Quinton Prudhomme
News Editor

For the first time since 2023, Clackamas Community College administrators are bargaining with all three staff unions for updated employment contracts.

Associate Faculty, Full-time Faculty and Classified staff began the bargaining process in February. The unions aim to come to an agreement with the college before contracts expire June 30.

Increased pay, vacation time and workload are some of the things unions are negotiating. 

Full-time faculty is asking for equitable pay for time spent on committees.

Cost of living has been going up, and faculty hope to secure pay increases according to George Burgess, chief negotiator for the full-time faculty union.

Chemistry instructor George Burgess, center, speaks during bargaining. The bargaining group also consists of communications instructor Lucas Hann, from left, nursing instructor Christina Burt and economics instructor Derek Lougee. Photos by Gabriel Elmosleh

“Full-time faculty have to deal with that and it’s not fair to ask them to forgo those increases,” said Burgess.

Burgess also indicated that before bargaining began, the college hinted at negotiating pay increases lower than the current level of inflation.

The college administration’s negotiation strategy has differed from years past after they hired Nancy Hungerford, an education lawyer, to bargain on the administration’s behalf as the chief negotiator at the rate of $350 per hour, according to a recent budget meeting.

Hungerford also serves on the CCC foundation board as a member.

The college administration hired a lawyer so that administrators could focus more on core duties, according to administrators.

Members of the administration’s bargaining team include chief of human resources, Melissa McCormack, from left, associate dean of Arts & Sciences Aundrea Snitker and Armetta Burney, dean of Technology, Applied Sciences and Public Services.

“The thought was, let’s offload some of that onto an attorney, but we’ve gotten a lot of pushback. I think all three associations have pushed back on that and brought concerns about the cost. And so we’re evaluating trying to figure out well what to do there,” said college president Tim Cook.

Cook also attributed the hiring of the lawyer to spare tension on the relationship between staff and administration.

“It can get pretty challenging,” said Cook. “The advantage of having an outside person come in is they can come and do the work and they can go.”

Some union members have felt that the hiring of an attorney to negotiate on the administration’s behalf has felt unsavory.

“When we got noticed there was gonna be a lawyer at the table who was going to be the chief negotiator and how it was framed… I was initially like ‘what the hell’,” said Adam Wickert, Scholarship and Student Success Analyst and member of Clackamas Community College’s Association of Classified Employees negotiating team.

Classified staff are non-educational employees at the college who provide essential clerical, technical and other support.

Wickert also felt uncomfortable that the lawyer served on the CCC foundation board.

“The lawyer is from the CCC budget foundation, which brought up a lot of feelings that I was having because I was like ‘wait I work here’.”

Members of the administration’s bargaining team review contract language.

After receiving pushback against Hungerford’s role as lead negotiator, the college’s administration decided to modify her role.

Jeff Shaffer, vice president of finance and operations, said in an email “Based on concerns that we have heard from various constituents, we have decided to modify Nancy Hungerford’s role. She will not serve as the Administration’s Chief Negotiator or as a member of any of our bargaining teams with the associations. We may still use her as a consultant if there are issues that come up at the table where we need a legal opinion.”

Bargaining will continue until a deal is made between each of the individual unions.

Members of the Full-Time Faculty bargaining team, left, discuss contract negotiations with members of the college’s administration, right, during a bargaining session in February in Roger Rook Hall.