Back-To-School Bargaining FAQs #1

When did our contract expire?
August 14, 2018

Why didn’t AAFMCC ratify a new contract before the old one expired?
AAFMCC intended on having a new contract in place before the old one expired. We began planning and preparing for bargaining well in advance:

• We assembled a bargaining team at the end of the Winter 2017 semester, and the team began meeting in June of 2017.
• We submitted our intent to bargain to The College on January 5, 2018.
• In order to publicize AAFMCC’s preparedness to begin negotiations, the AAFMCC Executive Board, along with several AAFMCC members attended the Board of Trustees (BOT) Meeting on March 21, 2018.
  • At the meeting, AAFMCC Member-at-Large Rick Fenwick, presented a short speech to the Board of Trustees wherein he introduced AAFMCC, informed the BOT that adjuncts comprise 76% percent of MCC’s teaching staff, and indicated that AAFMCC is looking forward to bargaining.

However, some circumstances were out of our control:

• The College didn’t respond to our intent to bargain until March 28, 2018 (almost three months after we submitted it).  
• During our first meeting on April 3, The College informed us that they could not meet with us during any of the days/times that we proposed for April sessions and was also unwilling to provide AAFMCC Bargaining Team Members any release time for bargaining.
• As a result, the first actual bargaining session did not occur until May 1, 2018--over five months after we put in our intent to bargain.

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So, why are we working without a contract?  
In short, It’s NOT because AAFMCC wasn’t proactive or prepared. It’s because, for over five months, The College delayed and stalled our efforts to commence negotiations.

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​In By the Numbers 2018, Macomb reported employing 1,817 total staff members. 697 of those employees—38%—were adjuncts. The College showed no sense of urgency for the labor agreement that affects its largest employee group and neglected to prioritize the working conditions of 76% of its teaching staff.