Palomar professors get raises despite contract stalemate

By: DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer | Tuesday, April 25, 2006 10:09 PM PDT ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- Palomar College trustees unanimously approved 4.23 percent pay increases Tuesday night for all 300 full-time professors and 850 part-time professors at the two-year community college.

The raises were approved despite the fact that college administrators have yet to agree on a new contract with the faculty labor union. Negotiations on a new contract, which have focused on increased benefits sought by the union, are slated to resume Thursday.

Because salary is not an issue in the labor negotiations, the trustees approved the raises before a new contract has been forged, according to Julie Ivey, union co-president.

"They decided to break off the portion on salary because that part has already been decided," said Ivey. "All the other items are still on the table."

Those items include union requests for expanded sabbatical leave for full-time professors, and health insurance and office hours for part-timers.

During the negotiations, which have become contentious in recent weeks, the administration has not argued that those additional benefits are not important or that the faculty does not deserve them. However, the administration has claimed the expanded benefits would cost too much money this year and in future years.

Union officials estimate that expanding sabbatical leave for full-timers would cost about $66,000 per year, office hours for part-timers would amount to about $250,000, and health insurance for part-timers would be roughly $140,000.

The faculty union is the only bargaining group at the college without a labor deal for the current school year. All other college employees agreed to 4.23 percent pay raises in February, the same cost-of-living adjustment the college gave the professors Tuesday night.

Approval of the raises will allow Palomar College professors to receive back pay dating to July 2005 that they are due. If the raises were not approved until a new contract is ironed out, professors would have had to wait until then to receive the back pay.

The professors will receive lump-sum payments to cover the difference between how much they received in their paychecks since July and how much they would have received if the 4.23 percent raises had been enacted then.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 761-4410 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.

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