has supplied a 3.2% wage improve annually for 4 years, a price he calls truthful.
College board president Jeffrey Stone expresses assist for the College’s bargaining crew to attain a deal that’s significant but in addition addresses the College’s priorities and is economically sustainable.
Hayes Dolce LLP, a regulation agency representing the union, in flip, issued an announcement in response to SUNY Erie’s messages: “AAECC, UAW Local 3300 has fully respected the ground rules agreed to by the parties, and has specifically refrained from disclosing any information regarding parties’ proposals. Instead, members have focused on the terms contained in the current collective bargaining agreement, which expired six years ago.
“We are dissatisfied that the College’s response to the Union’s legally protected and peaceable informational picket was to violate the bottom guidelines the College proposed. While we dispute the accuracy and characterization of the wage proposals cited by Dr. Tsegai in her press launch, the Union will proceed to abide by the bottom guidelines, and appears ahead to productive bargaining periods on May 1 and May 5.”
