Mediation is mediocre

Mediation between the Clark College Association for Higher Education (CCAHE) negotiation team and Clark College is underway and suffice to say -- it's a process.

The faculty union proposed a salary increase back in October 2018. The objective behind the proposal is to make Clark faculty salaries comparable to Clark County K-12 salaries and relative to the cost of living in the greater Vancouver-Portland area.

After about 8 months of fruitless negotiations, a mediator from the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) Board was called in to help. Since late June, a PERC mediator has met with both parties a handful of times. It's fair to say that a bit of progress has been made toward agreeing on a salary increase. However, the College's proposal comes nowhere close to what the CCAHE believes would be a fair contract. Why is the CCAHE so determined?

Let's look at how Clark's salaries compare with Washington state community colleges in cities with cost of living between 120 and 129.

Community College	Cost of Living	Highest Salary	Lowest Salary	Average starting
Bellingham	129	81,110	41,116	61,048
Clark College*	124	76,339	53,416	52,920
Everett	129	79,485	55,714	59,054
Pierce District	123,130,123 avg. 125	80,214	49,483	55,531
Tacoma	120	97,140	50,132	59,500
Whatcom	129	82,482	45,671	56,600

Let's look at how Clark's salary compares with Clark County K-12.

District	Starting Salary	Ending Salary
Camas	52,868	100,110
Ridgefield	46,874	98,165
Washougal	51,434	96,944
Hockinson	48,291	94,347
Battle Ground	48,593	93,731
Woodland	48,723	91,835
La Center*	44,406	84,954
Clark College	53,416	76,339

The College has offered 1 percent for 2018-2019 for both full- and part-time faculty and 2 percent and 3 percent for 2019-2020 for full- and part-time faculty respectively.

CCAHE and the College next meet on September 10th, and we hope to see a better offer made by the College at that time. Stay tuned for an update and write in to let us know what you think at aheclark@gmail.com