Higher Ed Progress at 2024 WEA RA

This year's RA lasted into the wee hours of night and into Sunday morning but it was productive for Higher Education.      

Continuing Resolution Amendment 7 passed - this was to update the existing Continuing Resolution E-28 to match current language and update it on adjunct benefits:

• The Washington Education Association believes that part-time faculty must be: 1. compensated at a comparable rate of pay to full-time faculty with the same qualifications for performing instructional work and that this should be standard across all Washington State Community and Technical Colleges; and 2. compensated for noninstructional duties.
• The Association supports maintaining equal benefits for part-time and full-time faculty working at least fifty percent (50%) of a full-time load including: health benefits, tuition waivers, life and disability insurance, and retirement. 

Continuing Resolution Amendment 8 passed - this was to add the bolded sentence:

The Washington Education Association believes that higher education associations are confronted with increasingly complex problems, and that the success or failure of higher education associations has direct implications for the entire Association. The Association also believes that programs should continue to be promoted which will serve to strengthen the operation of higher education associations. The Association further believes that the majority of college courses should be taught by tenured faculty, and that each higher education institution’s faculty workforce should reflect the racial and cultural demographics of its community.

We also proposed New Business Item 47 - which passed at 12:02am on Sunday

That WEA will support an Organizing and Bargaining Training for Higher Education locals with the goals of increasing membership (particularly for adjunct members) and strengthening the locals through bargaining support. This support will include research staff support to create a document with all contract issues for each of the CTCs, similar to the data that is available for our K-12 locals.

Click here for a complete list of Continuing Resolutions of the WEA.

2023 CCAHE successes, wins and growth 

(Note: the union's primary purpose is to bargain and protect the contract. So winning grievances is a sign of success.) 

Won parity pay grievance 

Won Larch equal pay grievance 

Won free-speech grievance 

Won RIF grievance 

Won tenure grievance 

Maintained advisor title for faculty 

Helped stave off cuts to faculty & staff  

Bargained the full contract and caught up! More ways to earn for adjuncts, licensing for counselors, release time for various areas, reduction in load for PE and Med Assisting, improved advisor training. Sydney, Sarah, Dwight, Tyler, Kushlani, Laura – TEAM WIN! 

New lobby day tradition – College and Union presidents lobbied in solidarity and ... 

Won fully funded COLAs! 

Yusufu & Suzanne presented at NEA Higher Ed conference in San Jose 

WEA Representative Assembly - first time in person for CCAHE delegation 

Created WEA CTC annual statewide award  

Held first CCAHE/WPEA luncheon!! 

CCAHE/WPEA podcast w/Courtney Braddock 

Opened Union Office 

98 percent voted to ratify new contract  - thank you, members!

Started YouTube channel 

Won three unemployment hearings – Random appeals to benefits have officially come to an end at Clark thanks to Sydney Brahmavar’s advocacy and the courageous faculty who fought these appeals. 

Strengthened relationships with deans 

Chose a CCAHE member of the year! Thank you, award committee!

Connecting with Adjunct Faculty Committee, the Contingent Faculty Issues Committee, serving on state parity committee – Sydney’s adjunct outreach is helping us stay connected - thank you Sydney!

Developed long-term organizing plan building up to the next bargain - thank you, ad hoc organizing committee!

Part-time Faculty: You have a Union

CCAHE is the Clark College Association for Higher Education (the Clark faculty union) - 95 percent of our full-time faculty are CCAHE members. 

Many part-time faculty are also members. Our dues are some of the lowest in the state ~$14 each paycheck. Enroll today so that you can take full advantage of the benefits your union membership provides.

You can read about those benefits on our Membership page and enroll online here, or access the enrollment form with this QR code:

Part-time faculty contract wins clarified

Our contract wins for part-time faculty include:

Win 1: Pay for trainings - Five hours at the Other Assignment rate for part-time faculty who complete the Higher Ed Works training and two hours at the Other Assignment rate for part-time faculty who complete their two hours of PPI training. 

• How to get paid: The contract language reads, "Part-time faculty shall submit their training hours by the 15th of the final month in the quarter for which they are to be compensated."
• Part-time faculty should submit these hours to their unit's operation manager. 
• Also, our last contract required part-time faculty to submit their training for both Higher Ed Works and PPI simultaneously in order to be paid. Now, part-time faculty can be compensated for each training individually.

Win 2: Pay for required dept/unit meetings - Associate faculty have for years been required to attend at least one department or instructional unit meeting per quarter. Now, they will be paid at the Other Assignment rate per hour for attending these meetings.  

• How to get paid: The contract reads, "Part-time faculty shall submit their meeting hours by the 15th of the final month in the quarter for which they are to be compensated."
• Report your meeting hours to your respective unit operations manager.

Win 3: Pay for attending meetings - Part-time faculty will be paid at the Other Assignment rate for attending department meetings, division meetings, unit meetings, CCAHE meetings, and contractual committee meetings. (However, for other college-wide meetings, the compensation must be approved by the dean of the respective unit.)  

• How to get paid: Report your meeting hours to your respective unit operations manager.

Each instructional unit operates differently. Please be patient and try to work with the unit operations manager and/or dean as we all figure out how to implement this new contract language. Your understanding will go a long way in maintaining good relations with staff. 

2023-2025 CCAHE contract ratified

Congratulations, CCAHE members. Thanks to your faculty union negotiation team - Sydney Brahmavar, Sarah Kuzera, Laura Nagel, Kushlani DeSoyza, Tyler Frank and Dwight Huges - we've ratified a new two-year contract with 98 percent approval among the voting members. You can access the contract by going to "Goverrning Documents."

New Union Office & t-shirts

CCAHE & WPEA have opened a Union Office in SCI 110. Let us know if you'd like to volunteer to keep the lights on and answer basic questions one or two days each week at the Union Office. (This would be a good opportunity for a part-time faculty member to learn more about the union and utilize a quiet place to work in a spacious office that's furnished with coffee, tea, snacks, fridge and microwave.) 

We'll also be distributing new union t-shirts later this fall in a few different styles - traditional t-shirts, capped sleeve t-shirts (see below) and maybe tank tops. The Senate agreed on "Higher Ed Workers Unite" as it's inclusive of staff as well as faculty. A sign up sheet for sizes/styles will be released soon. 

Legislative news re: CTCs

The BIG NEWS is that college faculty will receive an 8.9% COLA starting in July 1st, and a 5.9% COLA in July 2024. AND this COLA will be FULLY FUNDED by the state.

This is huge win and I believe that the lobbying we did with the College Presidents and AFT really made a difference. This is a change that should be permanent going forward. This means nearly $55 Million in additional dollars going to the CTCs. This isn't 'new money' in the sense that it is bargainable, but it is money that the College's receive and can be used as we  determine. Clark College has been basing our budget projections on this money not being available and now it is. Clark should be adjusting its gloomy budget projections for next year, and now is the time to push back about the need for any proposed RIFs.

Adjunct Faculty Parity Bill—SBCTC has been charged to develop a plan to provide compensation to adjunct faculty that equals or exceeds 85 percent of the compensation provided to comparably qualified full-time and tenured faculty by the 2026-27 academic year. This has no money attached to it, but it should provide us with the $$ amount parity will actually cost, which may help our lobbying efforts in the future. 

Dual Credit Program Support -$7.74 million to provide free College in High School courses to students. This may increase the number of CiHS students taking courses at Clark which may bring in new money, or it may reduce our Running Start enrollments – we don’t know how this is going to impact us yet, but it is an area that we should be looking at for bargaining language around CiHS compensation for involved faculty. 

CTC CiHS pilot - $700,000 for the pilot program that is increasing the CTE offerings in CiHS 

Student Supports – there was a LOT of interest in making College access easier for students this year, and this resulted in a number of new programs and increases to existing programs. These programs should increase enrollments at the CTCs – by how much? Who knows? Which campuses receive these funds will generally be determined by the SBCTC through an allocation model to be determined. 

Postsecondary Student Needs Funding-$5.24 million is provided to implement Second Substitute House Bill 1559 (Postsecondary student needs), and hire 0.75 FTE benefits navigator per CTC campus and a food pilot at four college districts.  

Nursing Education and Support – $9.1 million 

CTC’s Nurse Supply Funding-$882,000 is provided for the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to develop a plan to train more nurses and to design and implement an online curriculum and pathway to earn a licensed practical nursing credential, as provided in Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5582 (Nurse supply). Colleges will be applying to access this money. 

CTC’s Nursing Education Funding-$3.6 million is provided to increase the number of slots in nursing programs by 200 in the 2023-25 biennium. We're not sure yet what process will be used to determine which campus these slots will go to, but that will be new money and it could be bargained ie. for new positions  

Faculty Conversions-$4.6 million to continue to implement the provisions in Chapter 272, Laws of 2021 (E2SSB 5194). This is money that was given out in the past to add new positions. This is NOT new money just money to continue to fund those positions 

New Enrollments/Programs–a variety of programs including computer science, public health, journalism, social work and teacher residency. 

CTC’s, Bellingham Technical College Northwest Maritime Apprenticeship $200,000 is provided for Bellingham Technical College for the Northwest Maritime Apprenticeship Program.  

CTC’s Refugee Education $3 million is provided for adult education for refugees and immigrants who have arrived in the state on or after July 1, 2021, and are eligible for federal refugee resettlement services, including those from Afghanistan and Ukraine.  

DEI Initiatives- $4.2 million at CTCs is provided for SBCTC to continue to implement diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) provisions in Chapter 275, Laws of 2021 (E2SSB 5227). Not new money. 

PEBB contract is funded. Monthly employer rates for the next two fiscal years are budgeted at $1,160 and $1,233 per employee per month. 

Funding is provided for a standalone vision benefit in PEBB non-Medicare health plans beginning in plan year 2025 for a 100 percent employer paid benefit. This should provide higher vision benefit levels at lower cost and align with the School Employees' Benefits Board (SEBB). 

CTCs will continue to receive the same Nursing high demand and general high demand allocations they received in the last biennia. Clark College has been receiving ~$880,000.