2025 Collective Bargaining Process

Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC) is committed to an honest, respectful, and collaborative collective bargaining process with the union representing our classified staff, academic professionals, and faculty. We recognize the vital contributions of every team member and are dedicated to negotiating in good faith to reach agreements that support our staff, students, and the long-term sustainability of the college.

Administration's Approach to Bargaining

Open Dialogue: We value open communication and strive to keep all stakeholders informed throughout the bargaining process. Weekly public bargaining meetings have been held since January and recorded via Zoom so all stakeholders can review them when convenient.

Financial Stewardship: The college faces significant financial pressures, including rising costs for retirement benefits, inflation, and flat or declining state allocation, and federal funding (more sources below). Our bargaining proposals reflect our responsibility to balance fair compensation for employees with the need to keep CGCC affordable and accessible for students.

Peer Comparisons: CGCC benchmarks compensation against similar rural community colleges to ensure our offers are competitive and appropriate for our size and resources. 

Commitment to Equity: We have made substantial improvements to employee compensation in recent years, including a 20% increase in classified staff pay scales and annual cost-of-living adjustments as part of the last collective bargaining process. We continue to seek solutions that address employee concerns about pay, workload, and representation.

Key Issues and College Responses

Wages and Cost-of-Living Adjustments: The college has proposed across-the-board wage increases for faculty and classified staff, along with cost-of-living adjustments for all employees. While we recognize the union’s request for larger increases, our current financial reality limits what is feasible without jeopardizing student services or college operations.

Living Wage Concerns: We acknowledge that some positions remain below the calculated living wage for our region. We are committed to incremental progress and have offered to raise starting wages for classified staff as part of our latest proposal.
The state of Oregon allocates funding to community colleges primarily based on student enrollment. While the Columbia Gorge is a highly desirable place to live, the resulting surge in housing costs has made the region increasingly expensive for both students and staff. Our enrollment—like that of many community colleges statewide—is only now beginning to recover from the declines experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because our state funding is closely tied to enrollment, it has not kept pace with the rapidly rising costs of operating in the Gorge. Without more students, we do not qualify for additional state support, making it challenging to keep up.

Academic Professional Representation: The college respects the rights of employees to seek union representation. While we did not initially extend union coverage to academic professionals, we are following the established legal process with the Oregon Employee Relations Board and will honor its outcome.

Honesty and Accountability: We take full responsibility for delays in budget preparation and communication during this bargaining cycle and are working to improve our processes for the future. Part of the delay was due to a 14-month leadership vacancy in the business office that has only this month (July 2025) been filled.

Respect and Due Process: CGCC is committed to treating all employees with dignity and fairness. There are multiple statues in Oregon law that prohibit workplace retaliation, and CGCC adheres to all applicable laws and policies regarding employee rights and takes concerns about retaliation seriously.

Looking Ahead

Our goal is to reach agreements that recognize the hard work of our employees, maintain the college’s fiscal health, and ensure we can continue to serve our students and community for years to come. We appreciate the dedication and professionalism of our staff and faculty throughout this process.

For more information, including current and past collective bargaining agreements, please visit our Payroll and Benefits page or contact the Human Resources office.

We will continue to update this page as negotiations progress.

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Sources
Columbia Gorge News articles referenced