Contents by
Section: April 1998
Front
Page
Lead Story
They're
talking on campus...
On the Road
ActionLine NEA
In the Know
From Capital to Campus
NEA
Affilitates in Action
Higher Education News
Money Savvy
The Dialogue
Thriving in Academe
Part-Time Pay Equity's Time Has Come
Part-time faculty teaching in Washington's community colleges have friends in high places. When part-timers rallied on the statehouse steps last month to call attention to low wages and inadequate benefits, even the governor showed up to show his support.
Governor Locke urged part-time faculty and their supporters to remind legislators of the state's duty to fund education, not only for boys and girls, but for citizens of all ages.
The President's Day rally, jointly sponsored by the NEA-affiliated Washington Education Association and the Washington Federation of Teachers, the state's AFT affiliate, drew supporters from community and technical colleges throughout the state.
The rally drew supporters from the state legislature as well.
"The heavy reliance on part-time staff," noted the sponsor of a bill that would provide salary and equity money for part-time faculty, "is a problem for the entire nation."
Another legislator called working conditions for part-time faculty "academic sweat shops."
Terry Fitzpatrick, chair of the Washington Education Association Higher Education Task Force, and Susan Levy, president of the Washington Federation of Teachers, also addressed the rally, along with the president of the state AFL-CIO labor council.
