After about a year of negotiations, a strike is possible at Black Hawk College. This week, members of the faculty, and professional and technical staff authorized their bargaining team to issue an intent to strike notice.
Spokesman Acie Earl says there are 160 members of Local 18-36 of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. And they overwhelmingly rejected Black Hawk's latest contract offer. So the union gave the college its ten-day notice.
"The intent to strike is a legal step that we have to abide by. We are hoping not to strike, but should things continue to break down, this provides us the mechanism to, in fact, have a strike."
The two sides began working on a new contract last March, and their three year contract officially expired in August.
Professor Earl says salaries are the main problem - union negotiators and the college have agreed on most other issues, including requiring employees to pay more for their health insurance.