Northwestern Michigan College faculty wearing “Proud Union Member” buttons and sporting green “This Is My NMC” t-shirts packed the audience at the NMC monthly board of trustees meeting Monday evening.

They were there in response to a question posed by Trustee Marilyn Dresser at a board retreat earlier this month about why college faculty are “so angry” with administration.

Two employee groups – non-supervisory full- and part-time faculty as well as academic chairs – voted to unionize last year. They say the “vast majority of faculty members feel disregarded by the college president [Tim Nelson]” and are concerned the board may be "totally unaware of this ongoing problem" because it has no direct contact with them.

Fifteen faculty members read from a prepared document – one section at a time – answering not why they are “angry,” but instead why they voted to organize after 62 years of cooperation and healthy communication with the board and administration. They detailed a series of breakdowns with administration that began in 2007, starting with faculty council reports being cut from the board's monthly agenda and increasing exclusion from executive team and board decisions.

“Today, we are unified in our concern about the future of the college and the current direction of college administration with its insular leadership,” read Janet Lively, an instructor in the Communications Department.

Added Lisa Blackford, a social sciences instructor, “We want an actual voice at the table where decisions are made that directly affect learning and teaching, and a meaningful voice in shared governance and the budget process.”

The only statement from the board of trustees came from Chair Kennard Weaver, saying faculty should take their concerns to their union representative as trustees could not discuss conditions of employment during a negotiation process.

Nancy Gray, chair of NMC’s Faculty Council, says she was pleased with the attentiveness of some of the trustees during the faculty's presentation, noting that Chris Bott, Bob Brick and Ross Childs took notes. (Vice-chair Steve Rawlings and Trustee Doug Bishop were both absent from the meeting.)

“President Nelson never looked up, and I think that should be noted,” Gray adds.

Steve Drake, a 45-year member of NMC’s mathematics department, describes the current situation as “a fight to save education at NMC.”

Debra Pharo, who has taught mathematics at NMC for 28 years, says she twice voted against unionizing, but cast a 'yes' vote last year.

“Shutting us out of shared governance and decision-making hurts our students and our college,” she says.

Ted Iorio, a Grand Rapids-based attorney representing the Michigan Education Association (MEA), tells The Ticker, “The frustration level of faculty and academic chairs is very high. They have issues that get to the very heart and integrity of their relationship with administration.”

NMC is represented at the bargaining table by Steve Siciliano, vice president for educational services at NMC and Vicki Cook, vice president of finance and administration, along with attorneys from the college’s legal firm Miller Canfield.

Last night the board did once again go into closed session for an update on contract negotiations with both faculty employee groups, something it has done during meetings for the last several months.

"Since the beginning of negotiation, the college has believed that the best and shortest path to a successful collective bargaining agreement would depend on not having public discussions while work was underway,” says Marguerite Cotto, vice president for lifelong and professional learning. “I would say that we continue to meet and work with the MEA representatives, and we're looking forward to a successful outcome."

While faculty representatives have previously stated unionization was not driven by issues with compensation or benefits, they did recently learn the salary plan at NMC has fallen below the stated board policy of staying at the mean/average with the other 27 community colleges in the state.

“This is just further breakdown of trust,” adds Gray.

Pictured: Longtime NMC instructors Debra Pharo and Jerry Dobek sport their NMC t-shirts and union buttons at last night's board meeting.