SUNY Erie, union set May 1 and May 5 bargaining on Ecc
SUNY Erie Community College and the union representing a little over 100 administrative workers are set to return to the bargaining table on ecc May 1 and May 5 after six years without a contract. The talks come after union members and supporters picketed outside the North Campus in Williamsville one day before the first scheduled session.
Katie Koch, president of AAECC UAW Local 3300, said the workers support admissions, financial aid, registrars and student services. She said, “We’ve been without a contract for six years now,” as the union pressed for higher pay and better benefits.
Williamsville Picket
The picket took place outside SUNY Erie’s North Campus in Williamsville, where Koch described the administrative staff as the people who handle the work students do not always see. She said, “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,”
AAECC UAW Local 3300 represents the college’s administrative workers. The union has said its members want increased pay and improved benefits after the current collective bargaining agreement expired six years ago.
Tsegai And Stone
SUNY Erie president Adiam Tsegai said the union’s proposed wage increase of about 6.85% each year for four years is “unreasonable and unsustainable.” She said the college has offered a 3.2% wage increase each year for four years and called that proposal “fair.”
College board president Jeffrey Stone said he supports the college’s bargaining team reaching a deal that is “meaningful but also addresses the College’s priorities and is economically sustainable.”
May 1 And May 5
Hayes Dolce LLP, which represents the union, said 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.” The firm said it was disappointed that the college’s response to the informational picket was to violate the ground rules the college proposed.
The scheduled sessions on May 1 and May 5 will be the first public test of whether the two sides can narrow the gap between the union’s wage demand and the college’s offer. For workers who handle admissions, financial aid and registrar functions, the immediate outcome is whether years of unresolved pay and benefits issues move toward a contract or continue into another round of bargaining.
