DGCE Bargaining Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.
Dear Members,
The next DGCE Bargaining session will take place on Friday, September 10th from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm and we are hoping that members can once again support our efforts at the table by participating as silent representatives.
Please sign up here to serve as a silent representative.
At this important session we will continue discussing a vaccine mandate for DGCE faculty and health and safety provisions as well as the difference in financial offers. At the last session, management informed us that they will only agree to a 1-1-1% stipend increase, despite having agreed to increases of 2.5-2-2% for librarians and day faculty.
The cost of a 2% increase for DGCE faculty is less than $600,000 across all nine state universities. These faculty same faculty generated a gross revenue of $118,000,000 this past academic year. You can see below the breakdown by university below, but a 2% increase in the first year represents only half of one percentage of the DGCE gross revenue.
In the past two years many of the state universities experienced significant growth in their DGCE revenue (20% at Fitchburg, 16.5% at Bridgewater, 14.5% at Westfield, 7.5% at Salem).
| University | 2020-2021 Gross Revenue Undergraduate & Graduate | Estimated Cost of 1% Increase in First Year | Estimated Cost of 2% Increase in First Year |
| Bridgewater | $44,019,278 | $89,623 | $179,246 |
| Fitchburg | $17,022,074 | $39,759 | $79,517 |
| Framingham | $8,977,297 | $30,714 | $61,427 |
| MassArt | $3,615,709 | $11,588 | $23,176 |
| Mass Maritime | $666,000 | $12,880 | $25,760 |
| MCLA | $2,178,122 | $8,623 | $17,246 |
| Salem | $21,896,730 | $47,419 | $94,839 |
| Westfield | $13,259,126 | $26,883 | $53,766 |
| Worcester | $6,711,385 | $31,552 | $63,104 |
| Total | $118,345,721 | $299,040 | $598,080 |
At the start of another challenging semester, the union hopes that the Presidents will recognize the incredible work of our DGCE members. Why do the presidents devalue DGCE faculty teaching the same courses? Are students taking courses through DGCE devalued as well?
You should know that the offer at the DGCE table is the presidents’, not the governor’s. Apparently the governor better values his workforce than do our presidents. Our team will continue to advocate for a fair financial offer at the DGCE table.
We hope you will be able to sign up to be considered for a seat as a silent representative at the next DGCE bargaining session on Friday, September 10th from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. In order to participate, you must sign up here by 5:00 p.m. today.
As a silent representative, you will have your camera and microphone off while active bargaining is ongoing. We understand that members may not be able to join us for the duration of the entire bargaining session or may have to multitask at the session. Your presence at the table is very important to our committee and the negotiation efforts.
In solidarity,
Irina Seceleanu, MSCA DGCE Bargaining Chair
CJ O’Donnell, MSCA President