A Tradeoff Worth Making

June 2, 2009

Inside Higher Ed, an online source for news, opinion and jobs for all of higher education featured Local 212 and MATC in an article this week. This is definitely worth a read.

In brief: To "put students first," Milwaukee Area Technical College unions voluntarily forgo annual pay raise rather than take furloughs; in exchange, administration commits to no layoffs for two years.

Go to article at Inside Higher Ed...


AFT, Local 212
Invites You and Your Family
To a Summer Evening at the Zoo!

Milwaukee County Zoo
10001 West Blue Mound Road
**Zoo Terrace**
(Left of the main entrance, across from the Carousel)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
4:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Dinner: 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Menu: Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, potato salad,
pasta salad, cookies, soda, water, and beer.

TICKETS ARE REQUIRED
Click here for order form & details

Ticket ordering deadline: July 15th


Other Reactions to Giving up our Raises....

Mayor’s statement supporting
Local 212 and MATC
May 28, 2009

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett issued a statement supporting the move.

"I applaud the MATC Board, Administration and the American Federation of Teachers Local 212 for the very reasonable settlement achieved today," the statement reads. "It’s clear they put services for the students at the forefront.”

MATC Unions are Shepherd Express'
Heroes of the Week
From Shepherd Express' May 27, 2009 issue:

"It isn’t often that unions get credit for making concessions for the greater good. The public—and employers—seem to expect it when times are tough. But we’d like to make note of the offer by leaders of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 212 and AFSCME Local 587 to voluntarily give up members’ pay raises for next year. AFT members supported that offer on Tuesday, and gave up a 3.25% increase in the next academic year, while AFSCME’s members must take a vote on forgoing a 3.5% raise. That would save MATC $4.8 million, which would help close its $19 million budget gap and prevent layoffs from occurring."


Joint Finance passes state budget --
Technical Colleges Fare Extremely Well
in the Face of $6.6 Billion Deficit

May 31, 2009

• General Aid Funding and 1% Increase Protected
• New Across-the-Board Cuts Avoided for General and Categorical Aid
• Gains in Financial Aid Protected

In a 12-hour marathon concluding Friday morning as the sun rose, the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) completed its work on AB 75, the 2009-2011 state budget bill.

The Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) was the only state agency that did not have its budget cut. In recognition of the important role the WTCS plays in the state’s economy, the JFC actually increased the system’s funding by 1%, the first state-wide increase since 2000-2001.

Members of the JFC said that Local 212’s voluntary decision to forgo its 2009-2010 wage increase played an important role in convincing them to protect technical college funding.

While we won this battle, we are still losing the funding war. State aid continues to decline and our reliance on the property tax and tuition grows. Such an arrangement is unsustainable in the long run and needs to be addressed in future budgets.

The bill now goes to the full Assembly, likely during the week of June 8th, followed by the Senate. Once an identical bill passes both houses, it will be sent to the Governor for veto consideration and signing. The new biennium begins July 1st.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the article, with details...

 


Local 212 Members
Voluntarily Give Up Raise

May 26, 2009

American Federation of Teachers Local 212, the union representing faculty and staff at Milwaukee Area Technical College, has voted overwhelmingly to voluntarily give up its salary increase of 3.25% for the 2009-2010 academic year.

The union’s membership completed voting on the contract adjustment today. The MATC Board discussed the tentative agreement in a special meeting earlier this month and is expected to approve the agreement at its regular meeting tonight.

“Our union has always been committed to doing what is best for our students and the community at large,” said Local 212 President, Dr. Michael Rosen. “When this union was chartered in 1931, the founding document committed us to serving our students, the employers who hire them and the community, so we’re just doing what we’ve always done. What’s different is the economic environment,” Rosen added.

“This recession has squeezed property taxpayers while at the same time more laid-off workers are coming to MATC to upgrade or gain new skills for when the economy turns around,” explained Rosen, who also is an economics professor. “So our membership would rather forego our raise next year to help the college serve these students than to turn them away,” Rosen said.

Rosen blamed the Wisconsin state government’s lack of funding for technical colleges as a major factor in the budget crunch felt by MATC. “Twenty years ago the state met its obligation to technical colleges by funding 33% of our budgets, but now that support has fallen to only 13%, resulting in local property tax payers and students paying larger shares than they should,” Rosen explained.

“While everyone speaks about the importance of our technical colleges, there is a class bias against funding them, unlike the open commitment to fund and expand our four year universities,” Rosen added. “We’ve put our skin in the game. Now the Joint Finance Committee and Governor Doyle must demonstrate their commitment to our students by leaving in the budget the modest increase in technical college funding that was approved several weeks ago,” Rosen emphasized.

Local 212 represents 750 full time and 600 part-time faculty, counselors and professional staff at MATC’s four campuses.


Core Ability Survey

As you may recall, the CLA Core Committee, in response to faculty request, has initiated a review of the Core Abilities used by MATC. As you know, the Core Abilities are used by MATC for curriculum design, instruction, assessment, QRP, and other similar activities related to curriculum, learning, and assessment. As they affect every academic department in the college, we made a concerted effort to solicit input from our academic stakeholders.

Based on the responses submitted by your colleagues, nine proposed revisions have been forwarded to you for consideration. Now is the time to make your voice heard.

Simply FOLLOW THIS LINK and cast your vote:

Local 212 Executive Board
Election Results

Are now available HERE in PDF Format.

 


Forum at MATC Addresses Demand for Training Displaced Workers


Click here for more photos of the event

March 22, 2009

Wispolitics reported that Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Sheridan was in Milwaukee recently for a listening session regarding the HIRE Center, which works with MATC and other partners to provide retraining and other services to dislocated workers.

Among other on the panel were Dem state Reps. Barbara Toles of Milwaukee, Pedro Colón of Milwaukee and Cory Mason of Racine . Toles chairs the Assembly’s Workforce Development Committee, and Colon and Mason both sit on Joint Finance.

About 75 people packed the small conference room on the downtown Milwaukee MATC campus, many having to stand.

HIRE staff and MATC board members urged the panel to use federal stimulus funds for increased support of the HIRE center, while students shared their experiences and described how HIRE has assisted them. Spiking unemployment has increased demand for retraining services, and students complained about waiting lists while instructors said teaching capacity was strained.

Some of the things speakers called for included expansion of a hands-on advanced manufacturing and construction trades facility on the city’s south side, increased computer lab space and equipment, and more instruction geared toward Spanish and Hmong speakers.

Afterward, Sheridan said the entire state is dealing with similar problems raised by those at the hearing today.

“What’s going on in Milwaukee is reflective of what’s going on all over the state,” Sheridan said. “We’re going to have to strike a balance and make sure that when it comes to retraining people that certainly we’re going to be looking to areas that have been affected in a big way.”

The Shepherd Express also reported on the meeting (click to go to article).


AFT Local 212 Executive Board Statement on the Decision to Terminate
the College President

February 24, 2009

Clearly, MATC is bigger and more important than any individual. We cannot and will not allow ourselves to be distracted from this mission.

Click here for the statement to the MATC Board


Senate Committee Passes Stimulus Program That Increases Pell Grants
and Aid to Tech Colleges

January 27, 2009

Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of the stimulus bill today by 21-9 vote. The Senate bill provides: 1) $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities, distributed through existing state and federal formulas; $15 billion in incentive grants to states as a reward for meeting key education performance measures; and $25 billion to states for other high-priority needs, such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education; 2) $13.9 billion for Pell grants, which will increase the maximum by $281 in the 2009-2010 academic year and by $400 in the 2010-2011 academic year; 3) $3.5 billion to improve and modernize higher-education facilities; and 4) $3.4 billion for job training programs.

In a recent press release, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, stated the following about the facilities dollars: "A portion of these funds are reserved for community colleges, bearing in mind that it is the community colleges that often train workers for the jobs that will be become available in our new economy." Harkin went on to say that "We need to make sure that they have the equipment and facilities to train tomorrow's workforce."

The Senate bill includes the following provision on higher education facilities: community colleges are entitled to the same percentage of state money as there are students attending community colleges in the state. States are allocated money similarly, based on their national percentage of higher-ed students.

The details of the bill can be found HERE.

Meanwhile, the House is expected to begin debating its stimulus bill today, with a goal of passing the package tomorrow. The Association of Community Colleges has sent a letter of support to the full House. The letter can be found HERE.


Obama stimulus plan increases Pell Grants and aid to technical colleges!

January 26, 2009

President Barack Obama released his economic recovery plan this past weekend. The two overall goals of the plan are to generate or save 3 to 4 million jobs and to spend at least 75% of the stimulus funds within 18 months.

There are several proposal items that would help students and technical colleges including:

An historic investment to school modernization, sufficient to renovate and modernizing 10,000 schools.
This historic investment in upgrading the nation’s public schools will improve learning environments for about 5 million students.

Increasing college affordability for 7 million students by funding the shortfall in Pell Grants and increasing the maximum award level by $500.

Providing a new higher education tax cut to nearly 4 million students.
The plan will create a new $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit that is partially refundable. As a result, the nearly one-fifth of high school seniors who receive no tax credit under the current system will receive a tax cut to make college affordable for the first time.

Tripling the number of undergraduate and graduate fellowships in science, to help spur the next generation of home grown scientific innovation.

Expanding the number of children and families receiving quality preschool services.
The plan will double the Early Head Start program, which will not only provide an additional 350,000 children access to quality pre-k services, but will create at least 15,000 new teaching and teaching assistant jobs, as well as new supervisory and support positions.

Preventing teacher layoffs and education cuts in every state, maintaining key reforms, and ensuring all schools have advanced technology for the 21st century economy.

Many of the provisions that were included in the plan are contained in the House Stimulus Proposal including funding for public education; the $500 Pell grant maximum increase; education infrastructure funds; and a new higher-education $2500 higher education tax cut.

The plan can be found HERE.

Meanwhile, last Friday, the Senate Appropriations Committee released highlights of its stimulus bill. It appears that the final bill is not publicly available. The overall funding in the bill and for higher education specifically is not as robust as that included in the House bill. The highlights of the bill include: 1) $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities to be distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $15 billion to states as incentive grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states for other high-priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education; 2) $13.9 billion for Pell grants ($1.7 billion less than the House allocation); and 3) $3.5 billion for higher-education infrastructure ($2.5 billion less than the House).

The Senate Committee is expected to consider the bill shortly. While the House and Senate bills are similar, it appears that the House and Senate will need to spend some time to conference the two bills once each chamber passes their respective bills.

The Senate highlights can be found HERE.


Obama Stimulus Package
to Include Tech College Funding!

On January 8, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama gave a speech calling for dramatic action for American Recovery and Reinvestment.

It is remarkable and significant that Obama included investing in community college infrastructure as part of plan he will take to Congress. While MATC is a technical college, the Wisconsin ’s 16 technical colleges are part of the proposed stimulus plan.

read more...

Colleague, Friend,

Ernie Schnook
1940 - 2008

 

additional photos can be found here...

Our former colleague, friend, and inspirational President of Local 212, Ernie Schnook, died Wednesday, December 31st, in the home he grew up in, surrounded by his wife and family.

A celebration of Ernie’s life and work will be held on January 14, from 4:00 – 6:00 PM, with the program beginning at 5:00, at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, 6th Floor Conference Center, (700 West State Street, Milwaukee, WI, 53233) Free parking is available in the 8th and State Street MATC parking structure.

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Ernie Schnook Scholarship. Checks should be made to the MATC Foundation-Ernie Schnook Scholarship. The address is:

MATC Foundation
700 West State Street
Milwaukee, WI 53233

~ ~ ~

Ernie graduated from MATC in Foundry Science, worked in private industry, then came back to the college that changed his life to teach Foundry Science. While working full time as an MATC instructor, Ernie earned both M.A. and B.A. degrees with honors. When the local industry declined due to jobs being exported to lower-wage countries, Ernie transferred into the Liberal Arts Division where he taught Social Science.

His life’s work was the thousands of students whom he inspired. Ernie always said that there was nothing more important than MATC’s students. Whether teaching with foundry grit under his fingernails or about American institutions, Ernie taught skills that lasted a lifetime with strong doses of philosophy and pride. “Nothing is too good for the working class,” was his mantra. And he practiced what he preached, dragging foundry students out of bed to make sure they attended his classes. The poorer and more disadvantaged the student, the harder Ernie worked to help him succeed.

Ernie Schnook had as much influence as anyone over the past twenty five years in shaping the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). MATC employees’ and retirees’ careers and quality of life are the fruits of Ernie’s tireless advocacy. He was an unstinting champion of technical education, and fought ferociously any attempts to downplay technical instruction or transform MATC into merely a junior college.

Under his leadership Local 212 won and protected contract language that ensures manageable class sizes, guarantees faculty and staff a voice in the affairs of the college and provides part-time faculty the best adjunct contract in the state. Ernie believed passionately in empowering MATC employees who worked directly with students because they, and only they, knew what was best for our students and the institution. He hated “the carpet bagging careerists and sycophants” who used MATC but never valued it.

Nobody who ever met Ernie could forget him. He was a bull of a man with a heart as big as the downtown campus. He was tenacious, whether encouraging and cajoling his students, convincing an MATC Board member on an issue, fighting the administration or insisting that a 212 member come to a meeting or a picket line. Former MATC President John Birkholz once said of Ernie, “When he gets on an issue, he’s like a bulldog with his teeth in your calf – he just doesn’t let go.” Ask anybody who served on the Executive Board under Ernie, and they’ll tell you it was impossible to say “no” to him.

In addition to being an activist, Ernie was also a public intellectual in the best sense of the word. Behind his ever-present vest and his foundry man’s gruff exterior, he was incredibly well-read in the classics and contemporary affairs, a passion he always credited to his Communications Skills Instructor and former Local 212 President, Maxine Lubenow. He created hundreds of wooden plaques that adorn Local 212’s office walls: plaques quoting philosophers and activists who inspired him, cartoons lampooning bosses, corrupt politicians, the rich and powerful, and the MATC administrators who used the college for their own promotion rather than the students’.

Even though he spent his last ten years at MATC teaching Liberal Arts, Ernie’s heart never left the foundry. While he valued craftsmanship and was skilled with his hands, he passionately believed in higher education. He hated the class system that condemns working people to a life of labor while reserving the life of the mind for the elites, and his life was the embodiment of rebellion against that system.

Despite being more ill than any of us knew, and despite deep skepticism towards both political parties, Ernie worked tirelessly in the Local 212 office to help change the direction of the country and elect Barack Obama President of the United States. Ernie made thousands of Obama buttons. Some made their way to EBay even though Ernie, an admitted Luddite, never learned to use a computer.

Ernie was a man of the world. Born in Germany, he served in the U.S. Army in France where he met his wife and life partner, Josiane, an MATC Early Childhood educator. He was an internationalist who believed he had more in common with working men and women in Iraq, Rio or Paris than he did with any boss. Long before the war in Iraq became highly unpopular, Ernie organized a weekly picket line against it, and he continued to walk that line every Sunday until his health prevented it.

Ernie never talked around an issue. When Mike Rosen and Frank Shansky visited him late Sunday afternoon, he woke up, looked them straight in the eye and said with his characteristic straight-forward honesty, ”Thanks for coming. It’s over!”

At 4:30 on the last day of 2008 this larger-than-life man’s big heart stopped beating. Through his life and work Ernie set a standard that all of us can learn from and try to live by.

Michael Rosen, Frank Shansky, Charlie Dee


Local 212 and Students Testify Against the Use of Deadly Force on Campus

November 26, 2008

Local 212 representatives and MATC students testified against a proposal that would arm MATC security personnel at November’s board of directors meeting. AFT 212 President Michael Rosen, Safety Committee Co-chair Sue Ruggles and recruiter and AFTW board member Marwill Santiago spoke for the faculty, counselors and professional staff.

All expressed outrage over the administration’s description of MATC students as “angry, confrontational and dangerous to the community” which appeared in a PowerPoint presentation presented at the November Finance, Personnel and Operations Committee meeting.

The board decided to pursue legislation allowing MATC to have a sworn security staff, but did not discuss whether the staff would have deadly force capabilities.

Related Links:

Statements at Board Meeting by Local 212 Representatives:
Local 212 President Michael Rosen
Sue Ruggles, Local 212 Health & Safety Representative

Journal Sentinel Articles:
11/25: MATC board votes to lobby for sworn police at college
11/24: MATC may seek permission for armed security officers

Fox 6 News Coverage:
MATC Considers Using Police Instead of Security Guards

 

Wednesday, July 22
Family Zoo Outing
4pm - 9pm
Click here for details
and ticket order form