Appropriations Committee reviews Charter Oak adjunct collective bargaining agreement; votes left open

Charter Oak State College officials and union representatives presented a one-year collective bargaining agreement to the Connecticut General Assembly Appropriations Committee that would bring about 250 adjunct teaching faculty into a separate local of the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges (SEIU Local 1973).

The agreement, described by college officials as an accretion or, later clarified, a new bargaining unit under the 4C's umbrella, includes what the college called an "approximate 7% compensation increase for our teaching faculty," one-time orientation payments, the creation of a professional-development fund and standardized pay for special-project work at roughly $44 an hour. Michael Moriarty, Charter Oak’s chief financial officer, told the committee the package would be retroactive to the current fiscal year and that the college had included an estimated cost increase "just over $300,000 a year," which he said equates to about 9% of total teaching-faculty spending.

Why it matters: The agreement affects the pay and work rules for a group of adjuncts who, by Charter Oak’s account, had not received raises in more than a decade. Charter Oak leaders said making the online college sustainable at a low tuition point requires preserving its operating model while addressing pay inequities for small-class instruction.

In testimony, Ed…