The Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) has taken action in hopes of re-establishing shared governance between Green River College administration and faculty and staff and improving morale on campus.
The Labor Council approved a resolution at its annual convention on July 25, which calls for the council to send a letter to Green River’s administration and Board of Trustees and “explore adding Green River College to the WSLC’s Unfair to Labor/Do Not Patronize list” if the situation does not improve.
The resolution comes in the midst of high tension on campus, following the college’s decision on July 15 to cut two programs – auto body technology and geographic information systems – in the face of a budget deficit. The cuts resulted in the elimination of two faculty position, including the faculty union president.
Faculty members claim the potential cuts targeted members of the Union Faculty and were an act of retaliation. Faculty and college representatives have been in unsuccessful contract negotiations for more than a year.
Ty Pethe, president of Washington Federation of State Employees Local 304, which represents classified staff at the college, submitted the resolution to the Labor Council. He said morale and communication at Green River began to break down about five years ago when Eileen Ely took over as college president. There was an atmosphere of shared governance and collaboration under previous leadership, Pethe said.
“She (Ely) came in, removed and turned away from that collective decision making,” Pethe said.
Faculty filed an Unfair Labor Practice complaint with the Washington State Public Employees Relations Commission in May and presented the Board of Trustees with two Vote of No Confidence calls against Ely – one in 2013, the other in May.
According to the WSLC’s resolution, “The administration of Green River College has routinely ignored the voices of the students, staff and faculty of Green River College; further, by the advice of the administration, the Board of Trustees of the college has been complicit in silencing of students, staff and faculty.”
Pethe said he attempted to improve communication between faculty and staff and administrators.
“I offered to try to work with administration to change it,” he said. “I tried to say we should go back to collective decision making.”
Pethe said administration was not willing to work with him, which lead him to ask the Labor Council to get involved.
“We felt we had to take an additional step,” he said. “We had to put more pressure on them.”
David Groves, communications director for the Labor Council, said in an email he expected the letter to be sent this week.
According to the resolution, the letter will request “that Green River College honors the policy of shared governance, treat their employees with respect and dignity, bargain in good faith with the unions representing the employees, and support a positive, collaborative workplace and will urge all of their affiliates to do the same.”
Allison Friedly, Green River’s executive director of college relations, said on Wednesday the college had not received any formal communication from the Labor Council, so she could not comment.
Pethe is optimistic that the letter from the Labor Council will open communication.
“I really hope they would reach out to me and work on it,” he said.
College officials announced earlier in July they were developing a new prioritization process to determine the viability of instructional services, student services and institutional support on campus. Friedly said students, faculty and staff will be included in the process, which will be implemented this fall.
If college administration and the Labor Council cannot come to an agreement, the council’s executive board could add the college to its Unfair Labor/Do Not Patronize list, per the council’s constitution, Groves said.
“If no satisfactory resolution can be reached, Green River College would be placed on the list and the WSLC would publicize to our 600-plus affiliated union organizations, representing about 400,000 union members statewide, that Green River College is unfair to labor and urge them not to ‘patronize’ the college by taking classes there, sending their children there or otherwise supporting the college until these grievances can be resolved to the satisfaction of the faculty and staff there,” Groves said.
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