Strike Threat Wins in Confrontation over Remote Work

Faculty and professional staff at Portland Community College stopped management from ending flexible work arrangements. Photo: Ramy El Mongi, PCCFFAP.

https://labornotes.org/2024/03/strike-threat-wins-confrontation-over-remote-work

March 12, 2024 / Michelle DuBarry

When “Reclaim your Momentum” was unveiled as the theme for Portland Community College’s 2023 in-service training, it struck a discordant note with members of my union, the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals. We hadn’t lost our momentum so much as we’d been subjected to two years of organizational restructuring in the midst of a global pandemic.

The reorganization had concentrated power at the top, and now the college president was rolling out her plan to end the flexible work arrangements developed for the pandemic. This was despite the fact that more than 60 percent of students were still accessing classes remotely, and nearly all students preferred to access services like advising, counseling, and financial aid via Zoom.

At the time, our members ranged from working fully in person to fully remote, with most somewhere in between. If there was a silver lining to the pandemic, it was flexibility in where we work, including freedom from miserable and sometimes dangerous commutes.

This was especially true for employees with disabilities, like my colleague Patricia Kepler, an accessibility specialist who is visually impaired and relies on public transportation. Returning to in-person work would mean taking the bus on dark rainy mornings, even on days when she has no in-person appointments. Kepler told me that flexible work arrangements had vastly improved her working conditions as well as those of colleagues with so-called “invisible” disabilities like ADHD, depression, anxiety, and chronic fatigue.

FULL story at link above.