I’m writing to provide an update on potential retrenchments. On Tuesday evening, the Administration provided notice to LCCEA about potential retrenchments. (See email from Shane Turner pasted below.) We, in turn, shared this information with faculty in potentially affected areas. Scant information has been available, and since March 1, the Administration has repeatedly declined to respond to several LCCEA information requests about potential reductions even though they are required to do so by both our contract and state law. 

Over the past two days, LCCEA officers held informational meetings with all the contracted faculty (22 in total, plus numerous part-time faculty) in the broad areas identified for potential retrenchment by the LCC Administration. This evening the LCC Administration clarified that they plan to suspend the Criminal Justice and HIM programs. In addition, they have announced yet another version of the mitigation plan. Unfortunately, beyond Criminal Justice and HIM, they have yet to provide any information about the scope of planned reductions or the specific areas of planned reductions within the list provided in Shane Turner’s email pasted below.

We will provide more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, let us stand together with care and resolve.

My best,

Adrienne

From Shane Turner:

“I’m writing to provide you notice consistent with Article 10.2 of the faculty contract that the College is contemplating one or more contracted faculty retrenchments in the following departments:

Tutoring

HIM

Criminal Justice

Library

Additionally, we are contemplating one or more partial retrenchments in the following departments:

Health & PE

MCC

GEC

ABSE

Adrienne Mitchell, M.A., M.Ed.

Faculty Member, Academic Learning Skills Department

President, Lane Community College Education Association

Vice President, Oregon Education Association Community College Council

I’m writing with an update from last night’s Board of Education meeting.

The Board voted to approve “the FY2027 Mitigation Plan Summary and support the President proceeding with necessary implementation actions, returning to update the Board in April with additional information and plan progress.”  The Administration’s $4.4 Million in cuts presented in the “Mitigation Plan” make no mention of which programs, services, and operational functions the Administration intends to reduce or eliminate. The plan does list a total reduction of 22.5 FTE (i.e. full-time jobs) with 14.5 classified positions (two of which are vacant), 11.5 faculty positions (one of which is vacant and 5.5 of which will potentially be “repurposed”), and 3 management positions. (Administrators explained that their use of the term, “repurposed,” in the plan means layoffs and reassignment.) The plan lists only high level categories – $2M of the proposed cuts from college operations, $1.4M from support services, and $983K from academic programs. Furthermore, it includes no reference to the $1.5+ Million dollars in new expenditures/ investments the Administration proposed in January and included in their mitigation plan at that time for a Board vote, which the Board did pass – these are budget additions that create the need for unknown budget reductions. 

No other details are available beyond the publicly posted documents about what the Administration plans to reduce or eliminate.

In approving the motion, the Board effectively blindly rubber-stamped unknown, unspecified cuts. As we know, this is inconsistent with their own policies on program and service cuts as well as documented, longstanding precedent, not to mention their duty to the public and voters who elected them.

In addition, the Board approved the motion with the “Mitigation Plan,” which includes a full $1 Million in “potential” state funding cuts despite knowing that cuts to community college funding will not take place. As the 2026 Oregon legislative session comes to a close, thanks to OEA and many partner organizations, the Community College Support Fund, which provides the state funding to all community colleges, will remain intact. See, for instance, Administrator Brett Rowlett’s email documenting this news.

Three Board members – Chair Austin Folnagy, Vice Chair Rust, and Zach Mulholland – expressed concerns about the lack of transparency and opportunity for community input and voted against the plan. The remaining four Board members voted to support the motion without any public discussion or information about what will be cut or for what reason, and without any consideration of the impacts of the specific cuts. 

You may wish to contact the Board members to share appreciation with Folnagy, Rust, and Mulholland, who remained true to their obligation as elected officials in our democracy by insisting on transparency and decision making in public meetings. 

As for the rest of the Board members, it is difficult to imagine how they will explain a vote for unknown cuts to the people of Lane County.

More information will be provided once available as well as next steps for advocacy.

In solidarity,

Adrienne

I’m writing with a few brief, yet important updates.

LCCEA Updates

Solidarity

Through the overwhelming solidarity and support of our LCCEA faculty, students, and community, your LCCEA Bargaining Team reached a Tentative Agreement last week as strike pledges reached 96%. This could not have happened without the extraordinary efforts of our Action Team and the support of union members and hundreds of faculty, students, and community members who participated in organizing activities during this campaign, which absolutely made a huge impact on our success! 

We are also grateful for the support and encouragement we received from numerous elected officials, including Representative Lisa Fragala, Congresswoman Val Hoyle, and Senator Merkley.

Together, we have power. Our solidarity and resolve carried us through.

Tentative Agreement Next Steps

Please see the Tentative Agreement summary as well as all of the TA articles if you have not yet reviewed them.

1. All LCCEA members have the opportunity to vote to ratify the Tentative Agreement (i.e., TA). Voting continues through Tuesday, March 10.
2. Pending the results of the LCCEA membership vote, we will have a Celebration!
3. The TA will take effect and become the new contract after both the LCCEA members ratify and the Board of Ed ratifies, which is expected to take place on March 18.
4. After the ratification by both parties, the Action Team will take down the outdoor signs on campus.
5. In the meantime, please consider updating your students about the status in anticipation of Spring term.

State Updates

Funding

1. The state legislature successfully passed the Federal disconnect bill that will ensure that the Community College Support Fund remains intact. There will be no reduction in state funding for community colleges!

ICE Alerts

2. The state legislature also passed a bill requiring alerts whenever ICE is confirmed at any school or higher education campus in Oregon.

Both of these will go into effect upon signature of Governor Kotek.

LCC Updates

“Budget Mitigation Plan”

The Administration is now asking the Board of Education to vote tomorrow on a newly released “plan” with $4.4 Million in unspecified cuts. The plan includes $1M in cuts related to “potential state cuts” even though the legislature just passed a bill that preserves funding for the State and will keep the Community College Support Fund intact, so there will be no reduction in state funding for community colleges, including LCC. The plan also includes $400,000 in “additional bargaining commitments,” which is not consistent with the LCCEA-LCC Tentative Agreement, nor, from our understanding, the new LCCEF agreement. In addition, the plan provides NO details on which services, college operations, or programs would be reduced or eliminated. It lists only high level categories – $2M of the proposed cuts from college operations, $1.4M from support services, and $983K from academic programs. Furthermore, it includes no reference to the $1.5+ Million dollars in creation and funding of new, unspecified programs and investments the Administration proposed in January and included in their mitigation plan at that time for a Board vote, which the Board did pass – these are unknown budget additions that create the need for unknown budget reductions. 

Finally, asking the Board to vote on cuts without knowing what they are would cause the Board of Education members to disregard their duty to the public, the campus, and community at-large. It would also be inconsistent with their own policies on program and service cuts as well as documented, longstanding precedent. In short, the plan to make $4.4 Million in unknown cuts places the Board in an untenable position to make decisions of significant impact on the college, students, and local community without any clear information on what would be cut, for what reason, and what the tradeoffs and impacts of any such decision would be. 

Please also note that no notice has been provided to LCCEA about potential cuts, nor has the Administration followed the contractually and legally-required negotiation process that they must abide by before implementing any possible reductions that would affect faculty. We made a formal information request about this yesterday and will share more information once it is available. 

The Board will also be voting on tuition, and their full agenda is here on BoardDocs. The meeting is open to the public.

Final Note

As I reflect on our 50th Anniversary of LCCEA celebration and the year since last April, I am deeply proud and grateful to have the opportunity to serve as your union President. The overwhelming support and unity that we achieved together as a faculty over the course of the bargaining campaign is not only heartening, it is a testament to our collective strength and power, cementing the future of LCCEA, in service of our students and community, for the next fifty years.

With appreciation, and in solidarity,

Adrienne

We reached an agreement on a new four-year contract with economics set for all four years!

Highlights Include the following.

Salary

• COLAs of 3.0% in years one (with retro pay back to last July) and 3.0% in year two; 3.1% in year three and 3.1% in year four
• Steps each year for all step-eligible faculty
• Additional longevity step of 1.5% added at the top of all faculty salary schedules on July 1, 2026
• Additional 1.0% pay parity adjustments each year for four years for all PT faculty, including Flight Tech and coaches

For full-time faculty who are step-eligible all four years, salary will increase by approximately 30.7% by the 28-29 year. 

For full-time faculty who are at the top of the salary schedule, salary will increase by approximately 14.5% by the 28-29 year. 

For part-time faculty who are step-eligible all four years, salary will increase by approximately 36% by the 28-29 year. 

For part-time faculty who are at the top of the salary schedule, salary will increase by approximately 19.2% by the 28-29 year.

Workload

• Increased Lab rate from 0.682 to 0.75, reducing workload for FT faculty and increasing pay for PT faculty by 10%
• Increase Lec-Lab rate from 0.762 to 0.788
• Increase Lec-Lab for Advanced Tech from 0.788 to 0.8
• Class size maximums set in contract

Non-Economics 

• Strong job security protections
• Expanded non-discrimination clause
• Updated language on privacy rights, academic freedom
• New safety language and benefits
• Protection for faculty currently living out of Oregon through 2029
• Expanded union release time for Association work
• Increased part-time annual round-up to 0.75 FTE

While there are many wins, our overall agreement does include some concessions and lacks some goals we were striving to achieve. On balance, we think it is not only reasonable and fair, but a strong, solid contract that meets faculty members’ top priorities for job security, compensation, workload, stability, and more.

Question and Answer Sessions

Please see summary below and all tentative agreements for more details and join a Q & A session.

Friday, February 27, 1-2 p.m., location TBD

Monday, March 2, 5-6 p.m., Zoom

Tuesday, March 3, 2-3 p.m., location TBD

In addition, all LCCEA members will have the opportunity to vote to ratify the agreement. More details soon.

We are heartened by the extraordinary efforts of our action team and support of union members. 96+% signed strike pledges, and hundreds of faculty, students, and community members participated in organizing activities during this campaign, which absolutely made a huge impact on our success!

Faculty have never been more unified, and our collective future is bright!

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata

Link to all Articles

We are heartened to learn from the Action Team that the strike pledges are up to 95%! Your support is critical and impactful!

More as soon as we can.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Leads,

Gerry

April 

Peggy

Russell

Adrienne

We are writing to share more information about the status of negotiations. 

As your bargaining team, we believe it is critical for you to know that the issues that matter most to faculty remain unresolved or completely unaddressed by the Administration. 

These include:

• Job security for both part-time and full-time faculty
• Compensation
• Workload, including TLCs for labs and lecture-labs
• Class sizes
• Contract length, stability, and clarity
• Faculty Professional Development decision-making and funding
• Safety

During twelve hours of mediation yesterday, we provided two complete package options at the beginning that would have fully resolved the contract negotiations. After reaching a pair of individual TAs early in the morning, the Administration spent five and a half hours deliberating, ultimately making very few proposals, no comprehensive response, and failing to address faculty key priorities. We did reach two additional TAs in the late evening; however, the four agreements (i.e., privacy, work year and inservice hours, governance, and online evaluations) represent minimal changes or reverting to pre-existing contract language. (While we attached the TAs, we cannot provide the mediation proposals due to the confidentiality agreement in mediation.)

We remain strongly committed to reaching an agreement in mediation, but we want faculty to be prepared in case that is not possible. 

At this point in time, we strongly advise faculty to continue preparing in the event we cannot reach agreement in mediation. Due to timelines in state law, either party may declare impasse as soon as March 6 if no agreement is reached. 

Steps we recommend you take now:

1. Learn more about unemployment for striking workers in this toolkit, and take the first step by registering for a Francis Online account: https://frances.oregon.gov/Claimant/ (This step should be completed weeks in advance, so we recommend doing this now. This step does not mean that you are applying for unemployment now, but it is necessary to do this in advance before you can file in the future.)
2. Participate in calls to action from the Action Team
3. Write letters to the Board of Ed encouraging them to resolve a fair contract without further delay.

92+% of LCCEA faculty have signed strike pledges thus far. If you have not yet signed and wish to do so, please contact your department rep or LCCEA Action Team Chair, Wendy Simmons. If you are not yet an LCCEA member or are unsure of your membership status, please contact LCCEA Membership Chair, Aryn Bartley. OEA Strike funds are only available to union members.

Thank you to all for your engagement in strike schools, pledges, info pickets, rallies, and to the faculty volunteers who cheered us on as we began mediation yesterday.  

We are stronger together! Our solidarity and resolve will carry us through.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata

Your Bargaining Team met for nearly 12 hours with the College today. We did reach four tentative agreements (attached) on:

Art. 9 — Work year, inservice hours, and inservice schedule with one new paid leave day for religious observance

Art. 13 — Incorporating distance learning language into the evaluations article

Art. 16 — Updated privacy language

Art. X — Governance — confirming pre-existing governance provisions, including reassignment time

We will provide more updates as mediation continues. We may have mediation again next Tuesday, and do have mediation confirmed next Wednesday.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata

We had a productive bargaining session with the College and reached three new agreements.

1. Insurance –

Moda Plan 1, Delta Dental 1, and Opal Vision will continue to be the “base plan” for College contributions. If these plans are no longer available in the future, the most comprehensive option available will become the base plan. Current insurance language protections for all faculty remain intact, including expansion of part-time faculty family insurance that had been agreed upon in the SB 551 and HB2611 MOAs. In addition, HSAs will be an option faculty may choose with College contributions to the HSA plan. We did ultimately accept the College’s proposal to remove reference to the Student (medical) Health Clinic, which is a permissive topic of bargaining, meaning we couldn’t refuse to accept the article contingent upon the inclusion of that sentence. Removal of this language has no bearing on the future viability of the clinic. To clarify, this is unrelated to the Mental Health and Wellness Center, which is a separate entity. (See Art. 33 attached.)

2. Budget Exigency – 

We agreed to exceedingly strong protections for faculty that limit reopening the contract in the event of budget exigency, which could only occur if state funding and property tax revenue combined drop 5% or more. The new Art. 6 would limit negotiations in this case to unpaid furlough days for contracted faculty and reduced inservice hours for part-time faculty only. No other economic terms, including insurance, could be included in the negotiation. (See Art. 6 attached.)

3. Transition to Canvas as the new LMS – 

Migrated course shells will be available in Canvas for faculty by April 29, and faculty will have up to 6 hours during Spring Conference for training and/or class prep with Canvas. Faculty will have 12 hours during Fall inservice for training and/or class prep with Canvas. For the Spring and Fall inservice time dedicated to Canvas training/ class prep, contracted faculty will be compensated as per normal pay for the days, and part-time faculty may use inservice hours for compensation. Both Canvas and Moodle will be available for faculty use in Summer 2026. Canvas will go into effect as the college-supported Learning Management System for all courses in Fall 2026. Faculty serving on the “Migration Committee” will be paid for 12 hours at their regular hourly rate. (See LMS MOA attached.)

We are heartened by the extraordinary response of union members; 91+% (and counting) have signed strike pledges, which did make an impact on our progress in negotiations today. 

While we have numerous critical faculty needs yet to address, including job security, workload, class sizes, compensation, and more, we are optimistic as we move forward into mediation, which is scheduled to begin next Thursday, February 19th.

Thank you to all for your engagement in strike schools, info pickets, rallies, and to the many faculty who came to observe bargaining today and to the Action Team, Department Reps, and student supporters!

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Michael Marchman

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata

Please see email to the Board of Education below and the legal memo attached. 

We are dismayed that the LCC Administration continues to effectively refuse to bargain over mandatory subjects (i.e., legally required topics for negotiations) such as ones of primary importance to faculty including job security and fundamental rights, many of which have no economic cost.

We remain hopeful that the Administration will change course and bargain in good faith.

In solidarity,

Adrienne 

Dear Board of Education Members,

Please find attached a letter from Jason Weyland, attorney for LCCEA, which has been provided to LCC’s attorney. The letter pertains to the need for LCC to bargain in good faith and addresses a large number of College assertions in bargaining that are inconsistent with the law regarding issues about which the LCC Administration has effectively refused to bargain.

In addition to being an accomplished labor attorney for 25 years, Jason also served for eight years as a judge on Oregon’s Employment Relations Board, which adjudicates public sector labor law in our state.

We believe it is of utmost importance that the College change course in order to not only bargain in good faith, but also to commit to real negotiation in earnest.

For the Association,

Adrienne

Adrienne Mitchell, M.A., M.Ed.

Faculty Member, Academic Learning Skills Department

President, Lane Community College Education Association

Vice President, Oregon Education Association Community College Council

Due to a strike notice at a different public employer, the state mediator had to cancel our mediation session for this Thursday, February 12. Mediation will begin instead on Thursday, February 19.

In the meantime, we have agreed to meet with the LCC Administration 1 – 4 p.m. this Thursday, February 12 for a bargaining session in 19/220. This session is open to all faculty members to attend.

We are heartened by the exceedingly strong participation of faculty members in the strike schools and strike pledges, as well as the energizing student-led petition and informational picket happening now!

Your LCCEA Bargaining Leads,

Gerry Meenaghan

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata