Contact Hours Guidelines Rescinded

I am pleased to announce the 9 contact hour limit has been rescinded.  Your bargaining team and the college have reached an agreement that they're confident will meet the ACA guidelines.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 12, 2013

Kalamazoo Valley Community College Federation of Teachers

Contact:               Kevin Wordelman

269-290-8656

kevin@piowmu.org

KVCC part-time faculty union fends off potential job cuts, negotiates new maximum work load to comply with Affordable Care Act

Kalamazoo – Kalamazoo Valley Community College and its part-time faculty union, the KVCC Federation of Teachers, signed an agreement on Tuesday defining the maximum allowable workload for part-time faculty and preventing potential job cuts proposed by the college in response to certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Under the agreement, part-time faculty will be allowed to teach up to 11 credit hours per semester, or 75% of the full-time faculty workload, with the understanding that no part-time faculty member will be required to work more than 29 hours per week.  Beginning January 1, under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government will penalize large employers who do not offer health insurance to all employees working 30 or more hours per week. In an internal memo leaked to the union in April, the college had proposed limiting all part-time faculty to nine contact hours per week, a formula that could have cut some part-time faculty workloads by two-thirds.  The college has never offered health insurance to part-time faculty members.

“We are thrilled that our members stepped up, made their voices heard, and that KVCC decided to do the right thing,” said Catherine Barnard, KVCCFT president.  “This agreement demonstrates that even under a complex legal framework, it is possible for two parties to negotiate a reasonable solution.”

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission on April 29, alleging that the college refused to negotiate the proposed change in working conditions.  By mid-July, after the college implements the new policy for fall semester hiring, the union agreed to drop the unfair labor practice charge. 

 “This issue simply underscores a major challenge facing part-time faculty,” said Barnard.  “We teach semester to semester with no job security.  Our students don’t think of us as part-time, and many of us have demonstrated long term commitment to KVCC.  It is time for KVCC to make a commitment to us.”