Teachers Union Abandons Wage Initiative Delegates Say Campaign Would Have Been Costly, Divisive

Washington school teachers have decided against pursuing an initiative to guarantee them yearly cost-of-living raises.

The campaign would cost too much and alienate too many longtime supporters of the Washington Education Association, initiative critics said after Saturday’s vote at the union’s annual assembly.

Union delegates voted 614 to 310 against Initiative 708, disappointing those who hoped guaranteed raises would stop routine salary battles with legislators.

Margo Campbell, a kindergarten teacher in Issaquah, dreaded going home and telling her colleagues to cancel the campaign they planned to kick off Monday.

“My members are going to be very disappointed,” said Campbell, shortly after the vote in Spokane’s Ag Trade Center. “They’re really looking for leadership right now and this is their organization. They’re going to feel really betrayed.”

But twice as many people were relieved.

Jean Clifton, an instructional assistant at Garfield Elementary School in north Spokane, said the estimated $2 million-plus cost of an initiative campaign was prohibitive.

“We definitely need to spend our dues money in a better way. It really looks sort of self-serving, that we weren’t thinking of everyone else this would affect.”

Shortly after teachers union leaders decided to pursue the initiative last month, organizations such as the Washington Federation of State Employees accused teachers of seeking special treatment at the expense of other state employees.

Teachers said they simply wanted to make sure their salaries don’t fall behind year after year. In the legislative session that just ended, teachers received less than the 15 percent they claim they’d fallen behind in recent years.

Under the approved budget, only new teachers will get that much of a raise. Senior teachers gained about 10 percent and midlevel teachers about 8 percent.

Had teachers decided to pursue the cost-of-living initiative, voters would have had the final say. But teachers would have needed to collect signatures from 180,000 registered voters by July 2 to even get it on the ballot.

Terry Fitzpatrick of Spokane, who represents the 67,000-member WEA’s higher education employees, said he’d rather expend energy supporting proeducation legislators. “We need to elect our friends to the legislature,” he said.

Bellevue delegates were eager to start collecting signatures and felt they’d easily gain public support for the initiative, said Mike Coleman, president of the Bellevue Education Association.

“My people want some action,” he said.

Verleeta Wooten, president of the Seattle Education Association, said her colleagues also want a unified way to push for more money.

Seattle teachers will vote Thursday whether to walk out of schools for a day when lawmakers begin their special session, Wooten said. “People are very, very angry. They were disappointed not to get the 15 percent. They want legislators to know this isn’t the end of it.”

Union members agreed Saturday that a task force will continue researching ways to improve teacher pay, and they expect to announce a plan by June 9, WEA spokesman Rich Wood said.

The task force will look at the possibility of pursuing a statewide teachers’ strike next school year.

Also Saturday, union delegates voted to launch an advertising campaign aimed at convincing the public that teachers deserve more money.

Despite the initiative vote, WEA board member Roy Maier said teachers are united in the goal of achieving fair pay - one way or another.

“When we do decide what we’re going to do, we will be unified,” he said. “And we will have an impact on this state.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: BACKGROUND Budget numbers Under the approved state budget, new teachers get a 15 percent raise, senior teachers gain about 10 percent and midlevel teachers about 8 percent.