Deal Reached to Avoid Strike at Community College of Philadelphia

A deal has been reached to end the strike at the Community College of Philadelphia, NBC10 confirmed Wednesday night.

Faculty and staff reached an agreement with the school, confirmed Faculty & Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia spokesman Jamie Zigarelli.

"The deal follows a contentious three-year fight, pitting an administration seeking to implement higher workloads on faculty and higher health care costs for all employees. Faculty and staff said they were fighting to protect educational quality at the College, and for fair wages for all, especially their most vulnerable employees," Zigarelli said in a news release.

The union, which represents, 1200 CCP faculty and staff, announced last week that they were going on strike after working without a contract for more than three years. Negotiations in contract talks stalled for more than two years.

College President Donald Generals had said in January that administrators were considering imposing a contract.

The staffers said they were prepared to strike in order to protect access to quality education at the college.

“We teach 36 students per class,” Yusefa Smith, full-time faculty member in Foundational Math, said. “At Montco and Bucks, it’s 27-28 students per class. Dr. Generals wants us to teach two more classes a year. We will be responsible for educating 80 more students each year than a professor at Montco or Bucks. That’s going to subtract from our students’ education.”

The staffers also said job security and the amount of money for retiree medical benefits for new hires were sticking points.

The Union said they compromised on several issues in their final pre-strike offer.

“We proposed a system that would allow professors who are willing to tackle the extra work to do so, while those who can support themselves and their families teaching a standard full-time teaching assignment can continue to do so,” Junior Brainard, Co-President of the Union, said.

A spokesperson for the Community College of Philadelphia told NBC10 last week they were disappointed by the Union’s decision to strike.

“Late Tuesday evening, the Federation forwarded its pre-strike demand. Unfortunately, the Union sought raises of more than 26 percent over the life of the contract,” the spokesperson said. “The Union’s demands would increase the College's current costs by $82.8 million, which is $73.5 million higher than the amount of the College administration’s proposals in the best and final offer.”

CCP posted details on their final offer.

The Community College of Philadelphia is a public, open-admission institution in Philadelphia with more than 34,000 students enrolled annually. Its main campus is located on 1700 Spring Garden Street in Philly’s Fairmount section. It also has locations in Northwest Philadelphia, Northeast Philadelphia and West Philadelphia.

All of the school's locations will remain open with most services available to students.