For students at the Community College of Philadelphia, this spring break may not be so welcome.
The local community college's faculty and staff went on strike last week, canceling classes for the school's 37,000 students.
Union officials called the strike last Tuesday after a breakdown in negotiations about faculty and staff salary.
Last night, representatives for the union and the administration met with a state mediator for the first negotiation since last Monday in an attempt to iron out the differences between the two sides.
With the college shut down, students - many of whom are looking to move on to a four-year college - are currently unable to complete their transfer applications for the next academic year.
Classes may also be pushed into the summer, and the school's summer session may have to be condensed or even canceled.
And as talks continue to drag on, students are becoming frustrated with their unexpected vacation.
"I think it's frivolous," first-year CCP student Nina Astillero said. "They need to work it out."
After having come to terms on the issue of faculty and staff health care, the chief sticking point in contract negotiations is salary increases - though the average increases demanded by the union and offered by the administration now stand only three-tenths of a percent apart.
In what they had called their "best and final offer" to the union last Monday, the administration proposed an aggregate 3.62 percent payroll increase, to be apportioned between full-time faculty, part-time faculty and classified staff, at the union's discretion.
The union blames this ultimatum offer for the strike.
"Not only did they provoke this strike by calling it a last and best final offer, but they've continued it by not making another offer," said John Braxton, co-president of the Faculty and Staff Federation of CCP.
At that time, the union had been asking for a 4.36 percent aggregate payroll increase over the next five years, but, as of last Saturday, they have revised their demands downward to 3.75 percent.
Anthony Twyman, a spokesman for CCP, said health care costs for the college have been rising on average 12 percent a year, making a larger salary increase impossible.
"The college made what it felt was a fair [salary offer] considering the college's financial constraints and circumstances," Twyman said.
In addition, Twyman said, the proportion of funding from the city has failed to keep up with rising expenses. Two decades ago, he said, money from the city made up over 30 percent of the budget. It is now 19 percent and may fall by another $1 million for the coming fiscal year.
As for the students, Astillero said the majority of the student body is siding with the teachers, who are often paid less than competing community colleges in the area.
And both Astillero and first-year CCP student Nikolas Mercado said a lack of classes doesn't necessarily mean a lack of homework.
"We all knew that the strike was a possibility, so our teachers told us to do these outlines, do this paper," Astillero said. "I'm trying to keep up."
