The Spoon River College Board of Trustees has approved a three-year contract with faculty members and a four-year pact with classified personnel.
The faculty contract is for three years and begins Aug. 15, 2024.
SRC President Curt Oldfield said the salary step will increase by 1.55%, and the lane was adjusted by 1.5% for the first year.
“Depending on where faculty are at in that step, there could be a range of salary increases, but it ends up being at least 3.05% and could be higher for those individuals depending on their seniority with the college,” Oldfield said.
Pay for the second and third years will be negotiated down the road.
Classified personnel agreed to a four-year contract that starts July 1, 2024. It gives employees a 4% increase in their hourly rate in the first year.
Like with the faculty contract, future salaries to be negotiated.
Oldfield said given the uncertainty of funding -- especially from the state -- it was best to hold off on setting pay levels for future years.
“Both sides felt like it was the most fair thing to do – to analyze those salary increases on a year-by-year basis rather than either side being locked into something that wasn’t acceptable in the next year,” he said.
In addition, the re-openers include a floor, so salaries will increase at least 2% even if the college and employees cannot reach an agreement.
Oldfield hopes it’s reassuring for employees to know pay increases are planned.
“It’s just a matter of how much,” he said.
All other contract language has been agreed upon, so salaries are all that will need to be discussed in the coming years.
Oldfield said they used interest-based bargaining, which he considers a solution-focused approach to negotiating.
The contracts cover 33 full-time faculty members and about 34 full- and part-time classified staff.
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