Faculty remain in contract negotiations with the district.
The Citrus College Faculty Association, which represents full-time faculty at Citrus, have been negotiating a new contract with the district.
The CCFA is seeking to negotiate higher wages for faculty. The initial ask was 15 percent over three years, CCFA President Justina Vidana-Rivadeneyra said.
The districts first proposal was a 2-1-1 raise. It is a multi-year raise, 2 percent the first year, 1 percent the following and another 1 percent the year after that.
Following this proposal, faculty showed support for the CCFA by wearing matching shirts during the March 20 Board of Trustees meeting.
“Almost everything our negotiating team has presented has been met with some resistance,” Vidana-Rivadeneyra said, “including one proposal that the district called ‘dead on arrival.’
“We have done so much for this college, yet the district’s offer screams of disrespect and disregard for our work.”
The frustration was also expressed by James Swatzel, professor of mathematics and business to the Board.
“We work hard and put our students first, yet feel so unappreciated at times,” Swatzel said. “But, we love our jobs and would just like to feel valued and appreciated.”
Citrus administrators are some of the highest paid in the state and the faculty is not, Swatzel said.
The Clarion has covered the disparity in pay between school’s president and faculty.
The district made a new proposal of 5-3-2, or 10 percent over three years, in March.
This still does not reach the CCFA’s ask of 15 percent over three years.
Faculty and staff rallied again on May 1 along Foothill Boulevard.
“We’ve been able to crunch numbers to determine where we’re at in how we compare to other schools and all we’re asking is for parity with some of our schools in the area,” Vidana-Rivadeneyra said during the rally.
Faculty is seeking parity with schools like Mt. San Antonio College, Vidana-Rivadeneyra said.
As urgent as CCFA is to get through the process Robert Sammis, director of human resources, assured that the process is not taking a longer than normal.
“Actually, it takes a while to get through a full contract negotiation,” Sammis said after the May 1 Board of Trustees meeting.
“We’re actually a little ahead of the game,” Sammis said. “With the full-time faculty we are at a point where we’re very close to a deal.”
Updated: May 14, 11:03 a.m.: A previous version of this story said that after a rally held on March 22 by the CCFA, the district made a new proposal of 5-3-2, or 10 percent over three years. This was changed because the proposal had been made prior to the rally.
