Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
The faculty strike at HACC is expected to enter its second day on Tuesday, as union professors and student supporters spent most of Monday marching on a picket line at the college’s Harrisburg campus. Another bargaining session between faculty union leaders and college administrators is scheduled for Wednesday, as the union heads into its 43rd month without an initial contract after faculty voted to unionize in April of 2022. “I’ve been saying ‘give me an hour and I’ll pull the negotiating team together’” to cut a deal, said Amy Withrow, a HACC English professor and the union’s lead negotiator. Union leaders say they plan to assess day by day as to whether and how the strike will continue. But the college has not yet indicated that it’s willing to move on any of the outstanding issues that remain after last week’s marathon bargaining sessions, Withrow said. Faculty and supporters camped out Monday along the college’s main entrance on HACC Drive, across from the Pennsylvania Farm Show complex, marching up and down the sidewalks with shirts and signs reading “enough is enough” and other union slogans. In a statement over the weekend, HACC’s administration said it is “disappointed” by the decision to strike, but that it will “respect the rights of our faculty to express their concerns and to participate fully in the collective bargaining process, including engaging in a lawful strike.” HACC has not announced any campuswide class cancellations. It remains unclear how many courses will be affected, given that many classes do not meet until later this week. In emails to students, the college has said that “we have qualified substitute instructors prepared to teach your courses and evaluate your assignments,” and that “these instructors will ensure that instruction and grading continue to meet HACC’s academic standards.” Classes are scheduled to end in early to mid-December, with commencement listed tentatively for Dec. 9. The college has solicited faculty to serve as “substitute” instructors during the strike, but it remains unclear how many may be willing to cross the picket line. Union faculty said Monday that their students had told them they had shown up to empty classrooms, or to substitutes who were college administrators and had limited knowledge of the course. “Some students are reporting to us that they’re being told ‘come to class, there will be a substitute,’ and then there is no substitute,” Withrow said. The union has about 250 active members, and its contract stands to encompass roughly 750 teaching positions, according to the union. Many adjunct professors and other non-members who fall under the collective bargaining agreement have joined the strike or are anticipated to, union organizers said. HACC’s spring 2025 enrollment — the most recent numbers available on its website — showed 6,719 students at the Harrisburg campus, about three-quarters of them full-time. Another 5,589 students were enrolled at branch facilities in Lebanon, Lancaster, York, and Gettysburg. The college on Monday invited students whose classes had been impacted to stop by the campus support office for refreshments and activities that included rock painting, according to an email shared by the union. Some students then sent their professors pictures of rocks with pro-union messages painted on them, according to faculty. The nature of the contract impasse hasn’t significantly changed. When negotiations first began, the college had insisted on several clauses in the contract that would force union faculty to accept whatever conditions and benefits the college granted to other staff. HACC’s administration eventually backed off on several of these elements, but is still demanding some exclusive management rights not subject to grievance by the union — including class sizes, scheduling, the creation of new faculty positions and the qualification for them, and other matters on which unions typically have input. Major differences also remain in pay. For the past three years, HACC has denied raises to unionized faculty while giving 3% adjustments to non-union employees, with faculty now seeking to recoup this. The college, according to last week’s “last best offer” document, is offering a raise of 9.28% retroactive to July of this year, with 3% increases in each of the following three years. Union members have consistently rejected this since it wouldn’t fully compensate them for the compounded losses of prior years. The union has also pushed for part-time adjuncts to be paid a minimum of $1,454 per credit-hour, or $38.77 per hour worked, according to union bargaining materials. HACC has said its best number was $36.64 per hour, and only last week came up 69 cents to $37.33, which would be an even $1,400 per credit-hour, according to its latest proposal. In a statement, HACC said its offer “includes a fair and competitive compensation package and excellent working conditions that support our students and employees,” and that the union’s demand for full back pay would “make HACC unaffordable for many of our students and the communities we serve.” Union leaders suspect this isn’t exactly true, and that the hold-up has more to do with the power dynamic between faculty, the college’s board of trustees, and college president John “Ski” Sygielski. Based on a full-time faculty salary of $68,000, the union’s 250 members have forfeited about $3.1 million in pay since 2023, union leadership has stressed. HACC’s latest financial report shows an unexpected savings of $1.7 million in staffing costs, with the college’s day-to-day operations, excluding capital purchases and investment returns, running $5 million in the black. The bargaining process has seen a number of flare-ups over the past three years, with the union accusing HACC leadership of illegal union-busting by intentionally drawing out negotiations and cutting programs taught by union leaders. HACC’s union is organized under the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), the state’s largest teachers’ union. In 2023, the college also had two PSEA organizers arrested for trespassing on its Lancaster branch campus, despite faculty saying they had reserved a table for a union drive. The charges were later dropped. The school was also the subject of a Sunshine Act lawsuit for failing to properly disclose its board minutes and agendas, eventually settling a contempt complaint after the union and PennLive began pointing out repeated violations. The stakes increase as the strike continues, particularly since HACC employs a number of professors in the skilled trades – HVAC, welding, auto repair, etc. – as well as nursing, who can easily find other work during the strike, and who might not return once it’s over. “Those individuals can walk out and get a $15,000 or $20,000 signing bonus and make much more than they do at the college. They work here because they love teaching,” Withrow said, but that financial reality makes the college’s pay position very precarious.
