WCTEA REORGANIZATION INFORMATION

The purpose of this correspondence is to provide each of you with information from the WCTEA about what the WCTEA is doing and why. Our relationship with you has always been, we believe, positive and healthy, and we would like that to continue. Therefore, we do not want you to feel "in the dark" about the ongoing campaign. We want you to clearly understand what is transpiring, and want you to feel free to ask any of us any questions about the current campaigns to reorganize the WCTEA and organize the part-time faculty.

Re-Organization of WCTEA

Throughout the past 4-5 years, the WCTEA attempted to work with the College to have the parties voluntarily agree to re-define the WCTEA to include those educators who work 50% and over, and eliminate the reference to "day credit classes". We believe such a definition more accurately reflects the evolution of the WCTEA's work from the time that the WCTEA was formed in 1968, and we also believe that such a definition would eliminate some ongoing discrepancies, where employees do similar work, but receive vastly different pay and benefits, based solely on the time a course is scheduled to start. The WCTEA and College were free to make this change voluntarily, if both parties agreed.

We attempted this voluntary change in conversations, through a major grievance, and in negotiations. Despite the fact that many WCTEA members teach in the evenings and/or that many WCTEA members do non-credit teaching as part of their regular work loads, the College held to its position that the WCTEA represents only day credit work and that any other work given to WCTEA members is solely at the College's discretion. The College stated to us that if we wanted to change the make up of the bargaining unit, there was a way to do so and we should pursue the change in that forum.

So, that is what we are now doing. Because of the vast changes since 1968 in the kinds of courses WCTC offers and the time of day/evening when they are offered , the current definition of the WCTEA excludes a number of educators who, we believe, work over 50% and therefore properly should be included as part of the WCTEA. The WCTEA intends to file with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC), the state agency that over sees elections, for an election of a NEW WCTEA that represents all WCTC professional educators who work 50% or more of full-time.

Part-Time (under 50%) Faculty Unit

A small number of part-time faculty who teach less than 50% (i.e., those who teach day credit classes) are represented by the WCTEA as it is currently structured. We believe that these part-time faculty have similar interests and concerns as the other under-50% part time faculty. Therefore, we are organizing a second bargaining unit to represent all educators who work less than 50% of full-time.

Result of Two Units

We believe these two new units will be a more sensible, cleaner, clearer system: if an educator works 50% or more, no matter what time of day or evening, the educator belongs in the "full-time" unit. If he/she works less than 50%, he/she belongs in the part-time unit. These definitions will make us consistent with the other 15 Wisconsin technical colleges. We believe it will simplify processes at WCTC and result in a better, easier, fairer system for distributing work and scheduling classes, where factors in the scheduling decision will no longer have to be the time that the class starts.

WCTEA's Goal for this Campaign

The WCTEA wants this campaign and the elections to be above board, professional, open and non-combative. It is not our goal or desire to exacerbate problems that led to this, but to finally resolve them. We have invoked the formal, appropriate process involving the WERC only because the College was unwilling to make these changes voluntarily. The College told us to pursue these changes through the WERC election process.

So that the College was not caught off guard, before we began the campaign, WCTEA representative Ellen Mei personally informed each District Board member and Dr. Anderson of our intent to begin the process.

Why Now?

Under the law, the WCTEA may file for a new election only during certain specified "window" periods. The "window" during which the WCTEA can file for these elections occurs from January 15 to March 15, 1998. If we did not pursue this change now, we could not do so for the next two or three years, depending on the length of the next contract. That would mean two or three more years of not resolving this underlying structural problem in our relationship.

The WCTEA feels it is better to take care of this unresolved issue now so that we can move forward, working for a better WCTC for all of us. We want that and are willing to go through this campaign to get there.