A group of Mott Community College faculty members gathered for a “solidarity assembly” on the first day of classes August 31. The gathering was to call attention to what faculty union leadership says is a disconnect on compensation in negotiations between the union and college administration.
“We’re looking for an increase in wages that matches inflation,” said Brian Littleton, PhD, president of the Mott Community College Education Association (MCCEA). “The last few raises have been below the inflation rate, so it’s kind of going backwards in that regard.”
Littleton said the union is also looking for increases in longevity pay, which is additional compensation for employees who show long-term years of service to an organization. Although the union is negotiating on behalf of full- and part-time faculty, Littleton noted that raises that don’t match inflation rates particularly hurt part-time faculty, who often have added costs. Part-time faculty are paid only for the courses they teach. They also regularly teach at Mott’s other satellite campuses or high schools, in addition to often teaching at other colleges in order to piece together a full-time wage.
“A lot of our part-time faculty, they may teach between multiple campuses, between Mott and actually other colleges themselves,” Littleton said. “They’re driving all over. A lot of our part-time faculty are the ones that teach in the high schools. And so it’s a lot of wear and tear on the car with the mileage, the gas prices are high. And also their wages are not high. They don’t have the same benefits and protection. And so it’s really been difficult for them. There’s a lot of part-time faculty also engaged in what I would call uncompensated labor.”
Littleton cited examples of “uncompensated labor” including things like music department faculty members being asked to perform at various college events. He also said nursing faculty frequently participate in non-classroom events that aren’t part of their compensation.
“We’ve been negotiating for the last few months,” Littleton said. “We did go to mediation, which was unsuccessful. Our raises typically kick in at the beginning of August, and so now we’re operating without any raise at a time when we would’ve typically had a raise by now.”
In a statement released to NBC 25, college administration said, “MCC has been bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement with its faculty that is fair to all parties and is committed to continuing to do so.”
Littleton pointed to disconnects between faculty and the college’s leadership. In particular, he said that MCC President Shaunda Richardson-Snell’s executive cabinet lacks academic affairs experience specifically related to teaching and curriculum. Richardson-Snell’s hiring last year was controversial because she had no background in education when Mott’s Board of Trustees voted 4-3 to hire her.
“There’s no one around her (Richardson-Snell) that actually comes from the academic side in her executive cabinet,” Littleton said. “It’s always been a concern of ours. We need more than just praise when you come to a meeting. We deserve fair wages.”
The gathering of faculty was meant to show solidarity with one another and raise awareness of the tense negotiations but not be disruptive to teaching and learning in the classroom. The assembly took place outside and no classes were canceled or disrupted as a result of faculty participating.
“We wanted to show that we’re in for this fight for the college, for the students, and the community,” Littleton said. “There’s some serious issues going on with administration and overall leadership. Mott has previously been listed as one of the top community colleges in the country. Most of these same faculty were here when we had those designations. We’ve seen that slowly erode and go away, and we want to return back to that spot. The only difference between then and now is leadership. We’re here for the students. We’re still gonna be the same dedicated faculty. We just wanna show collectively that we’re all together.”
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