After more than a year of bargaining for a new contract, Portland Community College’s classified workers are preparing to ramp up pressure on PCC administration.
The PCC Federation of Classified Employees, called the PCCFCE, is holding a rally Thursday outside the school’s Sylvania campus in Southwest Portland. Union members plan to deliver a strike pledge to PCC’s Board of Directors after the event.
PCCFCE represents more than 650 workers at PCC's four campuses. Union workers rallied at the Rock Creek Campus in Northwest Portland on February 13, 2024.
Christian Martinez Guzman
PCCFCE represents more than 650 employees across the four campuses of the state’s largest higher education institution. Union members include administrative assistants, front desk clerks, IT staff, custodians, public safety officers and other classified employees.
This action comes as the union and PCC leadership entered mediation Tuesday. Calling on the assistance of a state mediator to help with contract negotiations is a first for the union, said PCCFCE campus representative Christian Martinez Guzman.
“We would love to resolve this through mediation,” said Guzman, who works as a program specialist at PCC. “We don’t want it to get to the point where we have to strike, but we are prepared to do so.”
The union began contract negotiations in February 2023, four months before its previous contract was set to expire on June 30. Guzman said there have been successes over the past year, with the union and administration reaching a tentative agreement on flexible work arrangements. But the two sides remain far apart on wages.
PCCFCE is seeking a four-year contract with automatic annual step increases, changes to pay structures and a cost of living adjustment that keeps up with inflation, among other changes. The union’s previous contract was ratified in 2019, before the pandemic caused a national economic downturn.
Guzman said worker pay and the local cost of living are big concerns for union members.
”The worst paid classified employees at the college are making just above minimum wage,” said Guzman. “Our custodians, when they start, are making $16 or $17 per hour. That is not enough to live on in the Portland metro area.”
Guzman said it is unusual for PCCFCE negotiations to drag on for more than a year, but there are a few extenuating factors at play this time around. Bargaining came after PCC underwent a massive restructuring that upended several of the school’s work processes. PCCFCE’s sister union, the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals or PCCFFAP, represents about 1,400 faculty members, and began negotiations for a new contract simultaneously. PCC hired law firm Miller Nash to represent the school during bargaining sessions, a first for the school.
In an emailed statement, PCC administrators said Miller Nash has been the school’s legal counsel for over 20 years.
“This is the first time that the College has formally hired the firm to lead bargaining for both units,” PCC administration wrote in the statement. “As we prepared to enter bargaining, Human Resources was undergoing a reorganization effort and the College hired Miller Nash to support continuity in our labor negotiations.”
Guzman said having the law firm at previous bargaining sessions has created a hostile environment to negotiate under.
Both the classified union and PCC say the other side has canceled bargaining sessions over the past year and come to the table unprepared.
With state mediators involved now, PCC said it will continue to bargain with PCCFCE in good faith to reach a mutual agreement.
Both parties will need to schedule at least one more mediation session following this week’s meeting. If an agreement cannot be negotiated, PCCFCE can declare an impasse, after which a 30-day cooling-off period would occur. Following that, the union could announce a strike.
“No classified employee at the college wants to strike because we know it will create undue burden on our students,” said Guzman. “But we also know that we need to fight for our families and our loved ones to secure a fair wage.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated tentative agreements related to retirements and resignations. OPB regrets the error.