Faculty strike at Green River College to protest cuts
AUBURN, Wash. (AP) -- Faculty members are striking at Green River College in Auburn to protest cuts proposed by the administration.
The community college has proposed eliminating 11 programs and courses due to a $4 million budget shortfall.
The Green River United Faculty Coalition says some professors could lose their jobs. A college spokesperson says no decisions have been made.
The union has voted three times that it has no confidence in the leadership of college president Eileen Ely.
The college says it must eliminate some programs because of state budget cutbacks and declining enrollment, but the striking instructors say it's using state cutbacks as an excuse for gutting the union, which is part of the American Federation of Teachers.
The strike began Monday and was expected to last three days.
The Green River College Board of Trustees voted 4-0 in favor of filing an injunction to halt the strike, according to school officials.
Editor's note: On May 27, the college provided Q13 News with this statement on the proposal:
The College sent out notices about proposed reduction or elimination of programs per the Green River United Faculty Unions Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article XII on May 11, 2016 and are in the middle of a the 30 day review period cited in the contract to seeking proposals and recommendations from faculty. As of May 26, no proposals had yet been submitted to Vice President of Instruction, Derek Brandes, per the same CBA Article. The College looks forward to faculty input before the end of the review period as recommendations in 2015 resulted in the College’s ability to retain programs such as Carpentry and Early Childhood Education that were on the original notification list that year.