HACC professors and faculty ratify contract after prolonged negotiations

Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) staff voted 94% in favor of ratifying their first contract.

An overwhelming majority of Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) professors and faculty members voted in favor of ratifying their first contract more than three years after voting to unionize. 

“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,” Amy Withrow, HACC Education Association’s (HACCEA) chief negotiator and English professor, said in a statement.  

“HACCEA’s first contract represents compromise on both sides and was achieved from over three years of bargaining.”

There are roughly 750 professors and faculty members who teach online or in person at HACC’s campuses in Adams, Dauphin, Lebanon, Lancaster, and York counties, and they are affiliated with the Pennsylvania State Education Association—the commonwealth’s largest public sector union. 

Earlier this month, the faculty members staged a two-day strike with the threat of returning to the picket line in order to secure a contract. They were set to return to continue striking Monday, but called off the strike once they got close to a tentative agreement.

According to HACCEA, the contract protects intellectual property created or owned by faculty members, and it includes retrenchment language, just cause for disciplinary actions, and a clear grievance procedure. 

Professors and faculty members went more than three years without a pay increase even though HACC’s Board of Trustees approved raises for all its employees and administrators. This contract offers partial backpay for those missed wage increases and creates a raise schedule going forward for both full-time and adjunct faculty members. 

“This marks a turning point for HACCEA and the College,” Withrow said. 

“This agreement turns the page and starts a new chapter for what HACCEA hopes will be four years of collaboration, respect, and transparency. 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.”