Union Seeks Pay Boost For Part-Time Teachers Community Colleges Would Have To Pay Them 76% Of Full-Time Wage

Letters will arrive this week at the homes of 700 part-time community college teachers, urging them to join in a fight for more pay.

Ron Merchant, president of the Association for Higher Education, said Tuesday that the union issued the letters to press the Legislature to adopt a plan that would boost adjunct faculty salaries to 76 percent of what full-timers earn for the same hours of teaching.

That would double the most ambitious part-timers’ salaries from $12,000 to $24,000 per year.

”(Part-time pay) has reached a crisis state and it needs to be addressed,” said Merchant, a full-time professor at Spokane Falls Community College.

The union’s outreach to part-timers is a sign that their ranks have begun to make a political difference. As the number of part-timers has grown - capturing an increasing portion of the community college payroll - the union has elevated their financial woes to its No. 1 priority.

Although lawmakers won’t meet until January, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges next month must submit its 1999-2001 budget request to Gov. Gary Locke. The board regulates the state’s 32 two-year schools.

A draft $1.26 billion budget proposal earmarks $16 million for raising part-timers’ salaries and $2 million to increase the number of part-timers eligible for retirement benefits.

The plan calls for adjunct salaries to be raised to the 76 percent level in six years. The AHE wants to speed that up to two years, which would increase the price tag to $30 million, Merchant said.

Merchant worries that the part-time pay provisions could be dropped from the community colleges’ budget if money gets tight and lawmakers believe they can make cuts without offending anyone.

In the letter to part-timers, Merchant and AHE part-time representative Renee Goffinet urge teachers to ask their state senators and representatives for the pay hikes.

“Unless the part-time faculty makes themselves heard, all of this momentum may be lost,” the letter states.

Earlier this week, the AHE won key support from the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is concerned that salaries paid to part-timers in Spokane rank among the lowest in the state.

Administrators with the Community Colleges of Spokane District 17, which includes Spokane and Spokane Falls community colleges, also back the pay raises.

Sandy Wall, board director of administrative services for the community and technical college board, said there’s widespread support to boost part-time salaries slowly. But lawmakers have been reluctant to spend a lot of money in one biennium to correct a deficiency that took years to create.

“It’s just too big of a chunk for the Legislature,” she said.