HACC professors make case for strike in town hall meeting

Hundreds of HACC staff are ready to strike if the union and administration cannot reach an agreement next week.

Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) professors and faculty members are threatening to strike in the coming weeks if the school’s administration cannot come up with a contract agreement by next Tuesday evening. 

“ We are now 42 months since approving our union, and we’re still without a contract. We are nearly 40 months without a raise. That’s a long time,” Amy Withrow, a HACC English professor and HACC Education Association (HACCEA) chief negotiator, told students and faculty members at a town hall on Tuesday. 

There are roughly 750 professors and faculty members teaching online or at HACC’s campuses in Adams, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York counties. HACC EA, the local union representing the faculty members, is affiliated with the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA). 

HACC faculty members and professors began organizing their union throughout the COVID pandemic and voted to form it in April 2022, but they have been met with resistance from the school’s administration throughout the bargaining process. 

Earlier this month, faculty members voted to authorize a strike with 93% in favor. They issued an Oct. 28th deadline for the administration to make a deal with faculty. 

“ We have a rally. We have a negotiation session with them on the 28th,” Adam Weber, a PSEA uniserv representative, said during the town hall. “If that negotiation session is unsuccessful, we will strike, and I want to reiterate that that is what we will do.”

Faculty members plan to rally with students and union supporters at 5pm on Tuesday outside of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. They will head into negotiations following the rally. 

Withrow and Weber did not disclose a strike date if negotiations fail on Tuesday. 

According to the union, HACC has been dragging its feet on negotiating status quo language, or the day-to-day working conditions that existed when the union formed, into their contract.

“This would be the tuition reimbursement language. This would be the types of leave, the amount of personal leave, how you accrue sick leave,” Weber explained. “ We should have checked these off 40 of the 42 months ago, and yet here we sit still arguing over something that has been in place for 42 months. That is baffling.”

Another sticking point is that faculty have gone without pay for the previous three years even though HACC’s Board of Trustees approved pay raises for all of the school’s employees. The administration offered a 9% percent raise in the first year of the contract, but members rejected the proposal because the offer doesn’t make up the difference in lost wages. 

“ The board of trustees approved in ‘23 and ’24 a 3% raise for all employees of HACC. They approved a 3% raise in ’24-’25 for all employees. They’ve actually approved a 3% raise in ‘25-’26 for all employees,” Weber said. “The faculty have not seen a dime of those increases. We have not seen a dime of those increases, and that’s a problem.”