Hello, Faculty:

Your PCCFA negotiations team continues to meet with the District and negotiate over its proposal to require faculty to perform additional labor to bring the College’s online course content into compliance with new ADA Accessibility regulations. 

PCCFA and the District share an understanding that the College’s online course content must meet the accessibility standards specified by law. However, the PCCFA maintains that it is the institution, Pasadena Area Community College District, that bears the legal responsibility and not individual faculty members. 

The work of updating our online courses in Canvas in accordance with these accessibility ADA mandates represents significant additional labor for faculty. As such, this additional labor requires compensation, and the District is obligated to negotiate over any additional labor not originally contemplated in the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement (faculty contract).

• August 26, 2026. The PCCFA and District met to negotiate over this issue. In its response to our initial proposal, the District proposed: (a) that faculty would be individually responsible for implementing the District’s accessibility obligations for any courses they teach,(b) that faculty must complete the work of remediation by the end of Spring 2027 or lose online eligibility for any related online assignment, and (c) that faculty will not be compensated for this new remediation work. This structure is unacceptable to PCCFA, and we rejected this proposal.
• September 8, 2026. The PCCFA and the District met again to negotiate, and the union presented its counter-proposal. 
• September 18, 2026. The PCCFA and the District met again to negotiate, and the District presented its response to the FA’s counter-proposal.  Our major concerns continue to be the District’s refusal to compensate faculty for the additional labor of remediation, the imposition of unrealistic implementation deadlines, the lack of protections for faculty intellectual property and privacy, and ensuring that faculty have sufficient resources to successfully remediate online courses.

We will continue to update you on the progress of negotiations.

Thank you,

The PCCFA Negotiations Team