HACC faculty union ratifies first contract; board of trustees to review agreement Dec. 2

• By Ashley Stalnecker/LNP | LancasterOnline

HACC’s 750-member faculty union voted Wednesday to ratify its first contract. The union, formed in early 2022, has been negotiating a contract with the central Pennsylvania community college for three years.

Union members voted on the contract Tuesday and Wednesday following two information sessions Monday, and only 6% of union members voted against the deal.

If the contract is approved by the college, faculty will receive partial back pay for the previous three years in which they did not receive wage increases.

Full-time and adjunct faculty also are expected to receive “predictable and appropriate” raises under the terms of the four-year contract.

In the first year, full-time faculty will receive a 9.28% increase and adjunct faculty will receive increases between 1.89% and 9.28% based on years of service, according to Amy Withrow, an English professor and the union’s chief negotiator. All faculty will receive a 3% increase in the second, third and fourth years of the contract.

“We are grateful to our members who stood together in solidarity to fight for a contract that benefits our students, our faculty, and the college,” Withrow said. “HACCEA’s first contract represents compromise on both sides and was achieved from over three years of bargaining.”

HACC’s board of trustees will review the contract during its meeting Dec. 2, according to a statement on its website. Withrow said once the contract is approved by the college’s board of trustees, the terms of the agreement, including the first-year wage increase, will immediately go into effect.

The contract also would protect intellectual property owned by faculty, establish just cause for discipline and discharge and add a clear grievance procedure, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania State Education Association, of which the HACC Education Association is an affiliate.

Faculty, students and community members gathered at HACC’s main campus in Harrisburg to strike earlier this month and called off a strike it planned to have Monday at the college’s Lancaster campus in East Lampeter Township after the two parties reached a tentative agreement on the contract.

Nearly 2,000 of HACC’s 12,000 students are enrolled at the HACC Lancaster campus, where 100 of the college’s faculty teach.

On its website, the college said the union’s demands in the contract cost $4.2 million per year and tuition for many students will increase. Tuition for the 2025-26 academic year ranges from $239.75 to $458 per credit hour.

“This marks a turning point for HACCEA and the College. This agreement turns the page and starts a new chapter for what HACCEA hopes will be four years of collaboration, respect, and transparency,” Withrow said. “We know that there will always be growing pains, but HACCEA has demonstrated that it is always willing to engage, discuss, and try to find common ground when issues do arise.”