The Seattle Colleges District website gives the public information about our current financial situation and the District’s decisions regarding the situation. AFT Seattle finds sections of the information to be objectionable to faculty, creating an administrative narrative that we believe shows faculty in a negative light.

We invite you to submit your reactions to their information directly to the chancellor and trustees. Let’s tell them how their portrayal of the situation sounds from our perspective, and copy AFTSeattle@gmail.com so we know your thoughts, too. 

"According to the District’s audited financial statements, six years ago, the District spent 51% of its budget on instruction and by 2018 instruction funding fell to 41% of the budget. Now, Seattle Central has announced that 75% of 2020–2021 anticipated cuts should come from instruction. If North and South take the same path, instruction could fall to barely a third of the District’s operating revenue."

https://southseattleemerald.com/2020/11/06/opinion-seattle-colleges-in-…

Yesterday was our first mediation session with the District.  We elected to use a mediator to facilitate our negotiation sessions following our September 11^th joint session because we were not making forward progress on several issues. 

Our first mediated negotiation session focused exclusively on “workload equity” issues.  Neither side changed its position during yesterday’s mediation.  We have scheduled additional mediation sessions in November to continue discussing workload equity and pay increases for all faculty. 

Here is a brief recap of the workload equity issues and past offers.  At

AFT Seattle commits to:

• Providing financial support for organizations that work to build an anti-racist society, including bail funds and community funds for protesters;

• Holding our local and affiliate unions accountable for eliminating racist and exclusionary practices;

• Participating in conversations about changing the city of Seattle’s budget priorities by increasing allotments for housing, healthcare, and education;

• Making a deliberate and consistent commitment to learning about and advancing a full dialogue on racial disparities and violence in all of our homes, classrooms, and community.

AFT Statement of Support for Our Students, Colleagues, and Communities

Adopted by AFT Seattle Local 1789 and AFT Seattle Pro-Staff Local 6550

As Faculty members and Professional staff, we are committed to visibly promote safe workplaces, classrooms and communities, especially in the current climate of hate and fear that is taking a toll on our campus and campuses around the country. As educators, we must act to defend the ideals upon which our college is founded and the people who bring them to life. We stand in solidarity with our Muslim, Jewish, immigrant, undocumented, LGBTQ, disabled, black