AFT Comments to LSCS Board of Trustees -- August 2018

AFT Presentation to the Board of Trustees – August, 2018

John Burgdhuff, Faculty

Good evening. I am John Burghduff representing the American Federation of Teachers. It has been three months since I last spoke to you. Last month was your annual summer break. On the afternoon of the June meeting, I was in Rosenberg with a delegation of faculty and administrators from CyFair meeting with our counterparts in the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District. We were meeting to plan Lone Star’s newest dual credit collaboration extending our college’s outreach to high school students in western Fort Bend County. It is a great opportunity for them but too far away for me to get to The Woodlands in time to speak. Tonight you have before you the final vote on Lone Star College’s budget for the coming fiscal year. With the losses we have had to overcome from Harvey, especially at Kingwood, the union recognizes that this has to have been one of the most difficult budgets the college has had to develop. In the face of many obstacles, we are very glad to see the college’s commitment to hire additional full time faculty. Improving the percentage of classes taught by fulltime faculty improves our students’ access to professors who can devote their full time and efforts to Lone Star College and its programs. We are also glad to see money set aside to resolve lingering discrepancies in classification and compensation among our staff that have been hurtful to employee morale. In addition, we acknowledge the 2% pay increase for most college employees. 2% matches the cost of living adjustment the Social Security administration has selected for its beneficiaries for 2018. Although these rates of increase are consistent with one another, as a labor union we need to point out some concerns. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index has risen 2.9% in the 12 months ending in June. Also, according to the human resources professional group World at Work, as reported by the Society for Human Resource Management, the projected median increase in salary across all sectors and job types in 2018 is expected to be 3%. So, while we recognize the challenges our current budget situation poses, we must attest that Lone Star employee pay for the coming year will fall behind both inflation and median salaries across the economy. We also must note our concern that, for the second year in a row, salaries for adjunct instructors will not be increased at all. Adjunct faculty continue to account for well over half of all classes taught at Lone Star College and yet many of them have to work multiple jobs to eek out a minimal living with no benefits. Adjunct pay at Lone Star has now fallen below our largest neighboring community college systems. An adjunct teaching a standard three hour lecture class with us earns $2004 over a semester. The same adjunct teaching the same class would earn $2010 at Houston Community College and $2016 at San Jacinto College.5 Although the differences are small, being behind at all is out of place in a system that, by all accounts, is in much better overall financial health than almost all other colleges. Again, the union both recognizes and appreciates the special challenges this budget year presents and expresses our sincere hope that the concerns we raise need to be addressed in future budgets. We also wish to remind the Board of our presentation at the May meeting in which we showed that, at the cost of three grande lattes per month to a typical homeowner, Lone Star’s property tax rate could be brought up to the state average and generate an additional $123 million. We ask the Board to consider whether, even now, additional revenues like these could be brought to bear this year to minimize the salary concerns we raise. Finally, the Board will be considering tonight a renewed contract for our chancellor. The proposed salary for the coming year is not published in the official agenda so we do not know what is being considered. The union believes that all employees deserve to be fairly compensated for the work they do and that includes the chancellor. Stating the proposed salary in the agenda would have leant greater transparency that would inspire greater trust. We hope that, in the spirit of solidarity, whatever salary is approved should be consistent with the percentage salary increases of all other employees. Thank you for your kind consideration.