Community College of Philadelphia's Faculty Poised For Strike Vote
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The faculty at Community College of Philadelphia meets this evening to decide whether to go on strike.
Fourteen hundred full- and part-time instructors are back from spring break, and now they have to decide whether to accept Community College's five-year contract offer, go on strike, or try to keep negotiating.
Union co-president Steve Jones says the college hasn't moved since making its so-called "final" offer last month.
"The really big issue is that the administration basically has decided that they're not interested in talking to us anymore," Jones tells KYW Newsradio.
The administration has proposed a 10.5-percent raise over five years, with a salary freeze in the first year. The college also proposes tying wage increases to the state and city funding it receives.
College president Stephen Curtis wouldn't comment on whether there is a strike contingency plan at the ready.
"Our goal is hopefully to avoid anything like that," he said today. "I would hate to think... I'd be disappointed if the union leadership takes that kid of approach."
The union has been working without a new contract since August. The union struck for two weeks in 2007, at a similar point in the school year.
