Capital Times Coverage

The Campus Connection Blog at The Capital Times has a lengthy article regarding the past few months of negotiations that link back to this blog.  The author, Todd Finkelmeyer, brings up some items of interest for the public at large:

If you are an area homeowner wondering how this deal might impact the amount of taxes you'll be sending to MATC, Roger Price, the school's vice president of infrastructure services, said he expects it'll have a "minimal effect."
Kent notes that over the next two years, the part-time teachers' new deal is expected to increase the college's operating budget by just 0.3 percent.

He also added a bit of perspective for anyone in doubt of the unfair treatment we've experienced over the years:

The college employs roughly 1,200 part-time teachers and about 450 full-timers.


Although these raises are significant, especially during the current economic crisis, part-timers argue they are long overdue as the gap between what they make and what the full-time faculty earn had widened too far.

The average part-time teacher at MATC, who receives no benefits, will earn about $2,600 per three-credit course during the 2009-10 school year. A full-time faculty member, meanwhile, gets an average of nearly $13,400 in total compensation (pay plus benefits).

To add perspective, Kent notes full-time faculty members at MATC are required to teach the equivalent of 10 three-credit courses per year -- which comes to an average of $133,972 in total compensation. If part-timers were allowed to teach the same amount, their pay would be $25,825.

This pay discrepancy so infuriated the part-time union that its members voted in September to allocate $100,000 to fund a "public education" campaign about its plight. Among other things, the union produced print ads, purchased air time and put up yard signs in an effort to make people aware of what it viewed as an unfair situation.

This is great press and a fair view of our efforts.