Austin Community College employees are asking for an across-the-board raise of 8.5% — nearly double the ACC’s proposed 4.5% — to account for inflation and cost of living before the board may close on 1 could vote on the budget in July.
“We faculties are here for our students. We are not here for the money, but we need it to survive,” Juan Molina, president of the faculty council, told the board on June 3. “We need it to live.”
Last month, following testimony from employees about the need for more investment in their salaries, trustees asked Chief Financial Officer Neil Vickers if he could give a presentation on how ACC would achieve the proposed 8.5% increase. Both he and Molina will give a presentation on July 1. The council must approve the budget before September 1.
According to ACC policy, the council calculates increases based on market interest rates. Vickers said the council also takes into account the cost of living and national inflation, although that is not stated in the policy. Molina said the proposed 4.5% increase is not enough to keep pace with inflation in recent years, which has caused an “erosion” of salary values.
“We hope that you will involve us in the priorities for the council,” Molina also told the board.
The next ACC Board meeting will be held on Monday at 4:00 PM on the Highland Campus.
What salary increases has ACC had before?
A 5% increase was enacted in 2022 after employee advocacy and skyrocketing inflation. The compensation package was about double the previous year, an ACC press release said at the time, resulting in a 28% increase in the minimum wage. An additional 6% increase enacted last July brought ACC’s minimum wage to $22 ― above the University of Texas’ lowest hourly wage and the city’s stated living wage of $20.80.
Both years, the lowest-paid workers got extra boosts, with workers making more than $100,000 getting the lowest boost. Vickers said this was an intentional distribution of resources by the board.
Is the cost of living rising?
But Faculty Senate leaders said inflation was having an impact on workers regardless.
The Faculty Senate calculated that an 8.5% increase would help all employees catch up and access a better quality of life, Molina said.
Vickers added that the proposed 4.5 percent increase outpaces comparable community colleges surveyed and the national inflation rate, which the U.S. Department of Labor currently estimates at 3.3 percent. According to data from the Texas Community College Teachers Association, ACC ranks in the top three for teacher salaries among nine metro community colleges, which is consistent with ACC policy.
“We haven’t found anyone who does more than 4.5% in our market,” Vickers said.
David Albert, an associate professor at the ACC and president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the ACC’s proposed tuition increase doesn’t take into account the expiration of federal pandemic aid, such as the cancellation of student loans, Austin’s higher spending compared to other Texas cities or the extra work many staff members are doing to meet the needs of students.
“The quality of education we provide depends on the real opportunities that employees have,” Albert said. “If our employees have to work three jobs, they can’t be there for the students in the same way.”
While there isn’t an inflation measure unique to Austin, home prices — which skyrocketed during the pandemic and account for about a third of inflation — have reportedly fallen this year, said Jeremy Martin, the president of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Martin added that prices for utilities, food and transportation in Austin are also “at or below the national average.”
According to Martin, the decline in home prices indicates that inflation in Austin is lower than the rest of the country.
He added that the Council for Community and Economic Research says the cost of living in Austin is 1% above the national average.
It is enough?
Amber Luttig-Buonodono, president of the Adjunct Faculty Association and professor by special appointment of English, said small fluctuations in costs have a big impact on professors by special appointment, because they are paid less than full-time faculty. This is a common practice in academia, assuming they have another job.
“But now that academia works this way, there are many professional teachers who have this as their only source of income. So if we go into the compensation increase this year, we are very vulnerable economically,” said Luttig-Buonodono.
The Board of Trustees approved an additional week of pay for adjuncts in 2023 for preparatory work, and Luttig-Buonodono said she hopes the board continues to consider the needs of adjunct professors.
Annie Marks, an adjunct professor who normally teaches one American Sign Language Interpretation class per semester, testified before the board June 3 about the need for increased compensation to accommodate the additional work employees are doing to meet the needs of students and meet course expectations.
“I can spend 10 hours a week grading, reading, and providing feedback on my students’ video work. Not to mention the time in the classroom and the time you spend each week planning your class,” she said.
Marks also works part-time as an interpreter, but if she were to get a full-time job, she would no longer be able to work at ACC, she told the board.
Marks currently lives with her parents because she can’t afford to live alone in Austin, she said, and is a new non-driver due to a medical condition. The nearest bus route would be a journey time of almost three hours, she said.
She calculated that a 4.5% increase in her salary would pay for some rides, she said, but an 8.5% increase would cover both sides. While Marks’ situation is unique, she said the increase could change many people’s lives.
“It’s just really important to think about what honoring that work looks like,” Marks said.
Vickers said the university has made a conscious decision to compensate its employees well and hopes faculty know how much they mean to ACC.
“It’s clear that ACC cares deeply about its employees because look at all the creativity, effort and money ACC has put into … compensation,” Vickers said. “They are the highest paid community college faculty in the state of Texas, and that is intentional.”
This article originally appeared on the Austin American-Statesman: Ahead of budget vote, ACC workers push for bigger pay raise
