Negotiations Rally (Apr 2022)
faculty gather at SCC South Plaza before rallying outside Siegal Center/SCD District Offices (4/24/2022)
AFT Statement of Support for Our Students, Colleagues, and Communities
Adopted by AFT Seattle Local 1789 and AFT Seattle Pro-Staff Local 6550
Over the past year, college administrators, union leaders and others in the Puget Sound area have been pushing for the idea of a “regional pay” adjustment to reflect cost of living in the greater Seattle area. To that end, legislative funding was secured to conduct this study on regional pay issues to inform legislators on that topic and begin a debate.
Key Numbers and Findings from the Study:
On December 9, the Seattle Times Editorial Board published an opinion piece supporting better funding at the State level for community colleges across Washington. The board acknowledged that while k-12 funding has been appropriately addressed, the community colleges have been left behind, while stll doing the heavy lifting for employment training. They call the SBCTC's $189 million request "relatively modest"
It’s time to escalate! Legislators are hammering away at policy and making amazing progress on a slew of great bills. What they haven’t been focused on is funding our colleges and finding new revenue. This process is nothing new. In budget years, they work through policy first, having small conversations on the budget, up until policy cutoffs are all completed. We knew this would happen and we anticipated how those conversations would go, but frankly, we expected more support from the people we helped put into office.