Champlain College, union reach agreement

A tentative contract agreement between unionized adjunct faculty and administrators at Champlain College was reached late Wednesday night, after over 10 hours of negotiation.

The agreement was struck just two days before students arrive at the Hill Section college and will be the first time Champlain College has a unionized faculty workforce under contract. It will remain tentative until the unionized adjuncts can ratify the agreement late next week, when more details will likely be released.

Under the agreement, adjuncts pay will be increased from 15 to 22 percent, depending on seniority. Before the contract, adjuncts at Champlain were paid $3,499 to $3,668 per class, according to college spokesman Steve Mease.

The college will also create a $20,000 professional development fund, which will be available to adjunct faculty for opportunities such as conferences. Another key item in the contract is a class cancellation reimbursement — if a class is cancelled that an adjunct professor is scheduled to teach for a reason outside of their control, they will be reimbursed $1,000.

"As a full-time faculty member I'm so pleased to see my part-time colleagues get compensation that better reflects their passion, dedication, and expertise," said Betsy Allen-Pennebaker in a statement. Allen-Pennebaker is a full-time professor at the college, but was recently an adjunct.

Mediator to join Champlain adjunct-contract talks

Champlain part-timers unionized with the Service Employees International Union last year. Before the tentative agreement was struck, they have said that their wages are unjustifiably low and that they are vital to the college — adjuncts take on 47 percent of the teaching workload. Their short contracts with the college don't include benefits, they said.

A neutral mediator joined the talks in early June at the request of the administration. A call made to a Champlain College spokesperson Thursday afternoon was not immediately returned.

Updated: This story has been updated with the exact pay range that adjunct faculty were paid per class, previous to the renegotiated agreement.

This article was first posted online Aug. 25, 2016. Contact Cory Dawson at the office 802-651-4826, on his cell 802-338-0316 or via email at cdawson2@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Dawson_and_Co

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