Three-day faculty strike begins at Green River over proposed program cuts

Faculty, concerned about potential program cuts at Green River College, went on strike for three days this week.

The 10-member United Faculty board voted unanimously last Friday to strike. Union members authorized the strike after college administrators announced that 11 programs are facing elimination.

Administrators said the cuts are necessary because of a $4.5 million operating budget gap, but faculty members disagree with the claim.

While not all faculty members chose to participate in the strike, more than 100 picketed Monday through Wednesday outside of the main campus in Auburn, satellite campuses at Kent Station and Enumclaw, and at the intersection of Auburn Way North and 15th Street Northeast.

The union called on the administration to end the proposed elimination of the affected programs – business technology evening courses at the Kent Station campus, fingerprinting certification, design drafting, drama, Montessori track of Early Childhood Education, parent-child education, German, French, geography, occupational therapy assistant and study skills.

“This strike could end within the hour if RIF (reduction-in-force) notices are withdrawn,” Jaeney Hoene, the United Faculty union president, said during a press conference on Monday, reading from a letter she sent college president Eileen Ely. “We will end it ourselves after Wednesday in the interest of our students for whom graduation draws near. … Our concern for them will bring us back, but we will be far from done protesting your unfair labor practices when we return if they do not cease.”

Union leaders have asked the administration to work with faculty to find ways to close the budget gap.

“Whatever budget challenges this college faces they may be met together through authentic transparency and collaboration, and without the permanent damage created by program cuts,” Hoene said, quoting her letter. “There is no crisis at Green River College except that which has allowed you to threaten employees with unemployment when they dare to challenge your policies.”

The college’s Board of Trustees voted 4-0 in an emergency 30-minute meeting on Monday to seek a court-ordered injunction to end the strike. Trustee Tim Clark was at the meeting, while chair Pete Lewis, co-chair Claudia Kauffman and trustee Sharonne Navas took part by phone. Trustee Linda Cowan did not participate in the meeting.

“In this case, the strike may well be over when it is ruled, but it is our due diligence to make sure we are doing whatever we can to make sure classes stay in session,” Catherine Ushka, the college’s acting public information officer, said on Monday afternoon.

Students, community stand behind faculty

Green River students and representatives from other labor unions, joined faculty on the picket lines.

“Your fight is our fight, and we will not stand down until Green River is a college we can be proud of again,” Lynne Dodson, secretary/treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, said during Monday’s press conference.

Sarah Carlson, a student from Auburn, wanted to show support for her professors.

“We have seen our professors grow more and more stressed, more and more anxious about even losing their jobs,” Carlson said.

In her two years on campus, Carlson has seen the campus climate deteriorate.

“With this climate, I am advising people I know not to come here,” she said. “It’s no longer a viable option. The community is losing a resource that, in all honesty, has benefited a lot of us over the years, and people should be concerned.”

When she first heard about the strike, Carlson said she was worried about how it would affect her plans to graduate with an associates degree on June 10, with hopes to transfer to Pacific Lutheran University to pursue a degree in elementary education.

State Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-SeaTac, attended Green River College and spoke at the press conference Monday.

“I feel very connected to this community,” she said. “When I started to hear that the faculty wasn’t being treated well and that students were worried about their programs being cut, that really drew my attention.”

Gregerson said the Legislature approved a policy bill to allow entities, like Green River, to redirect local funds to address budget issues.

“I need the leaders in this community to get together to fix this program, so we can move on so that we can continue to provide what we need to and that is a great education for all of our students,” she said.

‘Doesn’t make sense’

Lynn Reynolds, a Green River alumnus and adjunct design drafting instructor at the college, said it doesn’t make sense for the college to cut an in-demand program like design drafting.

“I think she (Ely) is disconnected from the 11 programs that are on the chopping block now,” Reynolds said during the press conference.

Design drafting supports engineers and architects, Reynolds said after the press conference. “Engineers just don’t have the time,” he said. “It takes a special person to have vision and learn all the communication to put a drawing together. It is a real science.”

Lea Ann Simpson, a business instructor at the college, said she felt empowered by the support of fellow, students and community members who took part in picketing.

“I feel closer to my colleagues than I’ve ever felt before,” she said. “We have a shared message, and we care about each other.”

It is unusual for college faculty to strike, said Karen Strickland, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Washington – a labor union representing community and technical college faculty. Green River faculty last went on strike in the 1970s.

Green River’s United Faculty is a local chapter of AFT Washington, which supported its members at Green River throughout the strike, Strickland said.

“Other presidents are not destroying the colleges they lead, even though they are dealing with similar circumstances,” Strickland said during the press conference. “There is something wrong with this picture, the decisions made by this president are egregious and warrant investigation.”

Since 2013, the union has presented the college’s Board of Trustees with three votes of no confidence in President Ely – the most recent at a board meeting on May 19 – as well as a vote of no confidence in the board. In recent weeks, students and faculty have organized rallies and walkouts and packed board meetings, asking for Ely’s resignation and an end to the proposed cuts.