The Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) and its faculty union have reached tentative labor agreements after several faculty and staff members recently expressed plans to strike.
“It’s been a long, grueling process,” said union copresident Junior Brainard.
Details of the agreements have not been yet released, as to allow the union time to brief its members on the agreements, Brainard said.
The agreements would end a three-year bargaining between CCP administrators and the faculty union that almost created a strike shortly before the semester’s end.
Despite the tensions created from the recent bargaining sessions, “at the end of the day, we all believe in the mission of the institution,” said Judith Gray, vice president for strategic initiatives and chief of staff.
“With a lot of time and effort on everybody’s part, we were able to come up with a successful resolution.”
The administration is pleased that things worked out, said city spokeswoman Lauren Cox.
“The administration was happy to assist in the mediation process, and we are glad that a tentative agreement has been reached. We look forward to it being ratified,” Cox told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The most recent round of negotiations began earlier this week, with a mediator present, and followed over 17 hours of negotiations that ended at a standstill.
If the strike plans went through, it would have been the union’s first since a two-week walkout that happened in 007 and would have potentially shut down classes a month before spring commencement.
In January, CCP president Dr. Donald “Guy” Generals said the community college was considering implementing its last best offer, which would give union members over a 10 percent cumulative raise, but would require heavier workloads for newly hired faculty and health care contributions.
CCP faculty and staff have been operating under a contract that expired in August 2016. Both the administration and faculty and staff members have been at a cross roads over health insurance, faculty workload and compensation.
