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# SMC faculty reach tentative contract with raises, bonus after two years of talks
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/smc-faculty-to-get-a-raise-bonus-mo-money-faculty-administration-say-lets-make-a-deal-bury-hatchet/
- Published: 2006-09-09T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T21:23:22.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*SMC ready to move forward*

SMC — After more than two years of tense negotiations with administrators here, professors have a new contract that includes pay raises and secure health benefits.

Sources close to the negotiations said that under the tentative agreement reached Wednesday following more than seven hours of discussion, faculty will receive a 3 percent raise retroactive from the spring semester of 2006; a 1 percent raise for the current fall semester, as well as a 3 percent bonus, which will not be applied to the base salary schedule.

Details of the contract have not been finalized pending approval by the faculty and board of trustees.

The Santa Monica College Faculty Association, which staged protests earlier this year, had requested a pair of pay increases totaling 5.5 percent, while the board of trustees offered only a 3.5 percent raise, citing budget constraints.

The agreement, which must be approved by faculty and the board of trustees, represents a compromise that all parties can be proud of, faculty and administrators said.

“We are very pleased we have come to an agreement that is fair and one that treats us as other employees have been treated in the last year,” said Lantz Simpson, president of the faculty association. “It’s been a very difficult time for our members, who have been without a raise since 2002\. It does affect morale. When you don’t get a raise for four years and you see other employees getting raises, you kind of ask yourself, ‘What’s going on?’

“I think morale now will be really high,” Simpson added. “We had a union meeting (Thursday) and we had about 70 people there and everyone was quite enthusiastic and quite happy.”

So were administrators, in particular SMC President Chui Tsang, who came aboard at the beginning of 2006 with plans to build a stronger relationship with faculty following years of conflict with his predecessor, Piedad Robertson.

“This marks the beginning of a new era of cordial relations,” Tsang said.“We are very happy to have reached a tentative agreement and we are hopeful that it will be ratified by the full membership of the faculty association. The past dispute over this contract, which started long before I came to this college in February, is now behind us.

“We want to focus our attention on our core mission: Providing the best education for our students.”

Nancy Greenstein, chair of the board of trustees, said she is looking forward to getting down to business as well, however, she said it is important for the board and administration to learn from the experience so that it is not repeated in the future.

“Rather than dwell in the negativity, I’m just going to try to determine what lessons are to be learned so that in the next round, the board will do a better job,”she said.“I am very, very pleased and I hope we can make this agreement permanent.”

Simpson said union leadership will recommend ratification of the contract, which will occur within the next two weeks.

In addition to the raises, bonus and the continuation of full medical coverage, Simpson said the contract also includes protections for intellectual property and clarifies computer use.

“Intellectual property is a growing concern in the academic world because of the use of computers and the explosion of new technology,” Simpson said.“With that comes controversy over who owns what academic materials. We’ve clarified that and both the administration and the faculty, I think, will find the provisions fair.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 9, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090906.pdf?ref=smdp.com)