Montgomery College on New Agreement with SEIU Local 500

Following is the press release from the college.

Media Contacts: Elizabeth Homan, 240-567-7970; Brett Eaton, 240-567-7952

Montgomery College and SEIU Reach Tentative Agreement on Contract for Part-time Faculty Members

SEIU Membership and College Board of Trustees to Vote on Contract

Montgomery College and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 500 reached tentative agreement Friday on the first contract for part-time faculty members teaching credit courses at the College. The College and SEIU began negotiating a collective bargaining agreement in September 2008 after part-time faculty members voted for representation. SEIU represents approximately 900 part-time faculty members. Montgomery College is the only public higher education institution in the state of Maryland with a union for its part-time faculty.

The tentative two-year agreement addresses working conditions and pay rates for the part-time faculty members. The agreement formalizes the procedures that the College will use when assigning classes to part-time faculty, establishes a grievance procedure, increases the maximum number of credit hours that part-time faculty can teach, and provides for a modest rate increase for this current fiscal year equivalent to what other employees at the College have already received.

Through Montgomery College’s collective bargaining process, the College and SEIU came to agreement with the assistance of a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Throughout the process, Montgomery College and SEIU worked productively toward an agreement, and the two look forward to building upon this collaborative working relationship in the future.

“I am pleased that the College and SEIU have reached a tentative agreement,” said Dr. Hercules Pinkney, interim president of Montgomery College. “Montgomery College greatly values the contributions of the part-time faculty members, and I look forward to strengthening this partnership. It takes the talent and dedication of the entire Montgomery College community—part-time and full-time faculty, staff, and administrators—to achieve our mission of changing students’ lives.”

The tentative agreement must now go before the College’s SEIU members for approval and ratification. Once ratified, the agreement will be presented to the Montgomery College Board of Trustees for vote. The College anticipates that the Board will take action at its meeting in December. At that time, the agreement would take effect.

In addition to SEIU, two additional unions represent employees at Montgomery College—the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) represents full-time faculty members and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) represents select staff members.

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Montgomery College is a public, open admissions community college with campuses in Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park/Silver Spring, plus workforce development/continuing education centers and off-site programs throughout Montgomery County, Md. The College serves nearly 60,000 students a year, through both credit and noncredit programs, in more than 100 areas of study.