Over the past two months, your union has been actively engaged with the College through LMCC discussions about the implementation of new federal Title II accessibility requirements.

These requirements significantly expand expectations for digital accessibility across websites, documents, videos, and other materials, with compliance deadlines beginning in April 2026.

When this was first discussed in February, there were a lot of unanswered questions. Information had only recently been shared with staff, and there was no clear plan for training or rollout. Expectations for staff responsibilities were unclear, and there were real concerns about how much time this work would require. At that time, we emphasized that employees must receive proper training, clear expectations, and adequate time before being held accountable.

In March, the College came back with a more developed framework and made several commitments. They stated that they would provide clear communication about expectations and timelines, identify which staff and departments would be impacted, offer training and support, and ensure employees would have dedicated time to complete this work. They also acknowledged that this would have a significant impact on employees and committed to improving coordination and support.

Since that meeting, those commitments have not been followed through on.

We are still seeing a lack of clear expectations and guidance. A comprehensive training plan has not been put in place. Impacted staff have not been clearly identified, and there has been no consistent allocation of time or resources to support this work. At the same time, the compliance timeline continues to move forward.

Because of these concerns and the very real impact this will have on workload and working conditions, WPEA filed a demand to bargain over the implementation of Title II accessibility requirements.

On April 2^nd, we met for two hours with the College and the Office of Financial Management to bargain the impacts of these changes. Unfortunately, our meeting was mostly unproductive due to the College not having any implementation plan and not being able to answer any of our questions.

During the DTB, we were told a number of things that the College was not willing to put in writing. For example, the College indicated that they would be understanding and flexible with classified staff who are not able to meet the deadline of April 24th. At one point, they said that they expected classified staff to “do the best they can with what they have.” When we asked for them to send that to our members in writing, they declined.

The Union’s initial formal proposal for management was to have classified staff exempt from doing Title II accessibility work – they refused that proposal. When we asked for them to provide clear expectations, training and support for staff, prior to providing the expectation and deadline for completion – they refused that proposal as well.

At the conclusion of our two hour meeting, we made it clear that we were nowhere near done with bargaining the impacts of this change and requested additional bargaining time either today or Monday, April 6th – they indicated that they would be providing dates no earlier than Thursday and Friday of this week. They committed to emailing us follow up dates and, so far, we have not received that.

We know that this is a difficult issue and process for members to work through without appropriate support and resources for members. The Employer is required to provide clear expectations, support and training prior to issuing discipline. So far, the College has not been able to do that. WPEA remains committed to supporting members through this process and assuring that their rights are respected.

At this time, we will be holding two emergency member meetings to discuss this issue. Both meetings will be held Tuesday April 7^th @ 12:00 PM and 5:00 PM. Please bring your questions and concerns for us to document. Both meeting will be held via Zoom

We will continue to push for a thoughtful and coordinated approach and will keep you updated as this moves forward. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication.