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Portland Community College on Wednesday announced it will delay the start of most of its spring term classes to April 6, as labor negotiations with two of its largest unions continue to drag on.
The strike has so far interrupted the end of PCC’s winter term, including finals week and final grade submissions. In an email to students sent Wednesday from PCC’s Office of the President, the college noted that the week of March 30, originally meant to be the start of spring term, may now be reserved for coursework or finals from winter. Final grades are now expected to be posted by April 1, the email read.
The two unions, the Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals and Federation of Classified Employees, went on strike March 11, after months of stalled negotiations around salary and benefits. The two unions represent about 2,300 members across the college, many in student-facing positions.
Notably, though spring term is expected to start a week late for all credit, adult education, and English for Speakers of Other Languages classes, PCC plans to still end spring term as scheduled on June 15. Commencement is still scheduled for June 12. (Spring classes for Community Education and Professional Development & Training will be held during the first week of the term.)
“Officially the term is the same but the first week is cancelled,” James Hill, a spokesman for the college, said in a statement to WW. “We aren’t officially changing the academic calendar. (It’s a contract thing we need to abide by.)”
The strike entered its third week Wednesday. PCC had previously said Monday would be a key day for resolving the strike in order to keep spring term on schedule, but negotiations have stalled. Talks in recent weeks have largely stalled over cost-of-living adjustments, but union leaders say there’s also a new holdup over PCC’s refusal to provide back pay to striking workers.
