Employees and union supporters wielding signs and a towering, giraffe-sized puppet picketed Clover Park Technical College on Thursday to protest what they contend is the college’s resistance to middle managers and other professionals forming a union.
Picketer Laura Ott said she loves her job as the college’s assistant registrar, and that it pays well. But caught between higher-ranking executives and classified staff already represented by a union, Ott said she sometimes works 60 hours a week to finish projects.
”There are times when I don’t think the administration knows how much work the professional staff takes on,” said Ott, among the employees who want to form a bargaining unit. “To me, it’s above and beyond the call of duty.”
Ott was among nearly 50 demonstrators and American Federation of Teachers Washington supporters conducting an hourlong informational picket at the college’s Lakewood campus under darkening skies late Thursday afternoon.
At issue is whether the college’s “exempt” employees can collectively bargain under a state law passed in 2007.
The federation contends the law applies to about 35 “administrative exempt” employees in jobs ranging from coordinators to information technology staff to development director. In June, 65 percent of those employees considered by the union as eligible to form a unit signed cards authorizing the AFT to represent them.
The college disagreed with the union over the proposed bargaining unit.
In October, a state employment relations official sided with the union, finding the law applied to exempt employees at Clover Park, but said more proceedings would be necessary to determine the unit’s makeup.
The college appealed, saying it wanted clarification. The full, three-person Public Employment Relations Commission will consider the appeal.
“We sincerely respect the right of our employees to organize and be represented,” said college spokeswoman Amy Goings. “We all understand this is a very difficult time for the college in light of serious business challenges due to state budget cutbacks. We are hoping the full commission will rule quickly on this matter so we can move forward in a positive direction in working with all of our labor unions on campus.”
According to an Oct. 22 decision by Cathleen Callahan, the commission’s executive director, the 2007 law granted collective bargaining rights to certain exempt employees of “institutions of higher education,” including the University of Washington, Washington State University, the state’s four other universities and “the various state community colleges.”
The state assistant attorney general representing Clover Park argued that the statute, which didn’t include “technical colleges” in the definition, doesn’t apply to Clover Park. Goings said that while some state laws apply to all two-year colleges, others apply only to community colleges and some apply only to technical colleges.
Callahan wrote that the law, when taken into context with existing statutes, applied to technical colleges.
Exempt employees have used the law to begin forming bargaining units at several community colleges, including Tacoma Community College and Green River Community College, AFT spokeswoman Sylvia Watson said. The AFT already represents Clover Park faculty and classified staff and Bates Technical College faculty.
“This is the first technical college where employees approached us about forming a union under the law,” Watson said of Clover Park.
The case outcome will set a precedent, she said.
Debby Abe: 253-597-8694
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