We wanted to share the President’s response to our call for support and a Call To Action:
On Wednesday, June 11, during the President’s report in the June Board of Trustees meeting, Dr. Edwards responded to our requests for her support of our contract. The Clark College WPEA Board of Trustees report is attached.
The President’s response did not include ways in which the college will support us at the bargaining table or how the college would attempt to close the pay gap that we will experience on July 1. In fact, her response was only to deflect responsibility and defend their inaction and lack of caring.
Dr. Edwards claimed that based on the Attorney General’s Office guidance, there is no legal avenue to address the pay gap. When asked, the Assistant Attorney General in attendance, Shelley Williams, could not verify this claim and recommended the college work with OFM.
The final action at the June Board meeting was to extend Dr. Edwards’ contract for the next 3 years. While she will enjoy an annual salary of $333,899, with the state-approved cost-of-living adjustment, and a one-time contribution of $12,000 to her retirement, Clark College classified staff will be left further behind, requiring many of our staff to look to working a second job and/or finding assistance to pay for the basic costs to live like the increasing prices of groceries, gas to get to work, childcare for our children, utility bills, health insurance, etc.
We know there are multiple sections in our contract the college could explore to increase staff wages such as increasing an employees salary in their range (42.5 F, 42.6 C, & 42.7), reallocating positions for folks who perform higher level duties (41.4 A), Special Pay Salary Ranges (42.20), and/or one-time lump sums/stipends- similar to the stipends Clark College classified staff received in May 2021. These solutions have been shared multiple times with college leadership, but it is apparent that there will be no pursuit on the college’s end to support us without us pushing back.
As mentioned in our report, it takes explicit support and work from college management and WPEA members to implement our contract and management has not held up their end of the bargain. We must continue to build pressure and push the college to show up at the bargaining table with solutions that will reduce the harm they’ve caused from their inaction.
CALL TO ACTION:
On Monday, June 16, the Executive Cabinet will be touring campus to give out ice cream to staff and faculty as a thank-you for our work over the past year. While ice cream is nice, a COLA is better!
The Clark College Leadership Team is calling on members to bring visibility to the staff will be excluded from receiving raises in the upcoming fiscal year.
ACTION:
- Wear your WPEA shirt or blue on Monday
- Share a quick ask or statement with the Executive Cabinet members. Examples:
- “How are you going to support staff at the bargaining table?”
- “I’d like to say thank you for the small treat. Know what would be better? A large COLA!”
- “I do _____ at the college and all I get is ice cream”
- “Fire OFM, they are not supporting us”
We will continue to build pressure with more actions that will be shared at our June Membership meeting- date to be announced soon!
If you have any questions, please email the Clark College WPEA Leadership Team at clarkleadershipteam@wpea.org .
In solidarity,
The Clark College WPEA Leadership Team
