Press

June 12, 2014   |  Seattle – English Language Faculty at the University of Washington (UW) today announced talks have broken down again on their negotiations for a fair contract with the UW administration. After two weeks of progress, the sides are stuck over what amount of compensation will recompense these workers for the years of underpayment they have experienced.

May 9, 2014

 Saturday, May 17, Doors open at 11:30 AM - Seattle Center Exhibition Hall

The American Federation of Teachers in Washington State (AFT Washington, AFL-CIO) is holding a book giveaway and community resource fair to get free books into the hands of local public school students to support their literacy and educational success. Mayor Ed Murray is scheduled to attend as well as award-winning author and UW Professor Emeritus Charles Johnson and his daughter Elisheba Johnson co-authors of “The Adventures of Emery Johns, Boy Science Wonder: Bending Time.”

March 14, 2014

Seattle – Exempt employees who work at the four Seattle Community College campuses today voted 68-39 to form their own union through a secret ballot process certified by the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission in Olympia. The vote means that 156 staff who work in advising, IT, financial aid, student outreach, and other departments will be represented by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Washington. Faculty at Seattle Community Colleges are already represented by AFT Washington.

Statement on Governor Inslee’s State of the State Address
By AFT Washington President Karen Strickland

We are pleased to hear today in his State of the State Address that one of Governor Inslee’s top priorities this session is to educate every child, from early learning to higher education, and that he is backing his priority by advocating for $200 million in school funding this session.

NEWS RELEASE | July 16, 2013

For release: April 4, 2013

AFT Washington Statement on Senate Budget Proposal

The budget proposal the Senate released on Wednesday is unrealistic, unsustainable, and unfair. It’s a mishmash of bad compromises driven by internal political strife in the Senate that will hurt education and vital public services and will damage our state’s economic recovery.

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.