Harrisburg Area Community College Education Association
HACCEA Blog
On this page, we will be posting relevant information to illustrate how we got here and where we want to go.
"The rest isn't history...the rest is making history"
Merit Pay for Adjuncts or Attorney's Fees?
Since January 2021 when HACCEA filed to petition for a vote to unionize, HACC management has spent nearly a million dollars on legal fees.
​
Sweet, Stevens, et al, was hired specifically to deal with union organizing and unionization. Since January 2021, legal fees amounted to $147,378 (through first quarter of 2024).
​
HACC's regular law firm, Barley Snyder, has charged $781,472 in legal fees since January of 2021 (through first quarter of 2024).
​
In fairness, Barley Snyder handles other things for the College besides union matters; but, attorney fees related to violations of the Sunshine Act and the like fall within their services.
​
Within that context, we must question why the College refused to award approximately $225,000 for Coronavirus Merit Pay for our deserving part-time faculty. Moreover, one must wonder why we even need to be being paying out such exorbitant legal fees in the first place...
Our adjunct faculty deserve better!
​​
Smoke & Mirrors? Sound Familiar?
These videos are from 2011 at Mount Hood Community College in Oregon, Dr. Ski's last place of employment before coming to HACC. Here we are, 13 years later, asking many of the same questions with even more convoluted answers. At least then, he engaged with faculty and allowed them to ask questions. Judge for yourself, but questions related to fluctuating budget numbers, poor decision-making, lack of his presence at the negotiating table, debt services, and facilities expenditures are the same ones HACC faculty are still asking 13 years later. Stay-tuned for more history from Dr. Ski's years at Mt. Hood.
-
​“Maybe history wouldn't have to repeat itself if we listened once in awhile.”
― Wynne McLaughlin