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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 2019)
PAGE 2 | December 20, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS LABOR PRESS (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit mutual benefit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor: Michael Gutwig Associate editor: Don McIntosh Office manager: Jill Lukens Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $15 per year for union members, $23 a year for all others. Send a check for that amount, indicating mailing address and union affiliation, to P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213. For 25 or more subscriptions, group rates of $11.28 a year per person are available to trade union organizations. Call 503-288-3311 for details. CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by phone at 503-288-3311. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 Clark College faculty vote to authorize strike By Don McIntosh Instructors at Clark College could go on strike next month if administration doesn’t agree to long-overdue catch-up raises. In a Dec. 7 meeting attended by as many as 300 part-time and full- time faculty, the vote was unani- mous to give the union executive committee authority to call a strike. Clark College Association for Higher Education (CCAHE), an affiliate of the Washington Edu- cation Association teachers union, represents 550 faculty members at the college, includ- ing 188 who are full-time and 363 who are part-time. They’ve been in contract bargaining for 14 months, and the two sides have been in mediation since June. The top two union priorities for the contract are salary in- creases that catch up after years of wage freezes, and linking part- time compensation to full-time. Full-time professors at Clark make $53,416 to $76,339 a year for year-round work. That’s the lowest of any community college in the area, and less than nearby K-12 public school teachers. Clark faculty haven’t had more than cost-of-living raises in decades, and for six years in a HOW TO HELP The Clark County faculty union is raising a strike fund at gofundme.com/f/ccahe-strike-fund. Funds raised will be used for signs, food, and other essentials needed on the picket line in the winter. If there’s no strike, the funds won't be used, and donations will automatically be returned to the donors in less than 90 days. Photo courtesy of Washington Education Association NORTHWEST row didn’t even get the cost-of- living increases. Now they say it’s time to catch up — making up for those missed increases. Clark also pays faculty who are classified as part-timers half as much — per class — as full- time faculty. That has given the college a big incentive to shift more and more classes to be taught by part-timers. To stop the drift, CCAHE initially proposed that part-timers be paid the equivalent of 80% of full-time, but now says it would settle for 70%. “This is about more than salary. It’s about trying to get Clark back on track, and priori- tizing teaching,” CCAHE presi- dent Suzanne Southerland told the Labor Press. Clark College is proposing to raise wages 3% for full-timers and 5% for part-timers in addi- tion to a state-provided cost-of- living increase of 3.2%. CC- AHE’s latest proposal is 9% above the cost-of-living increase over two years. Whether a strike happens de- pends on Clark College adminis- trators,“It’s their turn in negotia- tions,” Southerland said. “Our goal is to avoid a strike. We are willing to do what it takes to get a fair contract.” If a strike happens, it would be a first at Clark College. In Wash- ington, public college faculty have only been allowed to bar- gain over salaries since 2018 un- der state law. A mediated bargaining session is scheduled for Dec. 27. Winter term begins Jan. 6. THIS NEWSPAPER BROUGHT TO YOU BY AMERICA’S LABOR MOVEMENT … AND BY OUR ADVERTISERS. Low Prices! Coats, etc. Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
