nwLaborPress.org
by Don McIntosh
January 17, 2020
After 15 months of frustrating negotiations, it took just two days of striking for about 500 community college faculty to win the best union contract they’ve ever had.
Members of Clark College Association for Higher Education (CCAHE) voted 257 to 9 on the third day of the strike, Jan. 15, to approve the new three-year collective bargaining agreement. The new contract includes raises of as much as $11,064 a year, and for the first time puts part-time faculty pay on a path to parity with full-timers.
“There were people crying, they were so happy to get these raises,” said CCAHE president Suzanne Southerland. “It was a significant win for everybody.”
The new agreement includes a 1% raise retroactive to July 1, 2017, when the previous three-year union contract expired; plus a 9% raise retroactive to July 1, 2019. Salaries for full-time Clark College faculty will now start at $62,049 and top out at $87,403.