Dozens of Clark College employees staged a walkout at noon Tuesday in protest of low wages offered in recent contract proposals from the state. Employees met at Mill Plain Community Park to learn about the ongoing bargaining and vent frustrations with the state.
The walkout was one of several across the state led by the Washington Public Employees Association, which represents about 5,500 classified employees in government. Beyond higher education employees at Clark, such as registration office staff and information technology specialists, the union represents librarians, firefighters, foresters and more.
Union leaders said the state is preparing to send over its final offer to union members, which includes a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment in both the first and second years of the contract. These increases — known better by their acronym nickname COLAs — are commonplace for public employee contracts and typically address inflation.
The Consumer Price Index for the Seattle area, which calculates the local 12-month inflation rate, was at 3.8 percent as of June.
Clark staff who walked out Tuesday said the 2 percent cost-of-living adjustments they’ve been offered are little more than a “slap in the face,” as they trail behind raises received by Clark’s teaching faculty and other public unions.
“Some of these administrators at the colleges make astronomical amounts of money, and our members are struggling to put food on the table and support themselves and their families,” said Amanda Hacker, the union’s president.
For comparison, the Clark College Association for Higher Education, which represents teaching faculty, received cost-of-living adjustments of 5.9 percent for the 2023-2024 school year, followed by another 5.8 percent increase for the 2024-2025 school year, according to their union president.
Those inflationary adjustments are required to be extended annually to college faculty across the state per Initiative 732, which was approved by voters in 2000 to keep education positions competitive. The bill does not require the state to extend the same cost-of-living adjustments to classified employees like those in the Washington Public Employees Association.
The technicality confuses classified staff members, many of whom report struggling to afford basic necessities like food and shelter.
“I would really like to hear from the folks in Olympia, what logic they’re using to justify giving teachers a (double-digit) percent increase and custodians a (2 percent increase),” said Aaron McPherson, a custodian at Clark who works graveyard shifts. “I get it, they’re higher up on the food chain, but I really don’t think it’s that different.”
‘Treading water’
For Washington Public Employees Association members at Clark like McPherson, low wages with little promise of substantial raises challenges their ability to find and maintain adequate housing.
“I’ve been here 14 years. I should be making more,” said McPherson, who’s also a single parent. He said he was forced to move back in with his mother a few years ago because he struggled to afford a place to live for him and his son.
“I’ve got my bills to take care of, a child to take care of, a mother to take care of. Eventually, we’re going to fall behind on things; I know there’s stuff I’ve been putting off,” he said.
Kyle Sampson, a secretary for the facility services department, said he sought a job at Clark a few years ago, out of an interest to work in a position where he could make a positive change in his community.
Today, Sampson said he makes about $40,000 per year before taxes and finds himself disheartened and in a position similar to McPherson’s. A study released earlier this year found that Clark County renters need to make $81,000 per year — more than double Sampson’s salary — to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in the area.
“I’ve crunched the numbers for bills and groceries. There’s months where I’m sinking and where I’m treading water. The only reason I can afford rent is because I live with my friend who’s giving me a good discount,” he said. “I can’t even afford to go to college at the college I work for.”
Nearing deadlines
The timeline for the Washington Public Employees Association’s bargaining is tricky and a bit different from recent bargaining sessions in K-12 school districts.
The union’s current contract doesn’t expire until June 30, 2025. However, the state and union must deliver a ratified contract by Oct. 1 for the Legislature to be able to work the changes into its budget. The state’s final contract offer comes this week because the union is expected to take two to three weeks for its members to read through and vote on the package.
Hayden Mackley, a representative from the state’s Office of Financial Management, said he wasn’t able to talk about the specifics of the proposed contract amid ongoing bargaining, but mentioned this year’s fiscal decision-making would be particularly difficult.
“Through these negotiations the state must balance the fiscal realities forecasted for the next biennium with the state’s needs, policy priorities, and the critical role our classified staff fill in serving the public,” Mackley said in an email Tuesday evening. “The state is facing challenging fiscal choices as we anticipate limited revenue in the upcoming biennium.”
The Washington Public Employees Association will continue to bargain with the state if a deal isn’t reached by Oct. 1, but those changes may not be implemented in time for the 2025-2026 school year — meaning the union would go a year without raises of any kind.
Several Clark employees at Tuesday’s event said they were prepared to do more to show the state the current offers aren’t acceptable, including a strike sometime in the future.
Clark College spokeswoman Maureen Chan-Hefflin said in a statement Tuesday that the college supports its employees’ right to free speech and hopes for a resolution in the collective bargaining process.
“Clark staff and faculty play a vital role in their commitment to the success of our college and contributing to the overall growth of our region,” Chan-Hefflin said. “Their hard work, expertise and commitment to education are part of the reason for the high standards and strong reputation that Clark College maintains.”
Hacker, the union president, described the potential rejection of a contract by Oct. 1 as “unprecedented,” and urged the state to consider the scope of the state’s proposal.
“(Washington Public Employees Association members) are our neighbors. They’re the people you’re sitting next to in church,” Hacker said. “They’re generally public servants and care more about the public they serve than the poverty wages they make. And those two things are running in conflict.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
