Countywide : Colleges Say There’s No Money for Raises

A proposal that is likely to set the stage for a showdown between the Ventura County Community College District board of trustees and the teachers’ union was released at the board meeting Tuesday.

In response to the teachers’ union request for a 10% salary increase for 1993-94, the board’s written counteroffer said the district does not have any money for raises, and may even have to seek pay cuts. It also proposes imposing a limit on the amount of medical benefits that the district would pay for any individual.

The American Teachers Federation Local 1828, which represents 750 part-time and 410 full-time faculty members at Oxnard, Ventura and Moorpark colleges, has already fought with the district trustees over pay raises and health benefits in its previous contracts.

Talks on settling faculty contracts for this school year and retroactive salary increases for last year have not concluded yet.

After five months of negotiating without success, district officials have informed union representatives that they plan to file a notice of impasse this week with the Public Employment Relations Board, a state agency that enforces collective bargaining laws.

Sources at the district said it is likely that the trustees and the union will also reach impasse later this spring over the 1993-94 contract talks.