Press

Maria Haynes, a paraEducator with Tacoma Public Schools, talks about the importance of having positive, caring adults in a child's life to help them succeed.

Pierce College adjunct instructor Michael Boggess believes that equitable faculty hiring and working conditions are important to having a world-class community college system.

AFT Seattle faculty member Tracy Lai talks about how community colleges are considering taking the word "community" out of their names and how that symbolizes an important change in mission and purpose of the community college system.

Our walkout was covered by several media outlets. Several links to stories below:

• "Seattle colleges staff to stage walkout" (Fox 13 Seattle)
• "Teachers and students call for more funding for community colleges" (KING 5 Seattle)
• "Seattle Colleges faculty join statewide walkout demanding pay equity, funding for community colleges" (KIRO 7)
• "Seattle Colleges staff demand equitable raises, better working conditions in walkout" (KUOW)
• "Seattle Central faculty hold walkout for fair wages" (Seattle Collegian)
• "Capitol Hill labor notes: ‘Teach-out’ at Seattle Central calls for better faculty wages and better

A snippet from a recent article from The Seattle Collegian, the student paper at Central:

Faculty’s struggle to stay afloat not only affects their day-to-day lives, but it also directly impacts students. If teachers aren’t paid enough to sustain themselves, how will they be able to cultivate the best learning experience for students? Every student enrolled at SCC has probably noticed a feeling of vacancy that lingers throughout the school. Classes have been cut, programs have been cut, and during certain hours of the day, it feels like you’re walking in an abandoned building. We feel the

A snippet from a recent article from The Seattle Collegian, the student paper at Central:

Strike or not, the funds given to faculty affect everyone, including the student population. “It’s not just about the salary, but our working conditions and student learning conditions, which are one in the same,” says Ribeiro. How we are taught and the environment we get to learn in is directly impacted by the resources given to our teachers, and, according to Stofer, “[instructors] work really hard to put all the pieces in place to make it the best for students… but we need people to know how low pay is

A snippet from the article about the April 24 rally:

On Tuesday, April 24, a group of Seattle Colleges professors protested outside the Broadway Performance Hall before walking to their district headquarters, Siegal Center. Inside, union leaders, who professors say aren’t fully representing their needs, were bargaining. Their salaries for the next three years hung in the balance between the 0% raise professors say was initially offered by Seattle Colleges, the 15% raise the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Seattle Local 1789 is bargaining for, and the 40% raise they say is necessary to

A snippet from the article:
 

As the cost of living in Seattle rises, collective bargaining activity amongst university faculty members is heating up across the city. 

On Feb. 7, the AFT 1789, the union representing the faculty of the Seattle Colleges system, held a rally ahead of negotiations for faculty wage increases. 

Annette Stofer, the AFT 1789 district president, underscored the grassroots nature of the rally. 

“A group of members who have been really energetic and well organized are the ones who get to take responsibility for the rally,” Stofer said. 

Link to the full article: "Catholics

A snippet from the article: 

The first rounds of negotiations were held behind closed doors, with the rank and file members (RAF) kept in the waiting room. The legality of the practice of closed-door negotiations is ambiguous and not settled case law, Stofer said. First rounds of negotiations are held between the two negotiating parties “[p]er standing practice,” Bonaccorso wrote.

Regardless, the decision to be kept out of the room is not sitting well with many union members.

 “The most successful union actions in the last 5 years have been in open negotiations,” said Dr. Jay McLean-Riggs, a RAF

Thank you to Socialist Resurgence reporter, Steve Leigh, for attending and reporting on AFT 1789's Rally for A Thriving Wage.

A snippet from the article: 

"Beyond this, the workers are demanding a 40% wage increase. As one member put it, “We have faced a total pay cut. Our wages have not kept up with the cost of living.” This demand seems radical to many, but union members said that especially since 2008-9 they have lost that much in real wages. They need this increase just to get back to where they were decades ago. This is an issue nationally. An English teacher noted that in 2019, 25% of part