May 16, 2012
Chris Thomas, Producer
RENTON, Wash. - Getting unemployment benefits can be a challenge, particularly for those in temporary jobs. This weekend, part-time college instructors are getting a short course in how and when to file for unemployment. [click here to read full story or hear audio]
August 15, 2011 | Washington News Service
TACOMA, Wash. - As many schools ponder cutting another ten percent from their budgets in the coming months at the governor's request, the Tacoma School District's decision not to cut some employees' hours is a stark contrast. Those employees are paraeducators, who work one-on-one with students with severe physical or learning disabilities. Already some of the lowest-paid workers at schools, their hours were going to be trimmed by 30 minutes a day. [more]
Washington News Service | March 28, 2011
Seattle, WA - While labor unions – and union-busting efforts – are making headlines elsewhere in the nation, a new union local is being formed on the University of Washington campus without a controversy. The lecturers who work in the Educational Outreach English Language Program say the nature of their work has put them in a kind of limbo. They want to clarify how they are classified on the job, and to have a voice on campus. Comments from Richard Moore, one of the lecturers. [more]
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release March 25, 2011
Contact: Sandra Schroeder, President, 206-715-1824; Sylvia Watson, 206-261-3603
UW Extension Lecturers Approve Union
First lecturers at UW to unionize
SEATTLE – Extension Lecturers at the University of Washington (UW) have overwhelmingly agreed -- by 83 percent -- to unionize. The Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission certified this week that 56 out of 67 approved unionization – the state’s first bargaining unit of its kind. [more]
NEWS RELEASE
April 22, 2010
Contact: Sylvia Watson, AFT Washington, 206-261-3603; 206-432-8084
On April 9, with little notice, the Board of Trustees at Bates Technical College called a special meeting when college employees were on spring break. The purpose: to take advantage of a technicality in a little-known law that allowed them to declare a "financial emergency" and thereby contravene portions of their contract with the faculty at the college. The vote was 3-1 in favor of the declaration. The board acted at the behest of the interim college president, Lyle Quasim, who had served on the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges when that board took steps to allow the colleges in the system to take this dramatic step.
March 31, 2009
News Release
Contact:
Sandra Schroeder, 206-715-1824 or sschroeder@aftwa.org
Sylvia Watson, 206-261-3603 or swatson@aftwa.org
Shortchanges Students, the Unemployed, and State's Economic Future
"The House's proposed budget today dealt a devastating blow to higher education in our state, and thousands of students will not be able to access higher education,” said Sandra Schroeder, union President of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington State.
Rep. Kathy Haigh, one of the budget writers, said at today's press conference, "This budget gives the biggest hit to the higher education system." [more]
March 30, 2009
“The proposed supplemental and 2009-11 operating budgets the Senate leaders unveiled today have dealt a devastating blow to education in our state,” said Sandra Schroeder, union President of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington State. (read more)
[1/19/07] College faculty unions are making the case this year that offering higher pay to part-time instructors and adding full-time positions could improve graduation rates and student learning. (more)