News

LWFT President’s Report, Spring 2016

I hope to use this LWFT website to start having brief, but more frequent communication with LWTech Faculty on important issues. Briefer than this, anyway. Lots to catch up on. Please bookmark http://lwtcft.wa.aft.org

Emails

The first concern at this time is that Faculty do NOT use the college email for Federation (union) matters. Announcements of general informational nature are permitted, but the feedback and discussion that follows can easily be problematic. Please respond if necessary to lwft.president@gmail.com. If you give permission to use your home

AFT Washington President Karen Strickland on the importance of a public education system that supports those who work at schools and colleges with adequate resources and professional development as well as providing the community and students with the ability to achieve their dreams.

She believes that the two major routes to creating social and economic justice are public education and the labor movement. Watch Karen's video at http://youtu.be/2RK0x3lx3Zg.

Seattle Times Education Blog | by Katherine Long, reporter | Nov. 22 with update on Nov. 23

More than 150 Green River Community College faculty members presented a petition to the college’s board of trustees Thursday asking that an increase in state funding be put toward a boost in faculty salaries, particularly for adjunct faculty. [read full story]

Join Governor Christine Gregoire in proclaiming October 26, 2012 as:

Adjunct and Part-Time Faculty Recognition Day!

Berry Craig, recording secretary for the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO and a professor of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, is a former daily newspaper columnist and Associated Press columnist and currently a member of AFT Local 1360.

Why is the media so anti-union?

This old reporter-turned-history-teacher could retire if he had a dime for every time he's heard a union brother or sister ask that question. [read full article]

It just got easier to lay off full-time faculty members in Washington State, thanks to a declaration of financial emergency last month by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. But some faculty leaders say the board’s move is more about a power grab than saving money.

Either way, faculty members are worried about the possibility of layoffs. And some observers say other cash-strapped states could try similar maneuvers. [Read full article]

KENT, Wash. - Employees at several Washington schools are getting a national nod today as part of "Making a Difference Every Day," a campaign by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to call attention to the good things happening in classrooms around the nation despite budget cuts and layoffs. [more]

When it comes to cutting millions of dollars out of state community- and technical-college budgets this spring, perhaps the most vexing issue is that the very programs that could kick-start new careers won't be available for all the students who want to enroll.

The Legislature last month sliced $84 million from the community- and technical-college budgets for the next biennium, while authorizing 12 percent-a-year tuition increases for the next two years. [read full article]

Thousands of union members from all over Washington poured onto the grounds of the state Capitol on Friday, calling on lawmakers to "put people first" by ending corporate tax breaks and painful cuts to public programs.

The protest was by far the largest of four days of boisterous demonstrations in Olympia over spending cuts legislators are considering in order to help close a looming $5 billion budget deficit for the next two-year cycle.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2011/04/09/1610018/thousands-flock-to-capitol-join.html