TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) administrators and faculty members today approved a new three-year collective bargaining agreement. The ratification vote followed a series of negotiating sessions last week in which progress was made on several key issues including salary, faculty evaluations and participation in campus decisions.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that achieves our goal of securing a contract that supports our faculty and is responsible to the region’s taxpayers,” said NMC President Tim Nelson. “I am proud to say we resolved this contract because members of the faculty and administration sat down together, talked through the remaining issues and found common ground. Representatives of the NMC and union negotiating teams deserve credit for pushing through the complex issues involved with a first contract, leading to today’s vote.”
Social Sciences Instructor Brandon Everest said, “Faculty continue to stand together to do what is best for our students, the college and the community.”
Over the past two weeks, members of the faculty and faculty chairs’ bargaining units met with the administration to resolve outstanding contract terms without attorneys present. After multiple bargaining sessions, the college submitted a new contract proposal for consideration. Key sections of the proposal include the following:
- A 20-step salary plan that maintains the current 3.71% step increase for faculty moving along the plan. It will also include a 1% annual payment for faculty at step 20. In January 2017, there will be a 0.3% scale adjustment to the salary plan.
- An enhanced formal evaluation process
- Reinstating a faculty report to the Board of Trustees agenda.
“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement that is fair and serves the college, faculty, students and the community into the future,” said NMC Board Chair Kennard Weaver. “Our focus throughout the negotiations was to create a contract that ensures a continuing harmonious and constructive relationship between the parties.”
Release date: November 21, 2016
For more information:
Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director of Public Relations, Marketing & Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019