SEIU 1199: Tri-C Won't Honor Agreement With Part-Time Employees

SEIU 1199 union members employed part-time at Cuyahoga Community College say college leadership is threatening not to approve an agreement it signed months ago.

On Tuesday, members gathered outside of Tri-C’s district office to deliver a letter urging Board President Helen Forbes Fields to honor the agreement.

“These employees already manage varying schedules and work locations and continue to be contacted with work matters on their days ‘off,’” said SEIU 1199 administrative organizer Nicole Parke in a statement. “Despite these issues, we were able to reach an agreement that accomplished badly needed improvements to working conditions. Now, the college is refusing to honor our good-faith agreement, all the while asking the employees to volunteer on the college’s levy campaign.”

Unlike full-time employees, the union’s unit of roughly 80 part-time employees work across five different campuses without notice or guarantee of a minimum number of hours per week. The unit renegotiates an agreement every three years. Both parties signed the latest agreement in July after nearly three months of negotiations, according to the union.

Per the agreement, part-time union employees would be able to make up hours they would miss in the weeks before and after spring and winter breaks, receive four hours worth of pay if a shift is canceled within 24 hours, and receive pay on holidays when the college is closed.

However, members allege that now college leadership refuses to recognize the agreement’s validity and says the Board of Trustees won’t approve the new contract at September’s Board meeting.

“On July 7, the bargaining was finally completed. We were confident in the whole process and members voted to ratify our three-year contract,” said Tri-C part-time employee and union delegate Jesika Orahoske. “Twelve days later, the college returned to us to tell us there was a discrepancy…They never bothered to communicate the misinterpretation.”

Tri-C disputes this, maintaining that the union verbally agreed to the agreement before altering it without input from the college.

Since June 30, union part-time employees have been working without a contract.

“Legally, they are supposed to put the agreement before the Board of Trustees now to either approve or reject but they have not even confirmed that they are going to be allowing their board to vote on it at their board meeting next week,” Parke told Scene. “They're trying to kind of be very hush-hush about this and essentially manipulate us to go back to the table,” said Parke.

SEIU 1199 has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against Tri-C with the State Employment Relations Board and will continue pushing the Board to approve the agreement, according to Parke. A representative for Tri-C said the college also filed its own ULP charge and is requesting that the state board review the matter.

The conflict comes less than two months before voters will decide whether to pass a roughly $2 million renewal levy with an increase of $400,000 for the school. The proposed levy, which Tri-C says will help keep higher education affordable and accessible in Cuyahoga County, would cost property owners an additional $1.17 per $100,000 of property value monthly between 2024 and 2034.

“No one wants to see the upcoming levy fail but we fear that may be the consequence of the college not bargaining in good faith,” Orahosky said. “Support us and we will support you.”

Public relations manager Anthony Moujaes sent Scene the following statement from Tri-C:

On April 10, 2023, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) entered into collective bargaining negotiations for a successor contract with the SEIU 1199 part-time bargaining unit. On July 7, 2023, after six bargaining sessions, Tri-C presented a written package proposal that the union verbally accepted.

Without further discussion with the College, the union unilaterally changed language in the proposal. SEIU 1199 is now demanding that the College agree to the revised language, which was neither discussed nor agreed to during negotiations.

The College has informed the union that there is no agreement on these terms, and that it has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge requesting that the State Employee Relations Board review the matter.

The College also has invited the union back to the bargaining table and remains committed to engaging in good faith negotiations with SEIU 1199 employees to reach a contract that has been discussed and agreed upon by both parties.

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed