Community College Faculty Continue To Ask For Fair Contract

The Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers (NCCFT) has called on the Nassau Community College Board of Trustees to agree to a fair contract for NCC’s educators and to reverse a devastating health care cost increase amid rising inflation rates.

NCC is an asset and an investment in the community. For every $1 invested in NCC, the community receives $6.80 over the course of a student’s working life, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. But according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, many NCC educators are paid $30,000 less than a living wage despite this value.

Nassau Community College trustees gathered on Feb. 9 for the 7:00 public session of their monthly meeting The crowd of faculty and students that filled the room remained in good spirits, buoyed by spontaneous speeches of students while they waited. They were rallying for a fair contract for full-time faculty, who have been working without a contract since Sept 1, 2022. Faculty stated that at a time of high inflation, soaring housing and transportation costs, and after years of contracts with wage freezes or mere 1.1% wage increase, faculty wages have simply not kept up with the cost of living in Nassau County.

Frank Rizzo

In the words of NCCFT President Faren Siminoff, “Faculty have sacrificed for the College for over a decade. It’s time the College acknowledges this, and it can start by giving us a fair contract.” Speakers emphasized the plight of “junior” faculty, those hired after 2014; their first-year salaries are below $60,000. Modest salaries are further reduced by mandatory 6% contributions into pensions, and 15% contributions into health insurance premiums — which, if combined with a pay reduction to cover health insurance premium increases which the College announced to the union in January — would total about $10,000 for family coverage in the New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) Empire Plan– and even more if the faculty member is enrolled in the Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance plan Faculty shared that these low starting salaries are leading to difficulty in attracting qualified applicants. Biology Chair Christine Tuaillion stated that the full-time faculty union (NCCFT) had been willing to allow recent job applicants to start at a higher position in order to earn more, but the College refused; as a result, the applicant turned down NCC as coming here would have amounted to a $15,000 cut in earnings. One junior faculty member shared that she has educational loans from graduate school to repay and “our salary simply does not cover the bills.”

The Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers is a local of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), a federation of more than 900 local unions representing more than 480,000 people who work in, or are retired from, New York’s schools, colleges, and healthcare facilities. NYSUT represents classroom teachers, college and university faculty and professional staff, school bus drivers, custodians, secretaries, cafeteria workers, teacher assistants and aides, nurses and healthcare technicians.

NYSUT is part of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the fastest growing union in the United States. We are also part of the AFL-CIO and Education International.