A Fly on the Wall: Reflections from The Bargaining Table

A Fly on the Wall: Reflections from the Bargaining Table

Nicole Castle-Kelly, B.A., M.A. in English
(emphasis in creative writing)  
13 years at MCC

I began teaching composition and literature courses for MCC in fall 2005. It’s been an honor and one of the highlights of my life.

Satirist Kurt Vonnegut wrote in a letter to a North Dakota school board after they burned his books in the high school furnace that he felt he wasn’t REAL to those people.

When I attended my first bargaining session, this is how I felt. I was not real to William Tammone or Denise Williams. Neither Provost Tammone nor Denise Williams looked at me or acknowledged my presence. I was nothing more than a fly on the wall, a pest to be swatted at any moment.

During the session, it was evident that the HR director found it perfectly acceptable to show her disdain. It was my hope that Provost Tammone would think long and hard on what happened during these negotiations, or more appropriately WHAT didn’t happen.

Our team was told that they had given "much consideration" to our proposals and that it's a no on all of them. It’s my hope that the MCC Board of Trustees will instruct their team to acknowledge and fairly consider our proposals.

I am still puzzled why a place that I have taught for with passion and professionalism, wouldn’t want to show that I am valued. Why?  There is really no good answer.

Is this the kind of environment that MCC wishes to cultivate? Is this the image that The College wants to project to our community and to our nation? I would think not.

And again, I ask you, why treat your adjuncts so shamefully?