Faculty, staff, students, and community members picketed outside The Center for the Advancement of Public Action on Bennington College’s campus today after the campus union and administration failed to agree on a contract.
Bennington College United (BCU) is the union that represents “faculty, and some staff.” Additionally, there are three bargaining units: faculty, staff, and Campus Safety. College administration failed to reach a contract. Negotiations that have been ongoing for 13 months, lasted for several hours on Tuesday before the picket was scheduled on Wednesday, April 30th.
“This is the culmination of what we’ve been doing with the union for two years now,” Lua Piovano-Marcotte, the Crossett Library Acquisitions Coordinator and member of the BCU bargaining committee said, “If you’re gonna show up, now’s the time to show up,”
Most of the key splitting points in negotiations have been economic demands from BCU including raising wages to match cost-of-living, and commitment to investing in retirement and healthcare. The union says the College has only offered a 2% raise for some campus workers and still wishes to reserve the right to cut retirement and healthcare investment to 0%.
“We have told the College that we are willing to reduce some of our financial demands and expectations for this contract if they would be more open and transparent about the financial situation of the College, and they have yet to disclose that information,” Alexa Litchfield, Assistant Registrar and member of the bargaining committee said.
The union and supporters marched in a loop around CAPA under the cloudless spring skies holding signs and shouting chants decrying the College’s proposals, culminating in supporters standing directly outside the CAPA Symposium where a faculty meeting was scheduled to take place. Nearly an hour into the demonstration, Bennington College President Laura Walker, Provost Maurice Hall, and Vice President for Finance and Finance and Administration Lorraine Atwood came to address the crowd, which quickly devolved into tense exchanges between picketers and the President.
“We are making, I think, some really good progress in these conversations. A team has been at work for many days into the night last night,” Walker said “and I am confident that we can get something done.” Picketers then posed questions ranging from asking the salary of the President to the lowest paid campus worker. After a few minutes the President, Provost, and Vice President went inside CAPA.
Liam Hefta, a Campus Safety officer and member of the BCU bargaining committee, described the administration’s bargaining as “Malicious, weaponized, foot-dragging and obstructionism of calamitous proportions,” and said the College had not brung good-faith proposals to negotiations.
When asked for comment on the picket, Bennington College Director of Communications Ashley Brenon Jowett, stated negotiations have been productive and ongoing, with key agreements in areas such as vacation time, educational benefits, and paid sick time.
“We are working hard to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with BCU. At the same time, we’re limited by the fact that Bennington is a small college with finite resources operating in an uncertain world.Our goal from the start has been to create a contract that honors members’ work while at the same time ensures the College’s future,” Jowett wrote in an email, “We’re confident we’ll get there.”
Catherine McKeen, a visiting faculty in Society, Culture, and Thought at the College said that though she isn’t sure what bargaining would look like moving forward, the picket had brung accountability to College leadership.
“I only think we can get as strong a contract as we’re willing to fight for,” McKeen said, “What was so wonderful to see was people from the community will turn out to support the union and support a fair contract.”
Previous inaccuracies, regarding dates and parties involved, have been updated.
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