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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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WA Tech School Profs Fight ‘Financial Emergency’ Declaration

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010   

TACOMA, Wash. - Although classes are full and there are waiting lists for some, 40 faculty members at Bates Technical College in Tacoma have been told they might lose their jobs. The school administration has declared a financial emergency - which, under Washington law, allows it to speed up the layoff process if necessary, minimizing the protections that instructors would normally have under contract.

On Tuesday, the teachers' union at Bates, AFT Washington Local 4184, turned in a vote of no confidence, a mostly symbolic gesture that indicates their disagreement with the way the school's interim president and board of trustees are handling the situation. Union local president Karen Patjens says a reduction in force (RIF) should be a last resort.

"We were in contract negotiations when this financial emergency was declared. We had already put on the table several monetary givebacks in order to preclude having to 'RIF' faculty, and they were apparently not taken seriously."

Patjens says the instructors offered to give up about $800,000 worth of pay and benefits to save jobs. A longtime instructor at Bates, she says the issue is not whether budget cuts are needed, but how the school is going about it.

"What we're concerned about is the process, and how students are being affected by this. We take very seriously our ability to get along with the administration. This is the first confidence vote this institution has had in 20 years."

AFT Washington, which represents faculty and staff at 19 state technical colleges and universities, is concerned that such "financial emergencies" could be declared by more schools as a way to trim budgets during tough times. The option has been in place since the 1980s and, to date, has rarely been used. Bates faculty and administration go back to the bargaining table mid-May.



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