MATC Local 212 Protest Cuts To Part-time Teachers And Salary Increases To MATC President Vicki Martin By Board

Members of the MATC Local 212 ignite first protest against cuts to part-time teachers.

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

January 29, 2020

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Tuesday, multiple members of the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) staged their first of many protests to come against cuts to part-time teachers, while MATC President Vicki Martin has had her salary doubled since 2010 averaging at least $340,000 per year, according to MATC Local 212. The MATC Local 212 members are planning protests for these Summer as well including during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in July to bring attention to the unfair labor practice by the MATC Board in cutting salaries of teachers, but failing to cap MATC President Martin's salary.

"We have only begun! We will be speaking out in growing numbers until - and after - the DNC has come and gone. All of Local 212 stands with our full-time and part-time faculty as well as our paraprofessionals in this fight...MATC teachers are under attack! We teach, we care,  let's be fair!...justice for our part-time faculty will prevail!", the MATC Local 212 posted in their Facebook (FB) account on Tuesday.

The Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC) who posted the MATC Local 212 union protest at the MATC downtown  Milwaukee campus photo that Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) used as a courtesy also announced on their FB account that they are supporting MATC Local 212's picketing. "We stand in solidarity with AFT, Local 212 MATC, who are picketing cuts to part time pay & elimination of class and step of all faculty," the MALC posted on FB.

The MATC full-time faculty and part-time faculty are not expected to receive any salary increase for the next four years, except MATC President Vicki Martin whose salary has nearly doubled since 2010. The MATC Board has yet to freeze Martin's salary, which averages more than $340,000 per year as the faculty is facing no salary increases in upcoming years and part-time faculty are also facing less pay including less compensation for prep time as well.

The MATC Local 212 says that part-time faculty pay was cut in 2014, when it was reduced from 60% to 52% of full-time faculty pay.  Further reductions undermine part-time instructors' ability to support MATC students so that they can succeed. MATC part-time faculty were paid not just for "contact hours", but for some of their additional hours of prep time and office hours. It is these extra hours, e.g. 3.4 hours per week for a 3-hour lecture, that the administration reduce for all new part-time faculty, according to Local 212. 

A letter sent to the faculty in mid December 2019 by Martin indicated that the MATC Board unanimously approved the compensation study, which includes four key components of the recommendation:

• Establish an open pay range for all positions. An open pay range has a minimum hourly rate or salary, and a maximum for all jobs at the college based on the market data and internal equity.

• Set the midpoint of the open pay range structure based on established market data for each employee group as follows:

2a. Non-Faculty Positions – Set pay range midpoints at 105-110% of market rate.

2b. Enterprise Jobs – Set open pay range midpoints based on existing minimum and maximum rates based on each job title.

2c. Full-time Faculty – Set pay range midpoint at 107.5% of market rate.

2d. Part-time Faculty –

Current part-time faculty: Set open pay range using current minimum and maximum rates based on instructional hours, office hours and other hours as defined in the current course-type load calculations.

Part-time faculty hired on or after recommendation implementation date: Set open pay range system based on market rate hourly pay. Pay for number of hours based on course type instructional hours, office hours and other.

• Implement a "pay progression" process in which all employees have an equal opportunity to move through the salary structure.

• Continue general pay increases provided to all employees based on the financial situation of the college.

No individual's current pay rate will be reduced as a result of the study, including part-time faculty, according to Martin. 

In other words, Martin eliminated class and step so, no pay increases for anyone until at least four years have passed.  There will be a starting pay, a midpoint, and a final or maximum and  advancement beyond the midpoint will be, for the most part, up to the supervisor, according to Local 212.